Mazda5 Review

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Namegirl

Senior Community Member
I know, they fit like a dream. But I need a new seat for dd, ideally to fit her from ages 5 to 8. A booster, even with a harness, is not my first choice.

I've successfully installed a Regent in the 2nd and 3rd rows of my Mazda 5, if that's a seat you're looking into.
 

musicmaj

New member
Debbie,
So ez-on doesn't have a solution for you? Just wondering if you ever heard back from them.

Have you ever considered using the ride safer vest or maybe the new sunshine kids monterey would work since it adjusts so high and would make the belt fit your kids right.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
Oh, Namegirl, do you HATE me?? Now I have to go play with it yet again! You got a Regent in the third row WITH the recline bar?? HOW??? I get way, way too much front-to-back movement. Is your Regent super-reclined or something? I don't think I've tried that yet...

I haven't heard back from EZ-On yet. *shrug* I've tried re-contacting them but I'm still waiting. :( I do have a lead on getting the heavy-weight anchors installed; the body shop that fixed my VW after the wreck ordered pizza the other day, and in chatting with him he said he thinks he could do it. Not sure how, though, and I have to get it in so he can look at it, but he did seem to have a very good grasp of the situation.

The RSTV would be too cumbersome to put on and off every time we got in or out of the vehicle. Plus, it only goes to 80 lbs; for a long-term solution I need more than that.

The booster's height won't make a difference. As soon as I add a booster to the seat, the belt being too far forward becomes a head-excursion risk, and being higher doesn't correct that. If I use the seating position without a booster, the belt being too far forward creates a real-life-use problem, since even the most mature child won't always sit perfectly positioned behind it.
 

Namegirl

Senior Community Member
Oh, Namegirl, do you HATE me?? Now I have to go play with it yet again! You got a Regent in the third row WITH the recline bar?? HOW??? I get way, way too much front-to-back movement. Is your Regent super-reclined or something? I don't think I've tried that yet...

LOL. I had access to a friend's Regent one afternoon and was able to install it in the 3rd row. Any child would probably need the 2nd row seat moved up quite a bit to get appropriate leg room.

Let's see if I can remember...it definitely had the recline bar. We put the bar in just by hand--no pounding it in with a hammer or anything. First I pushed against the edge of the seat with my knees to push it back into the seatback. Then, sort of holding it in that position, I climbed on top of it to push it downward into the seat . I hope I'm explaining that right. First pushing it back away from me and then pushing it down. Then it took a lot of "feeding" with the seat belt (while still kneeling on it). It was one of those centimeter-by-centimeter installs where you have to pull on the seat belt in a lot of different places to get it tight.

And it worked! I turned the headrest around and tethered it and it was a pretty great install.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
With both the Husky w/recline bar and Radian in the rear row, I can get acceptable side-to-side, but way too much front-to-back movement. So, sounds like I need more compression? I can't figure out what I'm doing differently, what you described is my "standard" method of installing any seat. :confused:

Dh is going to be SO thrilled when I tell him I need to go play with the carseats again LOL!
 

Namegirl

Senior Community Member
Hmmm. Maybe I just got lucky? I don't know! I can't think of anything else to add...

Let me know after you try it again.
 

mcomommy

New member
LOL. I had access to a friend's Regent one afternoon and was able to install it in the 3rd row. Any child would probably need the 2nd row seat moved up quite a bit to get appropriate leg room.

Let's see if I can remember...it definitely had the recline bar. We put the bar in just by hand--no pounding it in with a hammer or anything. First I pushed against the edge of the seat with my knees to push it back into the seatback. Then, sort of holding it in that position, I climbed on top of it to push it downward into the seat . I hope I'm explaining that right. First pushing it back away from me and then pushing it down. Then it took a lot of "feeding" with the seat belt (while still kneeling on it). It was one of those centimeter-by-centimeter installs where you have to pull on the seat belt in a lot of different places to get it tight.

And it worked! I turned the headrest around and tethered it and it was a pretty great install.

Score!! There is hope, lol
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
My apologies Namegirl! I got it in with the recline bar, both LBP and SBP. I even left the recline bar in because I got a tighter install than without it (both were acceptable, though). I'm going to go add a note to my previous post to correct that it's not possible. :eek:

It's considerably less upright than my usual installs, that's what was causing the problem the first time I tried. Generally every FF seat I install is very, very upright (moreso than most). I'm not sure if I'll leave the recline bar in; if I had a Regent and it was required, I'd be okay with it, but I can't decide if slightly tighter is better than more upright. I think I'm going to post a question about that to see what the general consenus is! :D
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
UPDATE!

