Forward of the Bight Seatbelts

tl01

New member

• Sep 27, 2007

• #1

I hear about these a lot on the board and am wondering if someone can post a picture of one so I can better understand what everyone is talking about. I'm wondering if my car has them and if I'll have a problem with my seats once we switch from LATCH to seat belt.
Thanks!

 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member

• Sep 27, 2007

• #2

Here's a picture of my Radian installed with forward of the bight seatbelts...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1059/980610250_183bdc014d.jpg?v=0

This is a close-up shot of the buckle stalk... I had to twist it two full 360 degree twists to get a great install...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1411/980609912_80dce0ad90.jpg?v=0

You can see how the buckle stalk comes up out of the seat instead of from the crack of the seat bight.

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Sep 27, 2007

• #3

aidensmom, HOW did you do that?? Yours are further forward than mine in the Mazda 5 rear row and I simply couldn't to it. The stalk will twist 2.5 times and absolutely no more than that. Locking clip made no difference - it would get tighter & tighter side-to-side, but I could easily pull it forward at least 3 inches.
We even had the recline thingie down like you have in your pic.

 

tl01

New member

• Sep 27, 2007

• #4

Thank you! So basically it means that the seat belt sticks up high. I was imagining that the belt was further forward or some thing like that.

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Sep 27, 2007

• #5

tl01 said:

Thank you! So basically it means that the seat belt sticks up high. I was imagining that the belt was further forward or some thing like that.

Click to expand...

No, you were right - forward of the bight means further forward. While the stalks in the pic she posted are long, they are ALSO forward of the bight - see how they aren't in the seat "crack" (aka bight)? Some vehicles with short stalks have forward-of-the-bight stalks, too.

 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member

• Sep 27, 2007

• #6

Start with the seat about 1 - 1.5 inches out from the seat bight. Kneel in the seat and push *down*, not back. Pull excess shoulder belt from the back of the seat, through the velcro side openings, to the front of the seat. Pull straight up and in towards the center of the carseat to get all the slack out of the lap portion of the seatbelt.

With lightweight locking latchplates (which my van has), I just feed the remaining shoulder portion back into the retractor and all done. Otherwise, read on...

Then, with switchable belts (mazda5 has those right), pull remaining shoulder portion out to engage ALR and feed all shoulder portion back in. Carefully unbuckle and allow 2 - 3 clicks to retract and then one person kneels in seat leaning towards buckle side while the other person rebuckles seat. Check for movement... if it's not tight enough, repeat unbuckle, let retract a few clicks and rebuckle. This is definitely the tough part, but it's worked every time for me.

The trick is to be very careful that you are pushing the seat down and never back. You want the cushion to totally compress to keep the seat in place since there will be some space between the seatback and bottom 1/4 of the back of the carseat.

I haven't had a chance to install in the Mazda5 yet, but these tricks work perfectly for the CX-7, CX-9 and the MazdaSpeed3. The CX-7 and CX-9 are actually really easy to do, the Speed3 takes a little more effort.

Hope some of that helps. Happy playing!

ETA: The recline only needs to be down when I install in the center of that 3rd row. The two outboard positions of the 3rd row do not require me to use the recline at all. Three across in my 3rd row, all independent of each other...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1063/980610484_abcb043909.jpg?v=0

 

tl01

New member

• Sep 27, 2007

• #7

Defrost said:

No, you were right - forward of the bight means further forward. While the stalks in the pic she posted are long, they are ALSO forward of the bight - see how they aren't in the seat "crack" (aka bight)? Some vehicles with short stalks have forward-of-the-bight stalks, too.

Click to expand...

I'm going to investigate my seat belts tomorrow. Perhaps I'll take a pic too. I have a feeling mine might be foward of the bight

 

CRS

Senior Community Member

• Sep 28, 2007

• #8

Forward of the seat bight, means that the actual seatbelt buckle/stalk is quite far away from the seat bight, which is the line/slit where the vehicle seat bottom cushion and the back of the vehicle seat meet. I've uploaded a picture for you to see:

The red line is the seat bight

The green line demonstrates how far away the seat belt buckle is from the seat bight.

