Seat Belt locking on my high back boosters.

Frameboy

New member
Hi,

Hopefully somebody has solved my problem.

Our family just had an addition in November, and now we have 3 boys. Aged 7, 5 and our newborn.

Our van is a 2007 Nissan Quest, and when we moved our oldest to the back row we've had a problem with the high back seat belts.

Here is our setup...

2007 Nissan Quest
Maxi Cosi Mico for the baby.
2 x Britax Frontier (the previous version)

2008 Nissan Rogue
2 x Sunshine Monterey Seats (backs on)

My boys are 7 (48 lbs) and 5 (40 lbs). Both a little small for their age, so support is key.

We recently transitioned our 7 year old to the booster form on the Frontier, both are on booster form with the Sunshine seats. We put it in the centre of the rear van seat (to use latch) and we found the seat belt didn't retract enough to unclock. This caused a nightmare of trying to get my son into his seat.

We could probably move the Frontier to the side in the rear seat, but then there is no latch, and that seat is big and heavy. That worries me in the event of a crash.

So... I moved it into my 2008 Nissan Rogue. SAME PROBLEM!! First off, the seat is too big for the little Rogue... but for my 5 year old, it works okay. However, I practically have to pull the back / top of the seat out the door to unlock the seat belt.

Now... when I moved the Frontier out, we moved the Sunshine Monterey into the van. We took the back off and put it on the side, and that works... but we really do want the high back for protection.

We have been looking at a Britax Parkway SG, but I'm worried I'm going to drop $130 and the seat belt still won't thread properly. If the solution is to use a backless booster, then again, I don't want to spent $130 on one.

Does anybody have suggestions on how they have dealt with similar problems? Even when in my car, the Sunshine seats can be difficult to thread the seat belt without it twisting and such.

Thanks
-Mike
 
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LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
So are you/your children intentionally locking the seatbelt when they buckle in? If so, don't lock it. There's no need and some cars even forbid it.

The only time we suggest locking the seatbelt on a boostered child is if they aren't capable of sitting properly on their own, but if that's the case, they really shouldn't be in the booster anyway.

If the belt is locking unintentionally (i.e., the kid pulls it out really far when buckling, or if the belts are just really short), then yeah, that can be a pain. We've had that happen a couple times, and I just made sure to remind my son that he didn't need 12 feet of belt to buckle.
 

Frameboy

New member
I think you misunderstand.

The seat belt locks automatically until it is fully contracted into the seat. I don't believe you can unlock it or adjust that in any way.

When I say locked, I mean you cannot pull the slack out until it has been reset to the starting position, but my boosters do not allow it to get retracted enough to get to that starting position. The result is you cannot pull it out.

Mike
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
Usually that only happens when a seatbelt is first pulled out all the way. If you pull it out all the way, it will lock, and then you cannot unlock it (or get excess slack) until it has retracted all/most of the way back in.

But you should be able to avoid that by simply not pulling the seatbelt out all the way to begin with.

Or maybe I'm really not understanding. Perhaps someone who has experience with that car can offer more advice.
 

StPaulMom

Active member
The seat belts in Nissan vans and SUVs are notoriously short, which means that they are almost always pulled all the way out in order to buckle a booster (or large adult), which locks the seatbelt because they are switchable retractors. To avoid having them lock, you must be extra careful to only pull out the least amount of webbing needed to buckle it. That can be tricky for kids who have to lean over and around a booster to buckle themselves in.
 

icnee

New member
The seat belts in Nissan vans and SUVs are notoriously short, which means that they are almost always pulled all the way out in order to buckle a booster (or large adult), which locks the seatbelt because they are switchable retractors. To avoid having them lock, you must be extra careful to only pull out the least amount of webbing needed to buckle it. That can be tricky for kids who have to lean over and around a booster to buckle themselves in.

:yeahthat:
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
Hi Mike
I’m wondering if you ever found a solution to this problem? We are currently having this issue with my sons high back booster in our Mitsubishi Outlander. It’s very frustrating to deal with every time we Buckle up. I have to actually remove the belt from the guides to unlock it and put it back in every time.

Sam
 

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