?'s about: Seatbelt Weakened, Cup holders in rear-seat, and Child in booster seat pictures

Ok, ladies and Gents I need some help. A few questions here:

Can you install a Rear-facing Evenflo Bucket in the middle position of a Mitsubishi Montero with the armrest that folds down with 2 cup holders in it?

Also, here is a picture of an Evenflo (expiring this December) base installed. Unfortunately the Seatbelt got caught, I don't know how to describe, but weakened or Stretched from the Metal on the hooks of the base. You can see through the seatbelt now if you hold it up I told the mother to contact Mitsubishi first thing tomorrow. She went ahead and drove home with the seatbelt like that. It is not torn or ripped, but rather disorted and the webbing is loosened. And, WHY OH WHY did Evenflo make the seatbelt path Metal???? Is it possible that that metal (which is like a knife) wouldn't just cut or rip that seatbelt in an accident?




OH, and by the way I put her 5 mth old in my Marathon just to show the Mom how wonderful the seat is, so here is a picture of her cuteness!! She sure enjoyed knawing on the HUGS. You could actually hear the "reet, reet," sound of her teeth on it LOL!



Need help with her daughters (just turned 5 year olds) booster Seat. She is going to be purchasing a Regent soon. Her shoulders are RIGHT at the Top slots of the Marathon so how much longer would she last in a Regent? Please critique anything you see in the photos please:

Re: middle seating position - What does the vehicle seat manual say about installing a child seat in the center position? If the vehicle manual doesn't say anything to the contrary, and you can get a solid install there, I'd be fine with it.

Re: weakened seatbelt - That is really strange - is that a portabout base? Our portabout never had those metal things. At any rate, it sounds like the seatbelt needs to be replaced since the wear is showing right where it was rubbing against metal. I personally wouldn't trust a seatbelt that I could see through. :twocents:

From what I can see the pictures look good. I'm not so good at looking at pictures from a distance though. The seatbelt is coming from at or just slightly above her shoulder, the headrest is a good height, and the seatbelt sits low across her hips, so it looks good to me.

The little girl is a cutie pie and looks like she fits the MA really well. I never thought about it, but I bet the HUGS feel great on babies gums if they chew on them.

One more thing I just thought of - the mom might want to take the HUGS off when she puts the baby in the seat. They run the full length of babe, so it could make harness adjustment hard. Just make sure she knows they're mandatory once the seat is being used ff'ing again.

That base with the metal piece in the belt path looks like it might be an Evenflo Cozy Carry base which had a recall fix applied to it. The recall fix was to insert metal reinforcements into the two plastic clips in the base's seatbelt path (I had one for DD1). I suggest complaining to Evenflo and NHTSA about the metal part damaging the seatbelt and would definitely have the seatbelt replaced. :twocents:

My oldest grew too tall for the top slots/ears at the top of the Marathon shell last summer, and is just even with the second from the top slots in her Regent (installed with the recline bar). The Regent should last her at least a couple more years before she grows too tall for it.

What cuties! DS likes to chew on the HUGS too.

Wow, those are two cute cute kids.

Sucks about the seatbelt, and it would definitely not be safe for an adult or with a booster. It's the shoulder belt section that got all chewed up, right? If so, assuming the latch plate locks or there is a locking clip, my gut feeling (so take that for what it's worth) is that it's not an immediate life or death issue with a harnessed seat since it's the lap portion of the belt that will be doing all the work of restraining the seat. If someone thinks I'm out to lunch please let me know, I'd like to know if I am missing something there. I would get the belt replaced in any case since you never know when you will need to use that seat for a booster or another passanger where it will be required.

mommycat said:

Wow, those are two cute cute kids.

Sucks about the seatbelt, and it would definitely not be safe for an adult or with a booster. It's the shoulder belt section that got all chewed up, right? If so, assuming the latch plate locks or there is a locking clip, my gut feeling (so take that for what it's worth) is that it's not an immediate life or death issue with a harnessed seat since it's the lap portion of the belt that will be doing all the work of restraining the seat. If someone thinks I'm out to lunch please let me know, I'd like to know if I am missing something there. I would get the belt replaced in any case since you never know when you will need to use that seat for a booster or another passanger where it will be required.

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Well, I agree that with a locking latchplate the lap belt will be doing most of the work, but not with a locking clip. A locking clip is only a precrash positioning device, in other words it holds the seat belt where it needs to be until the ELR (emergency locking retractor) kicks in. So in that case, the shoulder belt is under stress and I wouldn't trust a seatbelt that I could see through. Hopefully she can get it replaced soon.

Another alternative (although temporary, until she can get the belt replaced) might be a belt shortening clip http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/Add-On04/nissan.htm. It looks just like a locking clip but it's bigger and heftier. They aren't easy to come by, but I think you can order them from some auto manufacturers. (In my class we had a bunch with the Ford label on them). They are meant to withstand crash forces, unlike a locking clip.

This would only work if you could pull out the damaged portion of the belt so it's in the loop and not under stress (I need to find pictures of this) and get a tight installation. I'd definitely feel safer having her drive away under those circumstances than with just a damaged belt holding the seat in.

Oh, and my dd was at the top slots of her MA at around 4 years old. I bought her a Regent and she's still under the second-from-top slots. I think she has plenty of growing room still. The purchase was totally worth it IMO.