Seat belt buckles/stalks that are too far forward of the seat bight can sometimes make it super hard (or darn near impossible for some seats) to get a nice solid install. How far forward my buckles are from the seat bight in my vehicle is really borderline but I can still install most car seats in there. It can take a bit of practice though!

Hope that helps!

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Sep 28, 2007

• #9

Thanks aidensmom. I tried it again, with it pulled forward and reclined, and I *might* be able to it with someone helping and the Husky that's next to it out of the way, but that'll have to wait for another day. It didn't seem to make much difference, though.

I am still skeptical - I think the seat isn't going to compress enough, but I'm certainly going to try!

 

A

arly1983

New member

• Sep 28, 2007

• #10

Thanks, aidensmom, I have forward of the bight blets int he 3rd row of the van and haven't been able to get the radian in with the belt yet....I am off to try!

 

canadianmom2three

Active member

• Sep 28, 2007

• #11

Then there is the issue of forward of the bight belts that have no fabric stalk to twist - whoever designed the belts in our montana gets a HUGE :thumbsdown: The buckle looks moveable but it isn'[t it is permanantly stuck that way, forward of the bight, and facing even more forward

 

my3girls

New member

• Sep 28, 2007

• #12

There's nothing for me to twist! On my dh's 93 Camry, the lapbelt comes from forward of the bight. Like his back seat looks like this
\__,___,___/
The commas are the female buckle stalk, made from fabric and I sometimes twist them once or so, but the lap portion of the belt comes from the angle part on each side. The Scenera fits fine, but I can't get the Apex in good enough to be happy. The whole thing is complicated by the fact that I have to use a locking clip! :thumbsdown:

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Sep 28, 2007

• #13

my3girls said:

but the lap portion of the belt comes from the angle part on each side.

Click to expand...

That's our problem - the buckles aren't really forward of the bight, but the seat belt is forward of it. I was unable to install the Husky with the recline bar in that seat because of this as well, and I think it's what's preventing the Radian from installing. :thumbsdown:

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Sep 30, 2007

• #14

Okay, there's just absolutely no way. :thumbsdown:

I had dh get out there to help me, to provide the muscle. I installed like aidensmom suggested, with the little recline/boot/thingie down and the whole carseat pulled forward so that the belt path lined up with where the seat belt sits (forward of the bight). Then we compressed it into the seat as much as possible, twisted the buckle stalk 2.5 times, tightened the belt, unbuckled it, added the locking clip, rocked and bounced and swore and finally got it re-buckled.

We got that puppy in TIGHT - for side-to-side, it rocked the car. But back-to-front movement is huge. Like, a foot of movement. (Okay, I'm exaggerating, it's more like 6 inches.) I cannot understand how it can be so tight side-to-side and still move that much front-to-back.

 

my3girls

New member

• Sep 30, 2007

• #15

Debbie, that's exactly what my situation is, I could have written your post, dh was sitting in the Apex when I tried to install it! LOL! I tried telling myself it was WAY better than probably almost everyone's install that I know, but in the end, I just decided she would be full time in a HBB in the Camry.

 

A

Aprilmom

New member

• Sep 30, 2007

• #16

Canadianmomto3, you can get a replacement buckle for your Montana, that is longer and flexible. I had it replaced at my GM dealership in my 03 Venture.

 

melniemi

New member

• Oct 1, 2007

• #17

Aprilmom said:

Canadianmomto3, you can get a replacement buckle for your Montana, that is longer and flexible. I had it replaced at my GM dealership in my 03 Venture.

Click to expand...

Do you know if you can get the buckles replaced on the captain's chairs too? Mine are like that on the captains' chair. I'd like to get a regent but am worried about sbp when she outgrows the latch limit. Thanks!