Honda Pilot- Cosco 3 in 1 3 across situation

petriescz

New member
Okay, I need all of your help and I am hoping someone has an older Pilot and a couple of 3 in 1's to help me out.

My girlfriend called to say she needed to give our infant seat back since the baby had outgrown it. They decided to move the baby into the 3 in 1 RF. They also have a 3 year old FF in a 3 in 1 and a 6 year old in a turbo booster. I was pleased to hear they bought the turbo since I told her the 3 in 1 makes a terrible booster. Yay! However she mentioned bungies being used in some way with the turbo. Ugh. What is it about men? Sorry guys:)

Anyway, I am going to see her this week and said I'd take a look at it and see if these three seats can even work together. I'll loan her a different convertible seat for the baby if we can't make it work.

Things I have thought of-

Make sure the FF 3 in 1 is installed with seatbelt and tether since over 40lbs or very close.
Make sure the center seat is installed with seatbelt since no LATCH.
Make sure they are each independently installed.
Check the straps etc...for fit.

Thoughts? Anyone have these 3 seats and can try it out?
 
ADS

HayleyCPST

New member
Okay, I need all of your help and I am hoping someone has an older Pilot and a couple of 3 in 1's to help me out.

My girlfriend called to say she needed to give our infant seat back since the baby had outgrown it. They decided to move the baby into the 3 in 1 RF. They also have a 3 year old FF in a 3 in 1 and a 6 year old in a turbo booster. I was pleased to hear they bought the turbo since I told her the 3 in 1 makes a terrible booster. Yay! However she mentioned bungies being used in some way with the turbo. Ugh. What is it about men? Sorry guys:)

Anyway, I am going to see her this week and said I'd take a look at it and see if these three seats can even work together. I'll loan her a different convertible seat for the baby if we can't make it work.

Things I have thought of-

Make sure the FF 3 in 1 is installed with seatbelt and tether since over 40lbs or very close.
Make sure the center seat is installed with seatbelt since no LATCH.
Make sure they are each independently installed.
Check the straps etc...for fit.

Thoughts? Anyone have these 3 seats and can try it out?

Yeah... Not much to say about the bungees. Use your best judgement about that (meaning remove those dang things). Also
make sure the 3 yr old is in the 50lb 3 in 1 seat. Some only go up to 40. If that is the case, that child will still need to be harnessed. Probably
in a nautilus.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Just about any configuration should work. My sister has a Britax Regent (which is HUGE) on one side of her Pilot, and a Britax Marathon on the other, and there is still PLENTY of room for me to sit in between the two seats AND to safely belt myself in. :) The Pilot is HUGE in the backseat. :)
 

rodentranger

New member
Just about any configuration should work. My sister has a Britax Regent (which is HUGE) on one side of her Pilot, and a Britax Marathon on the other, and there is still PLENTY of room for me to sit in between the two seats AND to safely belt myself in. :) The Pilot is HUGE in the backseat. :)

I think the only combination that didn't work in my 2003 Pilot involved a rf MA, a rf TF and a FR80. Every other combo I've tried has worked well.
 

petriescz

New member
That's funny you should say that. I have a RF TF and a FR85 installed in our 2010 right now and I can fit next to them and I think I could get our BV or other TF in but not sure. I am hoping to be able to try our BV or TF next to my friends 3 in 1 and TB. hMMM....not a lot of help. Now after reading about the 3 in 1 I am worried the 3 year olds shoulders are going to be too high or using the booster mode only setting.
 

Melanie

New member
If you can, it's nice to have the booster on the side where they will only be 1 seatbelt latching. That's a terrible explanation. You know how on 1 side outboard there is just 1 female buckle and the other side has 2 female buckles-one for middle and one for outboard. Put it on the side with 1 female buckle. Otherwise, it's easy to accidentally unbuckle the middle car seat when unbuckling the booster.
 

HayleyCPST

New member
Now after reading about the 3 in 1 I am worried the 3 year olds shoulders are going to be too high or using the booster mode only setting.

Putting the child in the booster mode is not a safe option for him/her. He/she is not 5 years old and is not mature enough for a seat belt. Plus the 3 in 1 makes a horrible booster.
Is it possible to buy a new seat for that child? How about a graco nautilus like I mentioned earlier?
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Hayley, I think the OP was saying she's concerned the 3-year-old's 3-in-1 is already on the booster only "harness height," not that she wants to booster the 3yo in the 3in1.

Melanie has a good point -- that's the driver's side. You can fit a lot across the Pilot, but I think what I'd try is Turbo, 3in1, 3in1, driver to passenger. You might need to install the RF 3 in 1 baseless, in order to get it to fit with the Turbo -- that seat is mighty wide with the base on. The FF one, if put on the 40 side of the split, shouldn't give you any trouble.

If the 3yo is less than 40ish pounds, and is too tall for the harness, I would encourage them to look into the Maestro, since it's relatively inexpensive (and they'll have another child to pass it down to.) I wouldn't push them towards the Nautilus unless their kids are heavy or finances aren't problematic. Especially since it doesn't appear they EH (or did the 6yo just move up?)
 

petriescz

New member
Thanks ladies!

I would never put the 3 year year old in a booster and neither would the parents! So, don't worry. Their 6 year old just moved into one.

I have been trying to find a manual for the seat since I don't have one but I don't have a manufacture date to put in. This is the 3 in1 they sell at Costco and it was purchased in 2007. Anyone have a date I can plug in to print the manual?

I haven't ever played with the 3 in 1 other than to know I didn't want one. How do you remove the base.

FYI-If someone isn't safe I'll let her use one of my seats until she buys another one. Thank goodness, money isn't a problem so they'll be able to find a solution. I'm hoping I look and everything is fine! (Sans bungies of course!)

I'll post back tomorrow after I visit.
 

HayleyCPST

New member
Oh ok. I was confused about that! Thanks for clarifying Carrie. Good to know you won't be putting the 3 yr old in a booster! ;)

let's us know what you find.
 

nevaehsmommy

New member
To take the base off , flip the car seat up side down. You will see a metal pole that is as wide as the seat. On one side or the other is a little tab to push down and you push the pole through the open end. It can be rather hard to push it through. It took me about 20 minutes to get it through the hole. Once the pole is out the base just come right off. I find it much easier to install without the base on.
 

petriescz

New member
Ugh! I just typed a huge reply and then hit a button....

The situation was worse than I had imagined. The turbo was bungied down to stop it from sliding around, I imagine for when she gets in and out. There is a piece of wood bracing it from the base of the RF 3 in 1. The 3in 1 is installed with borrowed latch and sharing the drivers side latch hook. It is reclined to the proper angle on a 2 by 4. On a positive the baby fits in the seat properly and the harness is adjusted correctly. There are aftermarket strap covers. The FF 3 in 1 is installed with latch and sharing a hook. The harness is outgrown and it is in booster mode position. All of the seats are protected with towels under and behind. Wow! I didn't know where to even start. Not being a tech myself I only fixed the piece that I knew was 100% wrong and I could make it 100% correct.

Mom is very hesitant to change anything dad has created. He's an engineer and knows best. I told her she needed to get to a tech ASAP with dad and get things fixed fast. The kids were being used a scrash test dummies etc...

I was able to solve one of the problems immediately. I gave them our extra TF. I checked the fit for the 3 year old and he has a little bit of growing room so it should work for a bit. I installed it drivers side with the seat belt and top tether. No towels. We agreed she would buy a Nautilus ASAP and install either the nauti or turbo in the third row. Does the nauti fit in the thrid row? Hope so.

So it's definitely not perfect. I hopefully got my point across about how unsafe they were in the current installs. At leat one of them is riding in a properly fitting seat and installed correctly.

