We just replaced our old VW Golf with a new Chevy Volt. I am so excited about this car! So much fun to drive. We have a Hyundai Santa Fe as our primary kid hauler, but we were surprised to discover how much more leg room you actually have in the Volt, so for trips when we don't need the storage/dog space of the Santa Fe, which is already high mileage anyway, we will be taking the Volt. I will occasionally have to drop-off or pick-up the kids from school anyway.
My question is this, and I wish I had figured it out before we drove the car off, but it is what it is...
How do I get a good install on the Nextfit in rear-facing mode, using LATCH?
The seats on the Volt are really scooped out/sloped towards the back of the car, and when I had the LATCH straps cinched as tight as I could get them, I could still wiggle/slide the seat around too much. We tried having one person push in/down on the seat, wiggle the seat from side to side while the other person pulled the "2nd" strap, but it was as tight as it could get. I tried with seatbelt install, but the problem I have with that is that with the crotch strap in the inner/forward (closer to child) position, it is under the seat belt, which doesn't seem safe either. The manual only notes how to route the seat belt in the outer (farther from child) crotch strap position, and our baby is only 17 lbs and not ready to move that crotch strap out yet.
In addition to the seats preventing me from getting a good tight install with LATCH, even with the seat on recline position "1", the bubbles were pretty far forward. Even though he's little, he has good head control, but for a 7 month old, I just feel like it's safer to have them reclined a bit more. It was still between the lines, but very close to the front line/more upright.
So....I took two old towels, folded them up, and put the thickest part of the towel towards the back of the seat where it's scooped out the most. Voila. Seat is tight, bubble is in an ideal spot for a young baby. But is this safe? Maybe I should roll one towel instead of two folded? I've never had to roll up towels with the Nextfit, and have only in one car had to use the seat back recline feature to get the install tight enough. I don't even know if it's "allowed" to use a towel/noodle under the Nextfit, since the recline feature is usually sufficient to get the proper angle.
I will try to post pictures so you can see my handiwork. Maybe there's another way to achieve the same end, but for the life of my husband and me, we could not get this seat tight without doing this.
My question is this, and I wish I had figured it out before we drove the car off, but it is what it is...
How do I get a good install on the Nextfit in rear-facing mode, using LATCH?
The seats on the Volt are really scooped out/sloped towards the back of the car, and when I had the LATCH straps cinched as tight as I could get them, I could still wiggle/slide the seat around too much. We tried having one person push in/down on the seat, wiggle the seat from side to side while the other person pulled the "2nd" strap, but it was as tight as it could get. I tried with seatbelt install, but the problem I have with that is that with the crotch strap in the inner/forward (closer to child) position, it is under the seat belt, which doesn't seem safe either. The manual only notes how to route the seat belt in the outer (farther from child) crotch strap position, and our baby is only 17 lbs and not ready to move that crotch strap out yet.
In addition to the seats preventing me from getting a good tight install with LATCH, even with the seat on recline position "1", the bubbles were pretty far forward. Even though he's little, he has good head control, but for a 7 month old, I just feel like it's safer to have them reclined a bit more. It was still between the lines, but very close to the front line/more upright.
So....I took two old towels, folded them up, and put the thickest part of the towel towards the back of the seat where it's scooped out the most. Voila. Seat is tight, bubble is in an ideal spot for a young baby. But is this safe? Maybe I should roll one towel instead of two folded? I've never had to roll up towels with the Nextfit, and have only in one car had to use the seat back recline feature to get the install tight enough. I don't even know if it's "allowed" to use a towel/noodle under the Nextfit, since the recline feature is usually sufficient to get the proper angle.
I will try to post pictures so you can see my handiwork. Maybe there's another way to achieve the same end, but for the life of my husband and me, we could not get this seat tight without doing this.
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