Urgent help - travelling to England

We're going to England in less than 2 days due to a family emergency. The cars we will be in do not have the latch system. I forgot until I tried tonight that our True Fit car seats are evil devils with the seat belt installs as the belt stalks keep getting stuck in the lock offs. After 8 hours on a plane with a 2 year old I am not going to be up to fighting this. I have 2 options I think:

1. Use the true fit but forward facing instead of rear facing (haven't tried this, but would that change where the belt stalks hit?). DD is about 29lbs, 26 months old so I guess she'd be ok, we'd go back to rear facing at home though.
**do cars in England have the right things for the tether straps though?

2. Head out to snugglebugz first thing tomorrow and hope something else works better with a seat belt and maybe somebody there could show me how to install. Britax's have lockoffs but I think they sit on a base, so the belt stalks wouldn't be as much of an issue? Or maybe a pretty radian that folds up to travel with?

I'll do whatever I have to, and if it means buying a new seat then so be it, I just want her safe and I don't have time to mess around. I can't believe I forgot how much hassle the Truefit is with the belt stalks.

The belt stalk typically wouldn't even reach the lockoffs on a TF. What do you drive?

You can twist the belt stalk 3 full twists if it does interfere.

I've got a Yaris I was trying it on, and we tried it in hubby's Intrepid, same problem. I had the same issue originally with my Sunfire, but ended up trading the Sunfire for the Yaris and it wasn't an issue because we use the uas latch now which my Sunfire didn't have. Each time we try to install it the belt stalk gets right in there and blocks the lock off. With the sunfire I even had a tech come to the house to try it and she couldn't get it either. I've only ever tried it rear facing though.

Lilismom said:

I've got a Yaris I was trying it on, and we tried it in hubby's Intrepid, same problem. I had the same issue originally with my Sunfire, but ended up trading the Sunfire for the Yaris and it wasn't an issue because we use the uas latch now which my Sunfire didn't have. Each time we try to install it the belt stalk gets right in there and blocks the lock off. With the sunfire I even had a tech come to the house to try it and she couldn't get it either. I've only ever tried it rear facing though.

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Do you possibly mean the latchplate ( male end of the buckle?) The belt stalk is the webbing between the female end if the buckle and the bolt that holds the seatbelt on the car.

Maybe I'm calling it the wrong thing - it's the plastic and metal part that goes into the buckle, so that's the male side. When I install the seat, I buckle the belt and kneel on the seat to push it into the car seat while tightening the belt, and the piece that buckles into the female part comes up into the lock off. I've tried scootching the seat as far over as I can towards the door and I tried a pool noodle to raise it up a bit but when I tighten I keep pulling the plastic piece back in just enough that the lock off won't work, even when I twist the buckle to shorten it a bit.

Can the buckle be in the belt path if the stalk is long enough?

Is buying when you get here an option? (or ordering now so that they will be there when you arrive) Not many vehicles have top tether here, and its pretty safe to say that if they don't have Isofix (Latch) then they won't have top tethers.

Bx

Lilismom said:

1. Use the true fit but forward facing instead of rear facing (haven't tried this, but would that change where the belt stalks hit?). DD is about 29lbs, 26 months old so I guess she'd be ok, we'd go back to rear facing at home though.
**do cars in England have the right things for the tether straps though?

Click to expand...

Yes, because the forward facing belt path is totally different, it should take care of the problem if twisting down the female buckle three full twists (six half twists) doesn't work rear facing.

Many cars in Europe will not have the tether anchor, but you can use the TrueFit without the tether.

Lilismom said:

Maybe I'm calling it the wrong thing - it's the plastic and metal part that goes into the buckle, so that's the male side. When I install the seat, I buckle the belt and kneel on the seat to push it into the car seat while tightening the belt, and the piece that buckles into the female part comes up into the lock off. I've tried scootching the seat as far over as I can towards the door and I tried a pool noodle to raise it up a bit but when I tighten I keep pulling the plastic piece back in just enough that the lock off won't work, even when I twist the buckle to shorten it a bit.

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Scootching and pool noodle (as long as you don't go past 45 degrees) are both good ideas. If you can, using more than one noodle will raise it up more, as long as it doesn't go past 45 of course. How many times did you twist the female buckle?

ahgirls said:

Can the buckle be in the belt path if the stalk is long enough?

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Theoretically, yes. In practicality there are few vehicles with buckle stalks long enough. Also, you would still need to get the lockoff closed over the webbing, and it's usually doubled over, sewn, and very stiff just below the buckle, so I don't know if it would actually work.

Thank you for all the suggestions. It never occurred to me that the cars would be so different over there.

I've tried again - I don't think I had the stalk twisted a full 3 times. I can just barely get it in, rock solid, twisting a full 3 times, thank you! I've just done it twice in the yaris, and once in the intrepid. I think I'll take this one with us, since it's a spare anyway that we had bought for a daycare provider, and we'll try it - good to know that if I have to ff I can try that, at least to drive from the airport to a toysrus to buy a new one. That was my biggest fear, being stuck at the airport and not getting it installed properly to get out of there! I'd really like to keep her rf even over there so fingers crossed it works out.

I've been so stressed over the family stuff and coordinating a trip overseas last minute with a 2yr old/work/etc that I had totally forgotten the basics like the full 3 twists - thanks so much for saving my hide once again!

I think you have the right idea. I'm presuming the trip to England is a short-term thing? If it's just a few days, I would probably take the TF on the plane (don't check it,) use it forward-facing, and then give it an honest effort RFing in whatever car you are using in England.

One easy idea might be to take a small blanket and have your DD use it on the plane, then roll it up to use in lieu of a pool noodle if you think that would help.

If you can't get it in RFing, then put it in FFing, tethered if possible. If not possible, I would try to put her in the center of the rear seat so that she has as much head excursion room as possible.

Obviously at just over two we would all prefer to see her RFing. But I'm truthfully not sure that if purchasing a very expensive seat, which a) may be difficult to use and b) has no guarantee that it will fit, is the best solution to your problem.

The Radian folds, so it is nice for travel, but it can be a bear to install. The Britaxes are much easier installs, but are known for being outgrown early and are quite pricey. If she still fits, a Graco MyRide is relatively inexpensive, installs easily, and has no lockoffs, so it might be a good option if you feel strongly about purchasing a new seat.

Best of luck with travel and I hope you can get the carseat thing straightened out. It sounds like a stressor you don't need right now.

Glad you got it all sorted. I think you'll be just fine with the TF. I personally realy like the lock offs specifically for unknown cars. I found many cars in England do not have ALR seatbelts and many needed a locking clip (obviously not required with the TF). Definitely use it onboard the aircraft for both safety and comfort for your DD. If you're hoping she'll sleep, I would consider installing it FF (so she can see the TV screens) but using the RF recline foot so it's at a good recline for sleeping. I know it's not "proper" installation but IMO, I'm less concerned about typical vehicle collisions and more concerned about restraining my children during turbulence, take off and landing (abrupt stops or aborted take offs).