Wow! I can hardly even imagine what you techs come across.
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Nautilus installs 3rd row in the center or driver side only (60 portion) and makes the other of those seating positions useless. It does not install on the 40 position, its incompatable (as is the Turbo, IMO.)

Good on you for helping your friend fix the most egrarious errors. Are you guys near any tech from the board here? They need help ASAP, those kids could be in major danger. I'm thankful they have you. :)
 

HayleyCPST

New member
Ugh! I just typed a huge reply and then hit a button....

The situation was worse than I had imagined. The turbo was bungied down to stop it from sliding around, I imagine for when she gets in and out. There is a piece of wood bracing it from the base of the RF 3 in 1. The 3in 1 is installed with borrowed latch and sharing the drivers side latch hook. It is reclined to the proper angle on a 2 by 4. On a positive the baby fits in the seat properly and the harness is adjusted correctly. There are aftermarket strap covers. The FF 3 in 1 is installed with latch and sharing a hook. The harness is outgrown and it is in booster mode position. All of the seats are protected with towels under and behind. Wow! I didn't know where to even start. Not being a tech myself I only fixed the piece that I knew was 100% wrong and I could make it 100% correct.

Mom is very hesitant to change anything dad has created. He's an engineer and knows best. I told her she needed to get to a tech ASAP with dad and get things fixed fast. The kids were being used a scrash test dummies etc...

I was able to solve one of the problems immediately. I gave them our extra TF. I checked the fit for the 3 year old and he has a little bit of growing room so it should work for a bit. I installed it drivers side with the seat belt and top tether. No towels. We agreed she would buy a Nautilus ASAP and install either the nauti or turbo in the third row. Does the nauti fit in the thrid row? Hope so.

So it's definitely not perfect. I hopefully got my point across about how unsafe they were in the current installs. At leat one of them is riding in a properly fitting seat and installed correctly.

Wow! I can hardly even imagine what you techs come across.

Wow, this family needs Wendy! She's dealt with the plywood before.
What you could recommend is a booster that has LATCH if they are concerned about it sliding around. Parkway SGL, Monterey, Clek...etc Then use the turbo for traveling.
The GN would work great for the 3 yr old. Keep an eye out for LATCH limits.
I hope they get this figured out, I've found that engineers can be the worst.
 

petriescz

New member
Thanks Hayley!

I installed the TF with seatbelt so we're good with latch limits until the baby gets bigger. She's tiny now so no problems. I'll know they got another seat when they give mine back so I'll check for the seatbelt install again. I'll also offer to set something up with Wendy when they're ready. Yes, I know it should be done today but you can't force someone to do something.
 

jourdysmom

CPST Instructor
where are you located? did I miss that somehow?

I am not so sure that you are near Wendy, they were just saying that Wendy has dealt with situations like this before... :twocents:
 

petriescz

New member
We're in Seattle. I've met with Wendy before! I'll get in touch with her when I know they are willing to meet. Still working on it though.
 

HayleyCPST

New member
We're in Seattle. I've met with Wendy before! I'll get in touch with her when I know they are willing to meet. Still working on it though.

I didn't even know you were in Seattle (maybe one of your posts?)! Or maybe it's the Seattlite engineers that come up with these creative "solutions". I've seen several. Glad you'll set them up with Wendy-she's beyond amazing.
 

petriescz

New member
Hello Ladies,

I have a ggod news update.

The family I posted about was able to buy a Nautilus for their 3 year old and it arrived this past weekend. They installed it outboard drivers side with seat belt and top tether.

They moved the 3 in 1 RF for the baby to the passenger side so it could be installed safely with the LATCH.

They moved the 6 year old in the HB turbo to the center.

My girlfriend said there is no more wood involved with the installs and that they have way more room across than they did before. I am so happy they listened and the kids are safer. I'll make sure to keep an eye on the little one to make sure she doesn't outgrow the 3 in1 like her brother did.

Yay for small successes!
 

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