2 Frontier 90 questions I haven't seen yet

2BunniesMommy

Well-known member
First, for anyone who has one.

Do you find it hard to open the Click tight to uninstall? I have done it 3 times now, and it is much hard than without the belt in.

Second, for anyone who knows, or even just your opinion.

If a TA is not available, would you prefer a 90 because of the Safe cell, or an 85 with the long belt path?
 
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NannyMom

Well-known member
I know the 1st time I tried to open the click tight while installed, 1 side was a little stuck. I'll try again later.
 

JOII

Active member
Darren and I found it very hard to open while installed so we unbuckled the belt first then opened the click tight and it was super easy after that.
 

mrosehughes

New member
I also had to unbuckle the first time I tried to uninstall; the clicktight was stuck on one side.

And I'd probably choose lbp over safe cell without a top anchor, but with a lighter child would probably be ok using either (85 with lbp or 90 with safe cell) without a tether in a pinch.
 

duckmama

New member
I'm interested in the answer about the ta as well. My dd will be riding with dad soon whose only hope if installing would be the click tight but his explorer has no ta and our frontier 85 takes a long time to install. She is 47lbs and 5.5 years, unsure of height but over 47 in for sure.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
Maybe I'd better keep my FR85 around for a while. After the next growth spurt, DD will be too big to RF in the only RF seat we have that's compatible with DH's pickup truck (CA65). The Radian absolutely does not work in there. She'll have to FF without a tether after that unless we can find a suitable spot to install one; no retrofit is available. I think the LBP with the FR85 will work nicely. The trick is going to be teaching DH to install it. I'm going to have to get all formal-CPST on him and treat him like a client, I guess. He does (marginally) OK with the CA, pool noodles and all, even when he had to use the locking clip before we got new belts in the truck. So hopefully the LBP won't be over his head.
 

Athena

Well-known member
I hadn't thought of the unbuckling. However, when I tried it, it got totally stuck (like I was about to panic stuck) and I discovered if you push down on the seat of the seat, the release pushes in super easily.

I find it really interesting that people think the LBP is better for head excursion because a big part of my wanting the 90 was for the safe cell, to reduce head excursion in our small (front to back) rear seat. As far as I know, we have no data on this though, right? Still, I hope I'm doing the right thing. There are things I prefer about the 85, but that super easy install of the 90 compared to LBP is seriously winning me over.
 

katymyers

Active member
Darren and I found it very hard to open while installed so we unbuckled the belt first then opened the click tight and it was super easy after that.

That's not so bad though. I have a hard time undoing the lock offs on my boulevards and I've found that it helps to unbuckle the seat belt first. It's actually a habit now and I've even noticed it made it easier to undo the one on my Snugride 35 :p
 

2BunniesMommy

Well-known member
I did unbuckle and it was still super hard to get it to open.

The vehicle in question without a TA is DH's 1997 Expedition. I think I remember reading on here that Ford no longer does the free TAs and another reason I haven't looked into it is because our local dealer is less than average (in knowledge) and it sounds like other places with bigger dealerships are usually not aware of what needs done. So, I haven't felt like even trying to deal with them. DH got the Expedition in January. The kids are in it less than once a week. We always use the car when we are together or if I am home and just he and the kids are going somewhere. I always will drive the Expedition to work so he has the car if we know ahead of time he is going to have to go places and those places don't require truck features. (like the day he plans on going to the dump, he doesn't get my car)

DD2 is 43 lbs. I have been mostly comfortable with the long belt path being safe for her without the TA, but since the seat is not as tight as I would like, I am now thinking I want a 90 in there. It moves less than an inch, but I prefer no movement.
 

nataliem257

New member
Am I the only one that wonders why they didn't have the seat belt run behind the headrest when you do the click tight the way you do in LBP? I see no reason why they wouldn't do it that way, so you can get the best of both worlds. Obviously I'm doing it the way the manual says, but its food for thought. In answer to the question about no tether, I would take the safe cell over LBP personally, if for no other reason than I can't see Britax taking a step backwards in crash performance, so the numbers have to be better.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
The vehicle in question without a TA is DH's 1997 Expedition. I think I remember reading on here that Ford no longer does the free TAs and another reason I haven't looked into it is because our local dealer is less than average (in knowledge) and it sounds like other places with bigger dealerships are usually not aware of what needs done. So, I haven't felt like even trying to deal with them.

Ford still does free TAs in the US, not in Canada, last I checked.

If you have a problem with them not doing it, corporate should back you up, but I know many people who have not had a problem with Ford dealers on TAs (though there are always a few...)

If you have an issue or just prefer, you could always buy a HDTA and put it in the approved retrofit spot yourself.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
If you have an issue or just prefer, you could always buy a HDTA and put it in the approved retrofit spot yourself.

Going off on a tangent, I understand SafeSeat is where you're supposed to get "universal" anchors now, but I haven't been able to find any ordering information anywhere. Anybody know who you call or what part # you order or how much it costs?
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Am I the only one that wonders why they didn't have the seat belt run behind the headrest when you do the click tight the way you do in LBP? I see no reason why they wouldn't do it that way, so you can get the best of both worlds. Obviously I'm doing it the way the manual says, but its food for thought. In answer to the question about no tether, I would take the safe cell over LBP personally, if for no other reason than I can't see Britax taking a step backwards in crash performance, so the numbers have to be better.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. We know that theoretically LBP makes HE lower, but what's to say that the Click Tight and SafeCell don't perform any better? Somehow I'm voting Britax wouldn't regress in HE performance, either.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
In the absence of a statement from Britax, I wouldn't assume that HE numbers are better (or even as good) on an untethered FR90 than they are on an untethered, LBP FR85.

It seems totally reasonable to me that Britax could decide that improving the "proper use" was a higher priority than a few points on the HE scale.

I'm not saying that's the case. Maybe the FR90 really does get better HE numbers. I have no idea. I'm just saying that unless I hear differently from Britax I'm not going to assume that all improvements to a seat have to do with crash-test improvements. Reducing the rate of mis-use seems to have been the #1 top priority for the FR90, and an admirable priority at that.
 

nataliem257

New member
In the absence of a statement from Britax, I wouldn't assume that HE numbers are better (or even as good) on an untethered FR90 than they are on an untethered, LBP FR85.

It seems totally reasonable to me that Britax could decide that improving the "proper use" was a higher priority than a few points on the HE scale.

I'm not saying that's the case. Maybe the FR90 really does get better HE numbers. I have no idea. I'm just saying that unless I hear differently from Britax I'm not going to assume that all improvements to a seat have to do with crash-test improvements. Reducing the rate of mis-use seems to have been the #1 top priority for the FR90, and an admirable priority at that.

If I remember correctly, Darren posted a while back that Britax did state that the 90 improved on crash performance, although I don't think they mentioned in which areas specifically. I could be remembering wrong though.
 

Athena

Well-known member
If I remember correctly, Darren posted a while back that Britax did state that the 90 improved on crash performance, although I don't think they mentioned in which areas specifically. I could be remembering wrong though.

I hope that's true. Otherwise, I wouldn't get one.
 

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