Who Sits Where?

New (to me) car. Trying to figure out the carseat situation.
DS is 4, 38 lbs. no idea how tall, Rides FF in Frontier 85
DD is 2, 22 lbs no idea how tall, Rides RF in Classic Boulevard
2002 Saturn Vue with side curtain airbags (if you're interested, it's ORANGE! )
3 Exclusive sets of LATCH!
I'm short, DH is tall. This is MY car, I'll be primarily driving, although DH will drive it occasionally too. More often, he'd be the passenger for short trips, but on long trips he'd be the primary driver. Make sense?

Here is my idea situation:
DS center, DD behind the passenger seat. The problem? (Not that I have the worlds widest seats!) That I cannot rear facing tether DD's seat behind the passenger. There is an AWESOME tether point on the frame of the passenger seat, but in order to tether it, the front seat has to be so far up DH can't sit in it. GAH! I tried everything to fix it. The problem is the tether point is where the seat is attached to the frame, and it's wider at the bottom than at the top. If I could tether all the way to the bottom of the "foot" it would be perfect, but no matter what I do, when I tighten (lightly) the tether, it moves the D-Ring up to the "top" of the "foot" and means the versa-tether is hitting the back of the passenger seat.

I really like having no one behind the driver because if I parallel park, I don't have to stand in the street getting anyone in. DS can climb under DD's seat and I can buckle him from the front seat.

I can tether DD's seat behind the driver because I'm short, but on long trips we'd have to come up with something different.

I also use a RFing mirror for DD because she has seizures and I need to be able to see her, so does the tether make that safer?


Ok, thoughts? Questions?Thanks!

I have an SUV and I've always had both of them outboard sides mostly for my convenience

My opinion is that the younger child- especially if it's a toddler who might run or otherwise be naughty- should be the last one out of the vehicle lol! So I would probably have the FFer behind the driver and the RFer behind the passenger.

If I have them both outboard, I'd put DD behind me and DS behind the passenger.
The passenger seat has a plastic back and DS likes to put his feet up on the seat
AND, I frequently only have DD with me, and having her behind me means I wouldn't have to walk around.

But I really like the idea of having them next to each other with DS center.

If you put you DD behind the passenger seat can your DH drive on shorter trips? My husband always drives my car if he comes with us.
When he does have to sit in the passenger seat you could undo the tether.

Without looking under the seat and manhandling the what-not down there its hard to say what you could potentially tether to. Are there plastic covers over the seat tracks? You can usually just pop those bad boys off and tether to them. Also, it took me about a dozen installs to realize I could get the d-ring under the seat track in my DH's new car when we got it. I can not visualize the issue with the versa tether hitting the back of the passenger seat? Is it just touching it? Because mine touches the seat, and I don't really have too much of an issue with it.

The RFing mirror, I would want the seat tethered if it was at all possible. In my mind, yes it does make the mirror less of a risk.

If you wait until its not 10,000 degrees out we can look at it and see what we can come up with. Although, my solution is going to be to buy a new seat for DD, just because that's the most fun solution Flora Radian XTSL?

No plastic, it's all exposed. And it looks like it should be perfect, but it's not.

The seat will not physically move or recline any further because the tether is preventing it. It must have to do with the seat height/amount of space between the two seats. If I leave the seat untethered, I can move the front seat back another 3 inches or so!! It's crazy, I'm not really sure what the deal is, I've never seen this problem before.

And yes, when it's not 10000000 degrees, you can help me!


I really would rather have it so that DH could ride or drive without me having to mess with it. I'm thinking about just leaving it untethered, but then I worry about the mirror. . .

If you leave the D ring on, but unhook the tether, can you move the seat back? Or is the d ring the problem?

Wondering if you can have your preferred setup, then just pop the tether off when dh is with you.

The D Ring is not the problem, it's definitely the tether. The whole V of the tether is tight against the back of the passenger seat, but the passenger seat is not reclined, or all the way back in the track.

Does that make sense?

So it sounds like there is no way to put the seat in the position that you want it, then tether and just leave it be? Curious. I need to see it I think.