ZephyrBlue
New member
I have a friend who is suddenly taking care of her 10mo, 22.5lb grandson several days a week (parents are divorcing, it's messy and ugly). The seat she has is a convertible with no stickers- and I"m willing to bet that the RF limit on it is 20lbs- it's probably 4 years old and it's a bare-bones seat with the puzzle buckle- that's Cosco, right? (no manual, she got it from another mutual friend whom I trust not to have given away a crashed seat, but not responsible enough to keep track of the manual, kwim?) When I saw the seat installed and the baby in it, I freaked out. The seatbelt was not locked in any way, and the seat was sliding across the vehicle seat. Literally. And the straps were in the top slots- WAY over his head. Chest clip was at the bottom of the harness, past his stomach. Straps were being kept loose so they could take him in/out of the seat without unbuckling.
BUT- he's RF. So that's something. But he's RF at 22.5lbs in a seat that I'm sure has a 20lb RF limit. I made a judgement call and re-installed it RF because that's how they want it, and they learned about RF from me, so I felt like an ass, telling them that he was too big to RF in this seat but not old enough to FF.
I tried to fix the seat today- here's the issue. The truck is an 88 Chevy pickup and the seat doesn't fit in the center well at all- it interfears with the steering column- but it was a tighter install than outboard, which I could not get tight AT ALL. The outboard passenger seatbelt male buckle end has 2 places where the lap and shoulder belt attach- they both retract into seperate compartments and neither one of them have ALR or locking latchplates, as far as I can tell, they are ELR and that's it. I can't use a locking clip because the 2 belts are independant of one another- the buckle stalk is too long even twisted 3 times to not have the locking clip touching the seat or in the belt path- even if I could get the locking clip ON, which I can't. The 2 belts are too "separate", if that makes sense- even if you could get them together, they are sewn so thickly to the buckle that the smooth part of the seatbelt is several inches above where the locking clip would go, if you could get the damn thing on. So my question is, what the heck do I do? I would NEVER let my baby ride in the seat the way it is installed (I put it center and had dh help me tighten the belt and put weight into the seat, but it's not great, and it really does interfere with the driver being able to drive the truck safely). Is a seat with built in locking clips the only answer? This family cannot afford a Marathon or Como. The family is in such turmoil right now that I couldn't get anyone to commit to going with me to a seat check to get a tech to help or to a private appt.
Even if he was turned FF in this seat (which with his huge head and age, I don't think is an option, period), there is the same problem with the seatbelts. Am I missing something? I will buy them a Scenera and go install it so that he is at least RF in a seat that is rated above 20lbs, but I can't do it because of the seatbelt. PLEASE tell me that there is a tech trick to make that outboard seatbelt work!! I'm sick to my stomach for this baby, and his carseat problems aren't all of it right now, either :crying: I just want to help him and get his seat safe at least.
Thanks for reading this far. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
BUT- he's RF. So that's something. But he's RF at 22.5lbs in a seat that I'm sure has a 20lb RF limit. I made a judgement call and re-installed it RF because that's how they want it, and they learned about RF from me, so I felt like an ass, telling them that he was too big to RF in this seat but not old enough to FF. I tried to fix the seat today- here's the issue. The truck is an 88 Chevy pickup and the seat doesn't fit in the center well at all- it interfears with the steering column- but it was a tighter install than outboard, which I could not get tight AT ALL. The outboard passenger seatbelt male buckle end has 2 places where the lap and shoulder belt attach- they both retract into seperate compartments and neither one of them have ALR or locking latchplates, as far as I can tell, they are ELR and that's it. I can't use a locking clip because the 2 belts are independant of one another- the buckle stalk is too long even twisted 3 times to not have the locking clip touching the seat or in the belt path- even if I could get the locking clip ON, which I can't. The 2 belts are too "separate", if that makes sense- even if you could get them together, they are sewn so thickly to the buckle that the smooth part of the seatbelt is several inches above where the locking clip would go, if you could get the damn thing on. So my question is, what the heck do I do? I would NEVER let my baby ride in the seat the way it is installed (I put it center and had dh help me tighten the belt and put weight into the seat, but it's not great, and it really does interfere with the driver being able to drive the truck safely). Is a seat with built in locking clips the only answer? This family cannot afford a Marathon or Como. The family is in such turmoil right now that I couldn't get anyone to commit to going with me to a seat check to get a tech to help or to a private appt.
Even if he was turned FF in this seat (which with his huge head and age, I don't think is an option, period), there is the same problem with the seatbelts. Am I missing something? I will buy them a Scenera and go install it so that he is at least RF in a seat that is rated above 20lbs, but I can't do it because of the seatbelt. PLEASE tell me that there is a tech trick to make that outboard seatbelt work!! I'm sick to my stomach for this baby, and his carseat problems aren't all of it right now, either :crying: I just want to help him and get his seat safe at least.
Thanks for reading this far. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
