Abby and her new seat

dneul

New member
I ended up ordering Abby a Frontier 85 last week and it came on Wednesday. Somehow I was expecting a bigger seat but she does fit into it with one click left for harness height. At least she will be harnessed for a bit longer anyway. I did put my almost 10 year in it and she was just barely over the top harness slot. My 5 year old is just mutantly tall in the torso I suppose. I got it installed in the captain seat in the middle with the long belt path, had the foot forward, hard it attached to the top tether behind the seat, and there was NO movement in any direction.

I wanted a second option since we were about to do a 1200 mile trip one way to Granny's house. I called the local firehouse where there is a tech that is certified and they said to come over. When I got there 3 guys came out and looked at it. First thing they did was open up the door up and they said it is buckled in tight but it wrong with the long belt path. I was quiet about being a tech and them not (they were but their certification lapsed). They wanted to use LATCH but I said they couldn't because of a weight limit on LATCH. The guy in the van had never heard of that before and I asked if they had a LATCH manual. One of the other guys ran and dug it out. I was indeed right and then pulled out my seatbelt to see if it locked (Dodge Caravan) and it didn't. He then said that I need a locking clip and looked on the car seat for one. I said it doesn't need one and he then called Britax with questions. After about 10 minutes on the phone with Britx, they said to install the seat with the seatbelt, without a locking clip, using the long belt patch, and to attach it to the top tether behind the seat.

It took 2 big men and about 10 minutes to get the seat where it was acceptable. They installed the seat even though it is supposed to be me. When I do a check, I usually install the seat with the parents watching and then unbuckle the seat and have them do it. The total time it took was almost an hour, a call to Britax, me exposing the fact that I do know what I am talking about and I was a tech and they weren't (I did it nicely), pulling out the car seat manual, car manual, and then the LATCH book. The men said they have never seen this seat before but were happy they learned more about it. I live in a lower income community where most have Graco, Cosco, and Evenflo seat.

Abby sat in the seat for 22 hours on the trip. We left at 5:30pm in the afternoon and got to Granny's house around 5:00pm. (They are an hour ahead. She slept in the seat from 9pm to around 7:30 in the morning with no head slump and didn't wake up one. She can unbuckle and buckle herself completely and I just double check the tightness and harness clip.
 
ADS

Kat_Momof3

New member
I think it was a great chance for you to educate them about how to do a check (cause if they can learn to read the manuals and go from there, they'll still help people who don't know anything about installing)
 

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