Question 2011 Honda Odyssey and Britax Rear Facing Tether

U

Unregistered

Guest
I just purchased a new 2011 Honda Odyssey and found that there are no rear facing tether anchors for our Britax Advocate seats!! The van does have forward facing tether points and I looked at the thread and photos for places to tether on models prior to 2011 but apparently there are lots of changes in the interior and those points don't exist in the new model. Does anyone have any ideas or has encountered this problem?
 
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wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
No, most cars don't have rear facing tether anchors. Just Volvos and a few Fords (since Ford owned Volvo for a while). Your seat comes with a tether connector strap, the D ring, and you use that to make a tether anchor. There are directions in your manual, and there's also a great video online to show how it's done. The Ody can be a bit tricky to find a spot, and I don't know about the new Ody, but I'm sure someone can find a place to which to tether it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2upADev-UrM"]YouTube - Installing a Rear-Facing Tether Connector Strap (D-Ring)[/ame]

Wendy
 

Kecia

Admin - CPST Instructor
In my blog review of the 2011 Ody Touring (link below) I have a video showing how you can remove the plastic trim piece under the front seat to expose a suitable location to wrap the tether connector strap around. The tether connector strap will fit around the metal structure in that spot but just barely. Have some patience and you will prevail. HTH!

http://carseatblog.com/8090/2011-ho...ids-carseats-review-with-tons-of-pics-videos/
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
I have the same problem! Britax Advocate, Honda 2011 van, but no RF tether point. Help!
I am very pregnant and not good at installing stuff. I need serious help!
Our RF seat is behind the passenger seat.
bnsnyde at bgsu dot edu
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
Thank you for the video about the 2011 Odyssey rear tethering. It worked! I can't get the plastic trim piece back on and I'm tired of laying on my back but fortunately we're having beautiful weather finally so it's not too cold or too hot to be stuck doing manual labor in the floorboard of my car. THANKS!!!
 

Kecia

Admin - CPST Instructor
Glad the video came in handy for you! I should have made it clear in the video that you won't be able to replace the trim piece (for now) with the D-ring there so stash it somewhere where you'll be able to find it down the road. Hope you can sit back and relax until the baby arrives now! Laying on the floor in the backseat of your vehicle is no fun - especially when you're near the end of your pregnancy.
 

bnsnyde

New member
I cannot get the plastic off. EX model. No luck at all.
Very pregnant, but the thing won't budge!
I see that it is a BIG plastic part that comes off, now.
Where exactly do I pull?
And, are you sure it goes back on perfectly down the road? Have you tried it?
I don't know about taking my van apart...:)
 
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lovinwaves

New member
I cannot get the plastic off. EX model. No luck at all.
Very pregnant, but the thing won't budge!
I see that it is a BIG plastic part that comes off, now.
Where exactly do I pull?
And, are you sure it goes back on perfectly down the road? Have you tried it?
I don't know about taking my van apart...:)

You can try going to your local Honda Dealership and ask one of their service technicians to remove it for you. Heh, if they break it while removing it, they will have to replace it more than likely :p
 

Kecia

Admin - CPST Instructor
I cannot get the plastic off. EX model. No luck at all.
Very pregnant, but the thing won't budge!
I see that it is a BIG plastic part that comes off, now.
Where exactly do I pull?
And, are you sure it goes back on perfectly down the road? Have you tried it?
I don't know about taking my van apart...:)

I replied to your PM but wanted to share the info in case anyone else is having similar issues or questions.

When I was reviewing the 2011 Ody, I found that the plastic trim piece did not remove easily so don't be afraid to apply some real pressure. But first look to see if there are any rivits or screws or bolts that are obviously holding it together. In the absence of anything like that, I would assume that it's the same set-up as I encountered in the Touring model. Grab the trim piece on the console side (where I show the tabs are located in the video) and pull straight back towards the backseat.

FYI - I didn't remove the entire trim peice for the video but if the whole piece pops off like it should, then you should be able to reattach it when you don't need the D-ring anymore. The side that I detached for the video was easily snapped back on before I gave the vehicle back to Honda. Hope that helps! Good luck!
 

