News Forget parent error: Car designs make seats hard to install

MonkeyMama · Apr 12, 2012

Article from MSNBC I thought was intersting and true.

http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_ne...r-car-designs-make-seats-hard-to-install?lite

Baylor · Apr 12, 2012

Edited for stupidity... See there I go again. I am not reading things clearly. I read it as Car Seat design.. I think I need to go back to bed.

Brianna · Apr 12, 2012

My mom was telling me to watch the news from this morning- I think it's the live segment to the article. I'll be interested to see it when I get home. I prefer installing with a seat belt most of the time, so whether LATCH is easy or hard to access doesn't bother me all that much yet. Except when top tethers can only be accessed by folding down or sliding a seat forward. That I *hate*.

java · Apr 12, 2012

Fixed headrests, formed seats, rigid belt stocks, buried latch anchors, humps in the middle of the backseat, seatbelts too far forward in 3rd rows....I agree, the cars are designed for adults sitting in the back not children and carseats.

cmcki737 · Apr 12, 2012

We have burried LATCH in my Mazda 3 and we have never cut them out, my husband freaked when I even suggested it :-/ my XL7 on the other hand was made for car seats with 3 easy to reach sets of LATCH and 5 locking seat belts.

jeminijad · Apr 12, 2012

For those of you who do checks-

Would you say you see more of the types of problems the article describes (inaccessible LATCH/tether anchors leading to misues) or other types, such as harness misuse?

christineka · Apr 12, 2012

jeminijad said:
For those of you who do checks-

Would you say you see more of the types of problems the article describes (inaccessible LATCH/tether anchors leading to misues) or other types, such as harness misuse?

I tend to see problems all over. Probably half the correct installs are done by either seatbelt or latch. There are lots of problems with harnessing incorrectly from harness in the wrong slots to loose harnesses and belly clips.

glockchick · Apr 12, 2012

Problems are all over the board. I have yet to have a newer vehicle come into a check so I can't comment on that part.

There will always be some vehicles that are tricky or impossible to get a car seat into. (Like the middle seats of my '99 suburban

)

My completely off the cuff, non-educated reaction is that yes some cars are harder than others, but it's always been that way.

HEVY · Apr 12, 2012

My ex has a 2011 sonata and I had the hardest time fitting the FR85 in it. The middle has a hump and I can't even raise the headrest there. The outboard seats are too narrow for the seat to fit properly and the headrest reaches the top at an acceptable height. The belt does not stay in the guide, the latch is really deep inside the seat and the tether anchor is too close to the seat it doesn't tighten enough. Totally not child seat friendly of any kind. Ex argued because it's a new car, I told just because it's new doesn't mean better.

glockchick · Apr 12, 2012

HEVY said:
My ex has a 2011 sonata and I had the hardest time fitting the FR85 in it. The middle has a hump and I can't even raise the headrest there. The outboard seats are too narrow for the seat to fit properly and the headrest reaches the top at an acceptable height. The belt does not stay in the guide, the latch is really deep inside the seat and the tether anchor is too close to the seat it doesn't tighten enough. Totally not child seat friendly of any kind. Ex argued because it's a new car, I told just because it's new doesn't mean better.

Yes, but the Frontier is one of the largest seats on the market. I wouldn't expect it to fit well in one of the smallest cars.

That said, I have a FR85 in the middle of my Civic and it's super easy to get in. Now nobody else can comfortably ride in the back seat when it's back there, but the seat works.

christineka · Apr 12, 2012

My civic's top tether anchors are so close to the seat that I can't usually tighten the top tether appropriately. The latch is buried, but I use the seatbelt and that works fine for me.

VoodooChile · Apr 12, 2012

Some scary stuff in the Comments section (and I don't mean the obvious trolls).

Phineasmama · Apr 12, 2012

Yeah some seats in some vehicles in some positions in said vehicle are a complete pain. But the only time I've ever had a REAL issue is trying to get 3 across in my CRV.

I find it highly amusing that the idiots commenting on that post are saying that women can't install car seats and you must be like a huge man and over 200 lbs in order to get it in there tight enough. Srsly???

Kat_Momof3 · Apr 12, 2012

cars need to be designed to anticipate kids and their seats.... and I wanna see rigid latch be as common here as in other countries... that (when the cars are designed to make connecting it easy) is the easiest way to install... only room for error then is the top tether.

Syllieann · Apr 12, 2012

The comments are scary. I do think it's pretty stupid that everybody says to install in the center but most cars don't allow latch installation in the center. Is it any surprise that parents are borrowing when it's not allowed?

Phineasmama · Apr 12, 2012

Syllieann said:
The comments are scary. I do think it's pretty stupid that everybody says to install in the center but most cars don't allow latch installation in the center. Is it any surprise that parents are borrowing when it's not allowed?

Yeah that and the fact that everyone seems to think that LATCH is the best/safest install method no matter what.

NannyMom · Apr 12, 2012

jeminijad said:
For those of you who do checks-

Would you say you see more of the types of problems the article describes (inaccessible LATCH/tether anchors leading to misues) or other types, such as harness misuse?

I have been saying for years that vehicles are the biggest part of the problem. When I had a hard time finding a seat for the center of my dad's CRV, he commented the carseats should be made easier to install and I quickly corrected that vehicles need to be more standard. LATCH was designed to help make them all standard, but I think it failed miserably.

Yes, parents fail to read the instruction manuals. But there would be sooooo much less room for error if we could get better back seats

longstocking · Apr 12, 2012

When visiting my parents they were our primary transport, but they have a Chevy Aveo. Fixed headrests so I couldn't install my Maestro FF. My dad is a big and tall guy in a small car so there was no room to RF. I ended up RF the Roundabout behind the passenger seat but my older (30 something years!) whiny sister who also relied on mom and dad for her rides (don't ask

) took the seat out every time she had to ride in there so I installed that thing any time we needed to go somewhere - big nightmare!

Brianna · Apr 13, 2012

ugh :hitselfonhead::banginghead: I watched my local news channel's clip on this. All they talked about was how difficult it was to access the lower anchors and most parents think the top tether is mandatory. Except they called everything LATCH and didn't suggest installing with the seat belt if LATCH doesn't work, they didn't mention LATCH limits or to check if center LATCH is allowed in your car. They didn't even mention reading the manual!

I can't believe how unhelpful and probably harmful their segment was.

My mom- a smart woman who hasn't installed a car seat since I was a kid- gave me her take on it. She said the way she interpreted it, she would install with a seat belt then LATCH it, because they said LATCH is always required. I'm sure if she had to install a seat she would RTM but with remembering the news clip she would probably still install with seat belt and LATCH.

tanyaandallie · Apr 13, 2012

I was not a fan of this article AT ALL. I do recognize that vehicles do not always make it easy but I do not believe that vehicles are the biggest problem. If the average person actually read the manual AND followed the manual, most of the problems we see at seat checks would not be there. Most problems I have seen at seat checks have nothing at all to do with the vehicle.

I am also not a fan of an article that quotes the sr. vp for research as if she is an expert and also quotes a child psychologist.

News Forget parent error: Car designs make seats hard to install

Member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Well-known member

New member

New member

Senior Community Member

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics