Tether Anchors-Always free?

I am under the impression that all tether anchors put in are free. I've had many people tell me when they go to dealerships that only the first is free and that they had to pay for the others. It doesn't make sense to me since they are reimbursed for putting the anchors in.

So are the dealerships just trying to make money off of people or is it really only 1 per vehicle is free?

Thanks

The first was free for us.
The second cost us about $70 or so.

Usually only the first is free. It can vary by car maker though - I think there are a couple who will do two for free.

It depends on what make of car it is. Some don't do any anchors for free. Some do one. Some do all. If you're buying the car from a dealer, they'll usually throw in the anchors for free if you mention it, but after you own the car, you're on your own.

Twice now I have had to have more than 1 anchor put in a minivan (96 & 99 Caravans) and the first time I paid for 1 out of 4 and this time I have gotten all 3 free. Depends on the dealership and if they want to charge for the additional ones or not.

Depends on manufacturer and dealership. It takes all of 5 minutes, and is $10 in parts, so if they do charge it's usually around $40 ($70 is INSANE)... But there's nothing stopping you from going to multiple dealerships! Toyota is usually a PITA about installing even one, and then places like Ford will cover as many anchors as you need (for free)...IME.

-N.

There are some vehicles where it's a lot more than a 5 minute job. In fact, I know at least one model requires the shop to remove the gas tank to do the installation.

I've heard that there are a few Euro cars that installation is an issue for (Renault, for one) but they're not too common in Canada.. I would be interested in knowing about some others if you can recall which.

-N.

Some are totally free for all, some free for one, some I just paid for the parts. Chevy dealership is where i got as many as i wanted totally free. I have a buick. The one buick place will only do 1 for free, and won't tell you how much each extra would cost. I can't remember the other dealership, but they just charged me for the parts. I had a dodge caravan. They wouldn't do any near the gas tank.

Grand Voyager.

Also, the LATCH manual says, "MY-99 Camry owner's manual states that the dealer must do a modification on the filler panel to be able to install an outboard Tether Anchor." IIRC, this is because of the location of the speakers.

Not sure if this is different in Canada; in the US different manufacturers have different policies (as other posters have noted). Also, different dealerships have different responses on implementing the policy. For example, we have dealt with tether anchors for three older vehicles -- Ford, Toyota, Chevy. With Ford, we called several dealerships, and eventually found one that ordered and installed all three anchors for free (other dealerships would do one anchor for free). The Toyota dealer was able to find the parts fairly easily (after initially ordering the wrong thing once), and we paid for them -- there never was any suggestion that Toyota would do anything for free. Chevy has a company policy of one free tether anchor, but even with the service bulletin number in hand (which we got from a carseat forum like this one), we had a heck of a time getting a dealer to do/find anything for us. Part of their trouble was a liability concern -- our Chevy is a pickup truck, with no pre-installed weld nuts, so drilling and installation is required. We persisted and persisted, and eventually they figured out what the part number was, ordered one kit, and gave it to us (free) to install ourselves.

As for ease of installation, this is NOT always a 10-minute proposition. The Ford dealership had our car for several hours, and had to get a second person involved in the installation at several points. I was watching from the edge of the service area, so I'm not sure what all the problems were, but I think they had a lot of trouble getting the plugs out of the weld nuts, or maybe there was some rust in the weld nuts also. On our Toyota, I have yet to install the anchor kits, but I will have to measure carefully, and then cut several large holes in a plastic trim piece to even get to the weld nuts, so that will also be much more than a 10-minute job. The pickup (Chevy) was a fairly easy installation, but access was difficult because we have a cap on the truck, so getting the necessary parts in between the back of the truck cab and the front of the cap was very fiddly because I couldn't get my arm into the space.

Katrin

Mine was a 10 minute job but I think we sat there for 2-3 hours. After a hour or an hour and a half, thats when the asked me for my trunk key. DUH you'd have to open the trunk to install them. lol Thats when i knew there was alot of sitting going on back there, and not alot of working.

I have had two tether anchors put in for free twice. Two in a 1992 Buick LeSabre and also two in a 1994 Ford Bronco. I am not sure if all companies do it this way though.

Call corporate and see what they say about their tether anchor retrofitting (you may need to call more than once, I had to both times...they can be clueless too).

I was emailed a info sheet to take to my dealership about the retrofitting program I think both times I did it. GM after about 3 weeks of calls and emails was actually really great and they actually called my local dealership for me (wow!) and set everything up and had someone from the dealership call me back to make the appointment date.

It's always been a pain in the rear for me to have them done (dealerships being clueless, Ford telling me they don't make tether anchors anymore, etc :thumbsdown, but definately worth it.

You are right that it may be different in Canada. In fact, Canada started requiring tether anchors before the US did, which is why so many "older" US vehicles can be retrofitted.

I admit this has not been something I've not paid attention to in the past but my Mother has a older car now that has no tethers and I want to have one tether installed BEFORE our next visit(in August) just in case my DS needs to go in her car.

So to clarify for me..in most cases or always the first tether is installed free by the dealership?

I am going to assume that the dealership is clueless about this service and I will need to spoon feed then the info.
Do need I need the order parts information or will they have it? We are in Canada if that makes a difference.


Its a 1989 Pontiac Grand Am(My Mother was sooo not impressed when my father handed her the keys)

According to the LATCH manual (Pontiac, page 246):

Tether anchor retrofit program: General Motors will provide and install free of charge one Child Restraint (CR) Top Tether Hardware Package for anchoring in most 1989 and later vehicles. The free installation must be for a forward-facing CR in one rear-seat seating position. (See Service Bulletin, page 133.)

Click to expand...

The bulletin is actually on page 129, and it is Bulletin No.: 99-09-40-004 from January, 2000. Not sure if it's different in Canada.

mommyto4kiddos said:

Mine was a 10 minute job but I think we sat there for 2-3 hours. After a hour or an hour and a half, thats when the asked me for my trunk key. DUH you'd have to open the trunk to install them. lol Thats when i knew there was alot of sitting going on back there, and not alot of working.

Click to expand...

You're right, in the installation I witnessed (our 1990 Ford), there were extended periods of head-scratching, reading the little instruction sheet that came with the kit, consulting with other service people, wandering off to get tools, chatting with co-workers and/or going off for a while to help them with their projects, LOL. However, the actual total period of working on the vehicle was also significant, somewhat to my surprise, since I had assumed it would be a very quick simple project.

Katrin

I got mine installed at a Chrysler dealership on my old car- they told me that the first one was free and the second one would be billed to me. However, after they did the work, they didn't charge me a penny. From what I've heard, it's up to each dealership to decide, or perhaps even it depends on if you're a regular customer or not.

Depends on your vehicle.

I have a 1997 Jeep TJ and Jeep Chrysler refused to install them...They will only do 2003+ Jeeps.
We were told to by some anchors and take them to Canadian Tire.

We're choked because we can't afford a new car and don't trust that they will be put in properly by anyone other than the dealer