Keeping Seatbelts out of the Way for RF Toddlers

cat mommy

New member
So I understand you are supposed to buckle any unused seatbelts to keep RF toddlers from hurting themselves with them. We have our seats installed with LATCH in both cars. How do I buckle the seatbelts in those positions? Wouldn't that interfere with the car seat install?
 
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Pixels

New member
There are several ways you can do it. If you have captain's chairs, you can put the seat belt behind the seat, buckle and lock. In my car, I either shove the belt underneath the seat (there's a nice little tunnel under the Radian), buckle before installing with slack in the belt and lock after installing, or install first then buckle against the back of the seat, near where child's foot area is. No matter what, the belt does not go through the belt path, and it doesn't interfere with install.

If you have a Coccoro and a Ford, you can install tightly with LATCH and then loosely buckle the seat belt through the belt path and lock it to prevent the strangulation hazard.
 

KaiLing

New member
And if you have a VW, check your car's manual. I found explicit instructions In the car seat section of a VW (don't remember which one) for getting belts out if the way.
 

Pixels

New member
This is interesting. What about cars that have seat belts that lock at the buckle?

There's no need to worry about those. The danger with a switchable retractor is that the child plays with the belt, wraps it around their neck, switches the retractor, and strangles themself. Because the retractor is locked, there is no way for the child to unwrap the belt, and no way for the caregiver to do so, either. Often, the child is dead before anything can be found to cut the belt. It's a rare scenario, but it has happened about once or twice a year.

With a non-locking retractor, the child can simply unwrap the belt.
 

Jessica61624

New member
Pixels said:
There's no need to worry about those. The danger with a switchable retractor is that the child plays with the belt, wraps it around their neck, switches the retractor, and strangles themself. Because the retractor is locked, there is no way for the child to unwrap the belt, and no way for the caregiver to do so, either. Often, the child is dead before anything can be found to cut the belt. It's a rare scenario, but it has happened about once or twice a year.

With a non-locking retractor, the child can simply unwrap the belt.

Oh ok. I understand
 

Keeanh

Well-known member
This is interesting. What about cars that have seat belts that lock at the buckle?

I think if you were really super-worried about it, you could pull the belt out all the way and slide the latchplate so that all the slack was in the lap portion. Then put a locking clip on it and buckle it. If you stuffed the extra lap belt down in the seat bight, I can't imagine it would be in the way.

I like the idea of buckling behind a captain's chair. Of course, I don't use LATCH or have captains chairs, so it's all academic to me :D.
 

Jessica61624

New member
Keeanh said:
I think if you were really super-worried about it, you could pull the belt out all the way and slide the latchplate so that all the slack was in the lap portion. Then put a locking clip on it and buckle it. If you stuffed the extra lap belt down in the seat bight, I can't imagine it would be in the way. Maybe with a Radian you'd have to stash the loose lap belt behind the foot.

I use both out board seat belts and soon all 3 will be in use! I always keep the lap belt in the center buckled. My issue is with my son pulling the shoulder part out while I'm driving. He's been good about it recently.
 

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