Help! 2006 Subaru Legacy RF Anchor

mcsd33 · Aug 26, 2012

Hi All,

I have posted a couple of weeks ago and due to the response opted out of the Radian and have purchased a Britax. I have two questions.

1) when passing the seat belt through the clips am I to clip both the shoulder and the lap portion of the belt down it seems awful tight! I do have ALR seat belts so it does lock once completely pulled out and released.

2) I currently have it tethered to a bar that is part of the seat and not attached to the floor. I for some reason can not (even with removing the plastic casing) find a point on the floor to slip the D ring. through. The bar I am speaking about runs parallel to the ground but is under the seat itself. If the seat was moved (which it won't be) it would be pulled with the seat.

Also a side note! what a pain in the butt getting my LO in and out!! WOW the Subaru is a not very family friendly car.

I wouldn't be able to even get my guy in the seat if I tether it to the anchor behind the head rest which is currently holding a mirror... but nonetheless... it is out of the question. Also Subaru techs are absolutely unhelpful at my dealership so any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!!!

Marissa mt to G who at 6 months and 28" needed to move out of his Chicco 30 and into the Britax Advocate G3 ( it better last till college)

wendytthomas · Aug 26, 2012

mcsd33 said:
Hi All,

I have posted a couple of weeks ago and due to the response opted out of the Radian and have purchased a Britax. I have two questions.

1) when passing the seat belt through the clips am I to clip both the shoulder and the lap portion of the belt down it seems awful tight! I do have ALR seat belts so it does lock once completely pulled out and released.

Just pedantics, but you have switchable retractors. They switch from ELR to ALR when you pull them all the way out.

You need to open the lockoff (both arms) and then yes, both the lap and shoulder portions go under it. Then you close both arms. Use the palm of your hand to close it, not your fingers. You'll likely hurt your fingers if you try. You'll need to add weight to the seat, tighten the belt, then let a little slack back into it so you can close the lockoff (the one closest to the buckle only, ideally), then close it and you're done.

2) I currently have it tethered to a bar that is part of the seat and not attached to the floor. I for some reason can not (even with removing the plastic casing) find a point on the floor to slip the D ring. through. The bar I am speaking about runs parallel to the ground but is under the seat itself. If the seat was moved (which it won't be) it would be pulled with the seat.

I wouldn't. I'd attach it to the leg. I've not had problems in the Subarus before getting at tether point. I can't remember right now if they're easy or not, but I know I've done it (Subarus account for about 22% of the cars I'm in, and Britaxes are one of the most common convertibles I see, so you'd think it would have made *some* impression, but I'm drawing a blank. Must not have been anything special enough to remember).

Also a side note! what a pain in the butt getting my LO in and out!! WOW the Subaru is a not very family friendly car.

No, it's not. Maybe the front seats and trunk are, but the backseat is tricky. Do you have your baby in the middle? If so, that gives more room to maneuver to get him in and out of the seat, so less head bonkage. But, then you need to lean more into the car to get him in. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

If you have him on the side you can use LATCH and that may be easier than the lockoff.

I wouldn't be able to even get my guy in the seat if I tether it to the anchor behind the head rest which is currently holding a mirror... but nonetheless... it is out of the question. Also Subaru techs are absolutely unhelpful at my dealership so any info would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah, customer service reps at the car manufacturers generally have zero clues when it comes to carseats. But if they knew, we probably wouldn't have to be here. And I like doing this, so maybe it's personally a good thing they're generally clueless?

What the Australians do (that's how they tether. Then there's the seatbelt to install the seat, and an anti-rebound bar. It's a mess of straps) is loosen and tighten the tether every time they put their child in and out. It's an extra strap, but that does make it possible. However, if I had to deal with the flotsam and jetsam that they do to get their kids in and out, I'd be looking forward to switching to forward facing at six months as well. It is more work. And Australian tethering makes more sense in Australia, where they do have the anti-rebound bar already and so they need help with overrotation. That's not as much of a concern here for whatever reason, but the anti-rebound of the Swedish tethering is generally desired.

Just to show you, since I was just talking about it, here's a child in a Australian seat. Safe N Sound is Britax in Australia, btw. http://i50.tinypic.com/30j1qtt.jpg

Wendy