My thanks to everyone who's been following this thread. We finally have a long-term, acceptable solution to the problem with the rear-row seatbelts.

EZ-On has been working with us the past couple of months, and has created a custom 86Y harness that does not require installing the heavy-duty tether anchors. It works by using the lower seat belt anchors instead of a tether anchor. Instead of having one hook in the back, it splits and has two heavy-duty anchors that attach to seat belt anchors on either side. It looks like this:

IMG_1204.jpg


Connie, whom I believe is the owner of EZ-On products, is my new hero! I am so relieved to finally have a long-term solution for this problem, that retains the usability of all four seats for whatever seating arrangement I want. I would like to add that she very graciously provided this custom harness at no additional cost to us - she simply asked that we exchange our original 86Y's for the new custom ones.
 
Last edited:

singingpond

New member
UPDATE!
EZ-On has been working with us the past couple of months, and has created a custom 86Y harness that does not require installing the heavy-duty tether anchors. It works by using the lower seat belt anchors instead of a tether anchor. Instead of having one hook in the back, it splits and has two heavy-duty anchors that attach to seat belt anchors on either side.

I've been interested in your problems with the EZ-On tether point since you first posted quite a while ago -- congratulations on getting a solution! It's really great that EZ-On was willing to make this effort to work something out for you.

I wonder if they may make this solution more generally available? It would encourage me to consider this product more seriously.... I have thought about using the 86Y in the backseat center of our smaller car (older Corolla), which has a lap belt only. The existing tether anchor position could probably be drilled out to accomodate the heavier anchor. However, in this particular vehicle the tether anchor position is all the way at the back of the station wagon cargo area, so a strap attached to the tether anchor runs diagonally down and back right through the cargo area -- very inconvenient. If I could attach to seat belt anchors, that would be more workable. I'll have to see if I can open your photo, to see how this modified setup works....

ETA: where is the photo? I tried opening the link that I saw when I quoted your message, but Photobucket says the page is not found? It's also not showing up in-line in your message... not sure if you changed something since you posted, or if the problem is at my end...

Katrin
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I wonder if they may make this solution more generally available? It would encourage me to consider this product more seriously.... I have thought about using the 86Y in the backseat center of our smaller car (older Corolla), which has a lap belt only. The existing tether anchor position could probably be drilled out to accomodate the heavier anchor. However, in this particular vehicle the tether anchor position is all the way at the back of the station wagon cargo area, so a strap attached to the tether anchor runs diagonally down and back right through the cargo area -- very inconvenient. If I could attach to seat belt anchors, that would be more workable. I'll have to see if I can open your photo, to see how this modified setup works....

I'm really not sure. The woman I was working with seemed surprised to find that I could access the seat belt anchors so easily. Plus, anchoring this way was our ONLY option; it was more than just a matter of convenience, though maybe the only difference would be in the fee?

ETA: where is the photo? I tried opening the link that I saw when I quoted your message, but Photobucket says the page is not found? It's also not showing up in-line in your message... not sure if you changed something since you posted, or if the problem is at my end...

No, sorry, my bad. I decided after I posted to put all my 86Y pics in a single folder but I forgot it would break the posted links! I think I've got it fixed now. :)
 

southpawboston

New member
The woman I was working with seemed surprised to find that I could access the seat belt anchors so easily.

hmm... in most cars i've had that have a fold-down rear seat, the seatbelt anchors were quite easy to access! the only i've had in which the anchors were not plainly accessible were sedans that didn't have fold-down rear seats.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
hmm... in most cars i've had that have a fold-down rear seat, the seatbelt anchors were quite easy to access! the only i've had in which the anchors were not plainly accessible were sedans that didn't have fold-down rear seats.

From the outboard, too? I'll have to go look, but it seems like the ones in our Golf are buried by the seat bottom. :shrug-shoulders: All I know is she asked me to send pics of how I could access both ends of the seat belt, and then after we got the harness she admitted she was concerned about the clamps being too big to fit in the narrow space. I'll admit, it was a very tight squeeze on the outboard side and I'm glad we won't be removing it!
 

bombedier

Senior Community Member
This has been a great thread - I am looking at donating 2 Regents to a Mazda5 owner with a third child seat, so good to know the Regent installs well in both center and third row.

Thanks!
 

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