Cargo tiedowns

scariestone · Sep 19, 2012

Good thing, yes? We're driving from home to Disneyland in a couple weeks(eek!) and I just need to make sure we're as safe as possible. We will have a little cooler in the back seat but its pretty lightweight and is pretty much jammed in there so I'm not worried about that. The trunk situation however....I drive a 2011 subaru forester so there is no trunk, just a cargo area. I do know to put heaviest stuff on the bottom and try to have nothing that would be loose and flying around the car. So I want to put cargo straps over the stuff back there right? I just didn't want to assume and be wrong.

While I would love to get the fancy guard thing subaru sells that bolts to the car frame to separate the cargo from the passenger compartment, I'm almost certain you can't tether a ff seat through one.

canadiangie · Sep 19, 2012

scariestone said:
Good thing, yes? We're driving from home to Disneyland in a couple weeks(eek!) and I just need to make sure we're as safe as possible. We will have a little cooler in the back seat but its pretty lightweight and is pretty much jammed in there so I'm not worried about that. The trunk situation however....I drive a 2011 subaru forester so there is no trunk, just a cargo area. I do know to put heaviest stuff on the bottom and try to have nothing that would be loose and flying around the car. So I want to put cargo straps over the stuff back there right? I just didn't want to assume and be wrong. While I would love to get the fancy guard thing subaru sells that bolts to the car frame to separate the cargo from the passenger compartment, I'm almost certain you can't tether a ff seat through one.

Tethering is next to impossible as the product gets screwed into the tether anchors. You can unbolt one side, sort of, and attached a tether if you're okay with routing the tether through the 'grid' (which I'm mostly not, and especially if it's a suction grid or in your case a now partially uninstalled grid) but its kind of a disaster, and impossible if you have a v-shaped tether a la Britax.

I'd pack thoughtfully and use tie-downs.

I use laundry baskets for our clothing. If the clothing flies I don't care, and laundry baskets are fairly light compared to a 20lb suitcase. I Beco my youngest and bring only the lightest weight stroller possible (or not at all). Playpen if I bring one gets pushed as far forward in the cargo area as possible. Anything questionable gets put on the floor of the front passenger seat. I often sit in the back with the LO's anyway.

scariestone · Sep 19, 2012

That's what I pretty much figured on the tethers with the cargo thing. The heaviest thing in the car by far besides people is DS's folding wagon so that will for sure go on the bottom. He hasn't fit in a stroller for a couple years so our awesome 11lb stroller sitting in the shed isn't an option. :/ I just worry about stuff flying into the back of DS's head but with tie downs everything should be more or less immobile. IIRC there are quite a few cargo anchors back there to work with. Thanks!