Need help with my 06 Tahoe

We have a 06 Tahoe with a 2nd row bench seat, no third row and have 3 kiddo's. I cannot get a good rfing install so far in the middle seating position to save my life. Every seat either immediatly or over time becomes waaaay over reclined! So far the only seat i've been able to get an acceptable install with is my truefit. If this is the only solution to my problem then so be it, but there are still issues i have with this seat too. I'm very short at 4 foot 11 inches so reaching that middle seat is no easy task when reaching over another car seat. When the true fit is installed there the harness adjuster is so buried into the back of the vehicle seat that i cannot even reach it with the tip of my finger! The harness also seems to get caught somewhere under the car seat and i cant figure out where! So i'm looking for advice on what seat arrangments to try and help solve my problem!

Right now my 3 across is DD1 in a regent behind passanger seat, rfingtrufit middle and rfing Radian xtsl behind driver. So far in the middle seat i've tried a Radian,marathon, and a trufit. And like i said the best i found out of the 3 is the trufit but i can hardly buckle DD2 in that seat. If i put DD1 in the middle in her regent she can't get in her seat because i have the twins in both outboard postions with seats that are tethered (radian and Marathon). She also can't buckle herself yet and still needs my help.

I feel like my only solution is to FF DS in the middle cause no RFing seat is working there. Of course i dont want to do that so i guess i'm open to any suggestions please!!!!!

Here's a pic of the marathon i took today. DD2 was napping at the time, but when she was in the seat i swear her feet were higher than her head!!!! I know it can be hard to judge just by a pic and i will try to get a pic of her in it tommorow. It really is way reclined!!!!

When you install the seat RF-ing, try to push down on the feet area of the seat while tightening, instead of where child's bottom is. This will give you a more upright angle. Hope that helps

I've tried that with both the Marathon and the Radian and it dosn't help one bit! There is something about that middle position that makes the front of the seat dip way down. Like if an adult was sitting there, where your knees would bend. The seat is completely flat there is no slant towords the bite at all, which really makes the radian a horribly overeclined hot mess!!!! The leather is also not soft but really stiff so there is no real "give" to it at all. Does anyone else with this vehicle have this problem?

Also if you look close in those pics you can see how low it dips down. The passanger seat is blocking part of the base and you can't even see it! Do you see what i mean? Where the child's head is in the seat look straight down to the base and you can see that it's not even with the passanger seat. It's way lower there than the bite of the seat!

Have you tried installing with the seat belt? I'd try that and really put some weight on the car seat at the foot area. It doesn't look like the seat of the car is very compressed there. I can definitely see your issue though. What a pain!!

The Marathon should install in that car and position very easily and very upright. I have done it many times. Lets see if we can help.

First are the LATCH straps the right way? if you look on the black buckle part of the LATCH buckle it should say "UP" make sure that is facing up. IF not they need to be switched.

Next try sliding the strap all the way toward the foot of the carseat. See how the straps and sitting about 1/2 way down the bar they are on? That should help.

Release the RF tether for now. You need to get a good install before you attach it. Also it does not need to be really tight, that can make the seat recline much more (and may break the recline mechanism)

Next try pulling the base of the seat a couple of inches away from the seat bight (where the back of the vehicle seat meets the bottom). Attache the latch connectors (making sure they are slid all the way back on the bar - so they are more up and down than angled). Place your hand where your child's feet go and then tighten the LATCH. After you have a good upright install, then attach the rearfacing tether.

Does that help any? Try these tips if they don't work, we can try something else.

Ok i didn't have the tether attached at all, so i know that's not the issue. And yes the latch straps are the right way, i doubled checked that more than once. So i will try sliding the latch straps all the way down the bars or try the seatbelt. I swear though there is just something not quite right with my seat. It seems like no matter how hard i push on the seat where their feet go, the back where their butt goes just slides way down!

And of course there is a blizzard today, but i'm still gonna go out there and try some of these tips and take more pics. This has to work for me i have no other options!

I have an 08 with leather seats, but can get a great install there. I have to move seats today anyway, so I will take a pic of what mine looks like.

Try pulling the carseat away from the vehicle seat, that should make a difference. I am wondering if it is too close to the LATCH anchors or something and not letting the seat compress.

Just thought of something - try folding up the seat and putting it back. I wonder if maybe the vehicle seat is not sitting quite right??

ETA: I can not get an upright radian install there. It is defiantly pushing 45 and has to be reinstalled every few weeks to keep that. I think the MA is your best bet.

Thanks so much for your help Jess! I agree the MA is my best bet and i think i just need to work it a little lol! When i can get back out there and mess with it i will be back with an update! Again thank you so much!!!

OK, so I just went and played with mine (now that sounds dirty, LOL). I really think if you move the LATCH straps down and pull the seat away from the bite, you should be able to get a much more upright install. I could get it more upright with the LATCH then with the seatbelt.

I could get it as far as this upright


But this is how DD likes to ride. She likes to watch the DVD player from under it and if she is more upright she can't see it. I think it is at about 35ish maybe?? (I am downloading the ipod level app so I can get a better measurement)

That is a huge difference compared to mine! I'll finally get to play with mine today, we just had a snow storm drop a foot of snow so we are just gettin plowed out today! I'm going to try those tricks and i will take some more pics!

I think i owe you big time Jess!! Slinding those latch straps down made a huge difference!!! That was probably the only thing i didn't think of to try and i really think it did the trick!!!!! Here's a before and after comparison!

Before:


After: (She got a face lift lol!)

YEA! I am so glad that worked for you

That looks lots better