Britax seats and seatbelt lock-off question

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
So I have a friend who asked me to help her adjust her RF Marathon more upright in her van since she thought her husband did it incorrectly. I have my Decathlon installed with LATCH so I don't have any experience installing it with the belt (yet :) ). It was waaaay too reclined, but when we fixed that we were only able to get the one farthest away from the buckle to actually lock into place - they were both locked prior to adjusting the seat. The other side closest to the buckle kept popping open. So we just ratcheted the seat belt instead. At first I thought it was a defect with the seat, but another friend with a Decathlon says that the manual states that only the side farthest away from buckle actually needs to be locked. I know I could check my manual to verify, but that require me to uninstall my seat which I don't really want to do if I don't have to.

So does anyone know off hand what the correct installation is? One lock off or both? I also wanted to verify my understanding that you use either the lock offs or the ratcheted seat belt, but not both. Is this correct?
 
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oxeye

New member
Britax says you can use either, neither, or both of the lock-offs. The manual says to use the lock-off furthest from the buckle but techs have confirmed that Britax says it doesn't really matter.

Were you able to use the switchable retractor without causing the seat to tip to one side? If so, I'm impressed. I've never been able to use the switchable belts to install a RF convertible.
 

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
Britax says you can use either, neither, or both of the lock-offs. The manual says to use the lock-off furthest from the buckle but techs have confirmed that Britax says it doesn't really matter.

Were you able to use the switchable retractor without causing the seat to tip to one side? If so, I'm impressed. I've never been able to use the switchable belts to install a RF convertible.

It didn't appear to tip to one side. Once we got the seat really tight, I sat on the edge of the car seat closest to the retractor and tugged a little more. It may have been slightly angled, but I wouldn't say it was tipping to one side. The install was really solid even before we used the tether.

So I take it is not a car seat defect that the other lock-off closest to the buckle won't lock? I am assuming it won't stay closed because of the added thickness of the seatbelt at that point, but it's weird that she was able to lock it before we adjusted it, but neither of us was able to get it to stay closed afterwards. We didn't even undo the seatbelt, we just opened the lock-offs, introduced some slack in the seatbelt, adjusted the seat upright and re-tightened the belt.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
The manual for DD1's manual says to use the lock-off farthest from the buckle, so that is what we do. It is a 2003 model though and I know that later models have different wording. I always use the lock-offs even though they are unneccessary in my car (lightweight locking latchplates). We're driving my mom's car this week and I tried not using the lockoffs and just using the locking retractor but it made the seat tip. So, I re-installed it using the one lockoff, and then locked the seatbelt.
 

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