What are her options?

ZephyrBlue

New member
Cross-posted in Coffee Break because I really need help :eek:

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. The 2 seatbelts are completely independant of one another- the lap belt, shoulder belt and buckle sort of make a triangle, if that makes any sense at all. 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 I just want to help him and get his seat safe at least.

Thanks for reading this far. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
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mominabigtruck

New member
The seat you're talking about I do believe has a 35lb rfing limit. Coscos been making the 35lb rfing seat for quite a while and if it has a puzzle buckle I'm pretty sure its one that is.

I can help you with the truck though, that's the exact truck that we just sold and while it was a pita to put seats in it is possible. The middle is easiest, plain and simple. Yes the seat will be right up on the steering column but if you have pretty much no recline and with a baby that old you don't need it you can get a rock solid install with the lapbelt. If you do want to go outboard it gets a little trickier but it can be done. The lap portion of the belt does lock, so once you get the seat in don't worry about the shoulder part of the belt at all and just pull the bottom portion from the door side of the seat while you are sitting in the seat. I hope that helps I'll hunt around and see if I can find any pics of my seats installed in the truck. I used an uptown outboard so I will see if I can find pics of it.
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
Amy, she told me that the lap portion of the seatbelt "should" lock, but that it hasn't in a long time :confused: And when I pulled it all the way out, there was no clicking at all, and the belt didn't tighten at all, either. What do I need to do to make it tighten?
 

crunchierthanthou

New member
I really think a $40 Scenera is worth it to not have to guess at expiration or weight limits. If that's truly not an option, can you see the seat here? It doesn't list limits, but we can figure it out if you know which seat it is.

You need a belt shortening clip if the seatbelt has a sewn on latchplate and ELR retractors. It looks like a heavy duty locking clip, but will stay on during a crash (a locking clip cannot be substited). You can only get them from car dealers (Ford for sure, even though she drives a Chevy). It does just what the name says- shortens the lapbelt so that it holds the carseat tight before a crash - the ELR of the shoulder retractor will kick in during a crash.

edit: there's a BSC tutorial on the bottom of this page-
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/lockincss.aspx
 

ThreeBeans

New member
Amy, she told me that the lap portion of the seatbelt "should" lock, but that it hasn't in a long time :confused: And when I pulled it all the way out, there was no clicking at all, and the belt didn't tighten at all, either. What do I need to do to make it tighten?

Locking clip :)
 

crunchierthanthou

New member
Locking clip :)

no, BSC. It's a sewn on. :)

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...
 

mominabigtruck

New member
If the belt isn't locking at all I would go with a middle install. Yes its a pita to have a carseat right on top of you while you drive but I've have two seats side by side in my truck for long distance drives and its not that horrible. A scenera should install really easily in the middle since its a smaller seat with no base. I can't tell you for sure because I don't own a scenera but I did use the uptown occasionally in the middle when I had to use the parkway outboard and it worked fine.
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
Melissa, that's the first thing I suggested. But her DIL just admitted to an affair- her DS has an STD that was transmitted to him by his wife, and lets say that the baby has not been well cared for by his recent caregivers. They're not "carseat" people to begin with, but especially now- they're trying to figure out day by day what's happening and unfortunately, seeing a CPST just isn't high on the priority list. My helping them is as good as it's going to get at this point.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Melissa, that's the first thing I suggested. But her DIL just admitted to an affair- her DS has an STD that was transmitted to him by his wife, and lets say that the baby has not been well cared for by his recent caregivers. They're not "carseat" people to begin with, but especially now- they're trying to figure out day by day what's happening and unfortunately, seeing a CPST just isn't high on the priority list. My helping them is as good as it's going to get at this point.

{{hugs}} How stressful for the family & baby and how wonderful that you're trying to help them out.

You should be able to get a belt shortening clip from FORD and like others have said, that's what you'll need in order to install the seat in an outboard position. Using a BSC is tricky though, and since you can't see a tech to get help with it, my preference would be for you to leave the seat installed in the middle with the lapbelt unless it's a true safety risk for the driver not being able to drive safely.
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
Thanks to everyone who responded. I'm going to get a BSC and try it- I'm confident that I can do it safely, and I will definately post pictures here for techs to look at when it's done. Until then, the mystery seat is still installed in the center, but as much as I hate to give any $$ to Dorel, I'm going to get them a Scenera this week. They really really need a seat with DOM sticker and manual. And now that they are actually unbuckling the seat to get him out :rolleyes: they are having trouble w/the puzzle buckle; they really don't need any more "obstacles" to using the seat safely.
 

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