TivoTim

New member
We have a 2011 Odyssey EX-L. The plastic piece was difficult to remove (hard on the driver side than the passenger), but I was able to tether my Britax Advocate 70 CS and our Sunshine Radian as per the instructions in the video--both to the driver's seat. I decided to re-install the piece on the passenger's side as that is a seat for adult passengers for us, and it both looks better and protects shoes from the lubricant used for the seat sliders.

Hopefully there's no reason both child seats can't be tethered to the same front seat?

The tether straps were barely long enough; I had to actually slide the clip from the seat tether through the opening in the tether strap, clip it, and then carefully pull it tight--being careful to ensure the clip didn't bind in any way. The only issue is that the front seat can't quite go back all the way, but it goes back far enough (nearly all the way) for me, and I'm 6'3".

Some pictures:
DSC_0019.JPG

DSC_0022.JPG

DSC_0026.JPG

DSC_0029.JPG
 
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U

Unregistered

Guest
I just bought a 2012 Honda Odyssey and have a Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL rear-facing in the 2nd row middle jump seat. I was able to tether to the seat achor under the jump seat. Was not easy and required both my husband and myself, as well as removing the jump seat prior to the carseat installation to put the D-ring on the anchor. But it worked and didnt require removing any plastic pieces from the front seats. Happy to share pictures if anyone would like to see but not sure how to post pics, so please advise if you would like to see them. Good luck!
 
C

cincinnatus

Guest
WHOA!!!! The Odyssey is a family minivan designed to handle car seats. You do NOT need to hack it to install your car seat. If you are tethering your rear-facing seat straight down, you are gaining no benefit while perhaps doing harm. The tether should be pulled back over the top back of the seat the car seat is attached to. There is an anchor near the bottom of the seat.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
WHOA!!!! The Odyssey is a family minivan designed to handle car seats. You do NOT need to hack it to install your car seat. If you are tethering your rear-facing seat straight down, you are gaining no benefit while perhaps doing harm. The tether should be pulled back over the top back of the seat the car seat is attached to. There is an anchor near the bottom of the seat.

Some seats (not many, but some) do allow their seats to be tethered in the way shown in this thread. The seats come with webbing and instructions on how to do it. There is some added benefit to doing so, namely rebound control.

Britax convertibles also allow for rear-facing tethering the way you describe. The benefits to that are a reduction in downward rotation. The downside is that it's sometimes difficult to load a child into the seat with the tether strap in the way.

Rear-tethering can only be used on certain seats--most don't allow it--and is never required in the United States.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Welcome! Yes, on the face of it, it does look like an awful rigging job. But it's for real. Here's a good article on RF tethering (or Swedish, or Towards the Front of the Vehicle)... .http://carseatblog.com/12749/how-to-use-a-rear-facing-tether/

And a scientific study of the effects of tethering http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv19/05-0346-O.pdf

Britax allows the use of the vehicle's top tether (that is designed for forward facing child restraints) in rearfacing mode for their current seat lineup. It is called Australian or Towards the Rear of the Vehicle tethering, and it is not their preferred method, bot for the convenience factor, but also because it is designed to mainly reduce overrotation, which all rearfacing seats are very good at doing with just a lapbelt or lower anchors already.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
Diono allows it, Britax does not, and I'm not sure what Combi and Peg Perego say about it.

Wendy

Is this still true? Diono does allow you to tether to the bar under the seat rf'ing like you do rf'ing? And for those that do not, like Britax, why not since you tether there ff'ing?
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Is this still true? Diono does allow you to tether to the bar under the seat rf'ing like you do rf'ing? And for those that do not, like Britax, why not since you tether there ff'ing?

Diono allows you to tether to a bar or leg under the seat on which it is installed. You can't go all the way under to the forward facing tether anchor.

The crash forces are opposite and Britax, Combi, and Peg want the tether down and in front of the carseat for rebound management. Diono says you can tether onto the vehicle's seat itself, but not all the way back to the forward facing top tether anchor.

Wendy
 

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