Momto2whosews said:

Well, I agree that with a locking latchplate the lap belt will be doing most of the work, but not with a locking clip. A locking clip is only a precrash positioning device, in other words it holds the seat belt where it needs to be until the ELR (emergency locking retractor) kicks in. So in that case, the shoulder belt is under stress and I wouldn't trust a seatbelt that I could see through. Hopefully she can get it replaced soon.

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Ah, thank you! I knew there was probably something I was missing - I didn't realize that the clip was just to position the belt pre-crash. I just assumed it actually "locks" the belt like a locking latch plate. So, if you have the switchable belts and use a locking clip (whether to reduce tilt or just because you feel better with it... I have a hard time trusting the switchable system to get things tight enough for some reason), should you still engage the switchable belt or just leave it up to the ELR at that point?

Sorry for the hijack.

Next Question:

They travel a lot in the car, and the older (5 year old) in her booster has a hard time sleeping without her head flopping forward.

What does the recline bar on the Regent do, and will that help with this problem?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a belt shortening clip can only be used with a lap-belt only installation, not with a lap/shoulder belt. I believe they're only available through dealerships too - at least that's what the Alberta Occupant Restraint Manual says.

A belt shortening clip or heavy duty locking clip is used only on recommendation by a vehicle manufacturer and shortens the lap belt at a predetermined length. The belt shortening clip is larger than a locking clip and can only be obtained through a dealer. Check the vehicle owners manual for specific instructions.
A belt-shortening clip is installed on the lap belt by tucking the two parts of the
webbing through the arms, then doubling back the top loop and tucking it under.

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ETA: It's also used installed differently than a locking clip, so it's not something the average person could just go buy and use.

If there are other seating positions in the car and they don't need that one, I wouldn't use it for anything until the dealer can look at it. Could it possibly be safe? Maybe... Would I trust my life or my child's life on a maybe? Nope, never. If they absolutely have to use that seating position, then the belt is probably better than none, but I'd go so far as to reduce the # of passengers until that belt can be replaced.

Here's my 4.5 year old in her sister's Marathon, that's a straw stuck in the top slot. She doesn't really have any room to grow in it.

Here she is in her Regent. She *might* still be even with the 3rd from the top set of slots, but I was sick of checking it ALL THE TIME, so I just moved them up. You can see she has tons of room to grow.

I was going to post pics of my dd in her MA and Husky, that i just took last week, but they're pretty much identical to the ones above. Almost even with the top slots on the MA, and about even with the 3rd slots down on the Husky, but I use the next ones up.

snowbird25ca said:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a belt shortening clip can only be used with a lap-belt only installation, not with a lap/shoulder belt. I believe they're only available through dealerships too - at least that's what the Alberta Occupant Restraint Manual says.

ETA: It's also used installed differently than a locking clip, so it's not something the average person could just go buy and use.

If there are other seating positions in the car and they don't need that one, I wouldn't use it for anything until the dealer can look at it. Could it possibly be safe? Maybe... Would I trust my life or my child's life on a maybe? Nope, never. If they absolutely have to use that seating position, then the belt is probably better than none, but I'd go so far as to reduce the # of passengers until that belt can be replaced.

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Apparently my first response didn't show up - ack!

Anyway, a BSC is used on a lap shoulder belt that only has an ELR (emergency locking retractor) - where the belt only locks under sudden stop conditions. There are fairly rare nowadays for passenger seats, but many driver's seats have them (noot point for carseats though). It can be difficult to install, so I'd find a tech or better yet, CPS instructor to help with it if you ever needed one.

I don't think they are to be used on lap only belts because a L/O belt would almost always have a locking latchplate or an ALR.

The Toyota clip at the bottom of the link I posted includes instructions to use it as a belt shortening clip. You have to pull all the slack out of the belt. Then thread it through the clip like a locking clip, but then loop the extra webbing back into the clip. I wish I could find pictures because it's hard to explain.

It's still not an ideal situation, but if the orig. poster could get the damaged part of the webbing into the loop it would take that portion out of the equation.

Momto2whosews said:

Apparently my first response didn't show up - ack!

Anyway, a BSC is used on a lap shoulder belt that only has an ELR (emergency locking retractor) - where the belt only locks under sudden stop conditions. There are fairly rare nowadays for passenger seats, but many driver's seats have them (noot point for carseats though). It can be difficult to install, so I'd find a tech or better yet, CPS instructor to help with it if you ever needed one.

I don't think they are to be used on lap only belts because a L/O belt would almost always have a locking latchplate or an ALR.

The Toyota clip at the bottom of the link I posted includes instructions to use it as a belt shortening clip. You have to pull all the slack out of the belt. Then thread it through the clip like a locking clip, but then loop the extra webbing back into the clip. I wish I could find pictures because it's hard to explain.

It's still not an ideal situation, but if the orig. poster could get the damaged part of the webbing into the loop it would take that portion out of the equation.

Click to expand...

Just wondering if you've ever seen an ELR only lap belt? The seat belt pictorial in AORM shows that as one type of belt and that's the primary scenario it describes the belt shortening clip since a locking clip wouldn't work in that case. The AORM isn't all that descriptive, but that's what I understood from it anyways?

And yep, I could see how that would take the damaged part of the belt out of the equation