Maddiesmum
New member
I just wanted to send an update on this topic so hopefully it may be of help to someone. I spent alot of sleepless nights and long hours on the phone with various organizations trying to find out whats legal and whats not and whether I could use the car seats in my van the way I wanted them too. I still do not have a straight answer to this problem of there only being the one tethor anchor in the third row bench seat.
So we took possession of the van, bought 3 new Radian 65's and also a new Frontier for my 4 yo old. I called the Chrysler dealership in North york Toronto since I found information that they have installed the retrofit anchors that were mentioned in the above posts. I had a very helpful service person make a lot of phone calls for me and finally came back to me with a part number that she received from Chrysler Canada or from Mopar. It was the part number mentioned above. So I called my dealership, explained the situation, told them I had a part # and gave it to them to order it. Was called back and told this part was for a Durango. Yes, I told them but that was the number given and it was supposed to work on this bench seat. Sevice told me they would need to speak with Chrysler Canada themselves because this part was not made specifically for a 2010 Caravan. The got called back to say, "no can do". The dealership woudl not be responsible for installing additional tethors in a vehicle that was not supplied with more by the manufacturer.
I was very upset. Even tried to call the dealership and ask about returning a vehicle that was not going to work for me. We only had it a few days and barely had any kilometres on it and basically the salesperson said, too bad, its a used vehicle now. UGH!
So I spoke with a car seat technician at St Johns ambulance, called the fire department, the police department, spoke with someone at Transport Canada and at the Ministry of Transportation. One of the recorded message (not sure if it was from the MTO or Transport Canada), had a recorded message stating that if your vehicle was not equipped with top tethor anchors than you should see your dealership to have them added. But the dealership had already said they would not install them. So what to do now?
Someone I spoke with at Transport Canada said that most older vehicles could have them installed but that he wasnt aware about the protocol with regards to installing additional tethors in a vehicle that only had a few installed. He thought that maybe there was a reason that Dodge only installed 3. 2 on the back of the middle seats and 1 on the back rear bench. He thought maybe perhaps they hadnt been tested on those seats and I would be best to call the car manufacturer directly to inquire about it. At this point, I was so very tired with phoning and trying to get an answer so I have not yet made the call.
I do have a friend who owns a body shop and has installed anchors in other cars before and offered to do it for me if I bought the anchors from Canadian Tire. I still havent found out whether I can legally do this or not yet.
In the meantime, I have the seats installed and have the two outboard Radian's rear-facing. It works ok for my two 1 year olds but today I needed to put a 3 year old in one of the rear facing seats. The straps were adjusted for my tiny one year old so they werent in the right position for my taller 3 year old. Crap!
Anyway, here's a picture of the set up in my van just a week ago (before I replaced my daughters Alpha Omega with the Frontier). I still hope to get an answer as to whether I can put two more tethor anchors in my van so I can install the other two Radians forward facing (if they will fit)
So we took possession of the van, bought 3 new Radian 65's and also a new Frontier for my 4 yo old. I called the Chrysler dealership in North york Toronto since I found information that they have installed the retrofit anchors that were mentioned in the above posts. I had a very helpful service person make a lot of phone calls for me and finally came back to me with a part number that she received from Chrysler Canada or from Mopar. It was the part number mentioned above. So I called my dealership, explained the situation, told them I had a part # and gave it to them to order it. Was called back and told this part was for a Durango. Yes, I told them but that was the number given and it was supposed to work on this bench seat. Sevice told me they would need to speak with Chrysler Canada themselves because this part was not made specifically for a 2010 Caravan. The got called back to say, "no can do". The dealership woudl not be responsible for installing additional tethors in a vehicle that was not supplied with more by the manufacturer.
I was very upset. Even tried to call the dealership and ask about returning a vehicle that was not going to work for me. We only had it a few days and barely had any kilometres on it and basically the salesperson said, too bad, its a used vehicle now. UGH!
So I spoke with a car seat technician at St Johns ambulance, called the fire department, the police department, spoke with someone at Transport Canada and at the Ministry of Transportation. One of the recorded message (not sure if it was from the MTO or Transport Canada), had a recorded message stating that if your vehicle was not equipped with top tethor anchors than you should see your dealership to have them added. But the dealership had already said they would not install them. So what to do now?
Someone I spoke with at Transport Canada said that most older vehicles could have them installed but that he wasnt aware about the protocol with regards to installing additional tethors in a vehicle that only had a few installed. He thought that maybe there was a reason that Dodge only installed 3. 2 on the back of the middle seats and 1 on the back rear bench. He thought maybe perhaps they hadnt been tested on those seats and I would be best to call the car manufacturer directly to inquire about it. At this point, I was so very tired with phoning and trying to get an answer so I have not yet made the call.
I do have a friend who owns a body shop and has installed anchors in other cars before and offered to do it for me if I bought the anchors from Canadian Tire. I still havent found out whether I can legally do this or not yet.
In the meantime, I have the seats installed and have the two outboard Radian's rear-facing. It works ok for my two 1 year olds but today I needed to put a 3 year old in one of the rear facing seats. The straps were adjusted for my tiny one year old so they werent in the right position for my taller 3 year old. Crap!
Anyway, here's a picture of the set up in my van just a week ago (before I replaced my daughters Alpha Omega with the Frontier). I still hope to get an answer as to whether I can put two more tethor anchors in my van so I can install the other two Radians forward facing (if they will fit)
