LATCH weight limits

I'm confused about this LATCH weight limit stuff. From what I can tell, nobody knows the real answer and nobody wants to give any answer because they are all trying to avoid liability. Does that sound about right? Do car manufacturers (or car seat manufacturers) test LATCH weight limits? I saw in the Canada testing a few years back they tested 50 lb. dummies and had no LATCH failures (and that testing, the way I read it, indicated that a LATCH install was typically a tighter install than a seat belt install and therefore safer), but other than that haven't seen much about it.

How can Britax say 48 lbs. on the original Frontier, then change to "whatever your car manufacturer says, or 40 lbs." on the FN 85? It all seems to be a bit random to me - if the car seat manufacturer, or the car manufacturer, gives a number, what does that number mean? Suppose it's 40 lbs. Does that mean a 40 lb. child is within the LATCH limit no matter WHAT carseat he/she is riding in? All car seats do not weigh the same . . . do I have to take that into account if I have a heavy seat? Or can I assume I have a few extra pounds of leeway in a light seat? Are all LATCH connectors the same on all car seats? On all cars?

Do you all think these limits are real or just arbitrary numbers? Do they mean anything? And why can't someone step up and say something we can rely on?

Just my inane ramblings/vent for the evening.

I will let others comment, but I recently re-certified and the newest curriculum put forth by Transport Canada recommends UAS (LATCH) use be limited to 48lbs.

Yes, I believe it's pretty much all a crock, but that it's better to err on the side of caution and follow the most conservative limits. (I.e., if a car seat can go to 48, but the car says it can go to 40, go with 40 even though it's probably all the same.)

I once posed this question to an acquaintance who's a well-respected CPST instructor and a longtime safety engineer at one of the automakers. She told me that all LATCH has to pass the same testing (which I knew) and that the stated LATCH limits are basically a matter of the liability that each automaker is willing to assume.

Oh, and to clarify my statement about it being a crock: I pretty much meant what BookMama said. I don't mean to imply that LATCH can handle anything (though maybe it can), but rather that it's all uniform.

LISmama810 said:

Oh, and to clarify my statement about it being a crock: I pretty much meant what BookMama said. I don't mean to imply that LATCH can handle anything (though maybe it can), but rather that it's all uniform.

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That's how I read it and understood your post.

Mae said:

That's how I read it and understood your post.

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BookMama was a lot more eloquent, so I'm trying to ride her coattails.

It's long been though that the connectors will fail before the lower anchors will. Which is what Sunshine Kids did with the SuperLATCH. They made Super Connectors.

Subaru requires you to take the weight of the seat into consideration. It's 60 pounds, weight of seat plus child. Otherwise, it's weight of child only.

The only LATCH a 40 pound child couldn't use (well, they'd need to be getting out of Honda, Acura, Saab, and Mercedes, and likely Subaru unless they're in a lighter seat) is in a Porsche. That's 39 pounds. I haven't done any checks in Porsches yet, though (other than our own years ago, but Piper was barely over 20 pounds, and it didn't have LATCH).

Wendy

Bentley is 60# child-plus-seat like Subaru, but that isn't really an issue at our checkpoints.

I agree with the others that there's a great deal of arbitrariness, but if the car manufacturer isn't willing to assume the risk then neither am I -- especially because there's a viable alternative (seatbelts have no weight limit).

mrswh said:

How can Britax say 48 lbs. on the original Frontier, then change to "whatever your car manufacturer says, or 40 lbs." on the FN 85?

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I just wanted to comment on this - we have a FR80 and it also says 40lb or vehicle limit.