Question Nextfit, Rear-facing, 2017 Chevy Volt

ald2012

New member
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.
 

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wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
You cannot use towels with a Chicco.

When you check for movement, you check at the belt path only?

Did you try the seat in the middle with the seat belt? That may recline it more nicely.

Wendy
 

ald2012

New member
OP here...called Chicco CPS for advice since I hadn't received anything here. PP is right, nothing allowed under the Chicco. So we pulled those out. One trick the CPS related to me, which I wish I had known before and might be helpful to other Nextfit owners:

After you get the seat installed, if you have pulled all of the slack you can get out with the Pull 2nd strap (like there's no slack left in the Super Cinch to pull), loosen the second strap, then pull up the seat cover or unzip the cover if using a Nextfit Zip. Then reach through the belt path to pull the "Pull 1st" strap again, pulling it towards the other side of the seat instead of towards the outside of the seat. Once that's as tight as you can get it, go back to the Pull 2nd strap, which can be easily tightened in any direction.

Turns out the problem I was having was due to the angle at which we were having to pull the "Pull 1st" strap. Once we got that addressed, the seat was in super tight. I'm not 100% happy with the incline and would definitely be concerned if he was a new baby, but we are not at the very edge of the rear facing lines anymore...more like halfway. I'll keep an eye on him over long drives and see how he does. At 7 months he has good head control. The CPS said that the leather seats could also be an issue, but once I used the technique above, the leather seats were no problem at all. There was no movement anywhere, along the beltpath, forward/back, etc.

I also got another question answered about the crotch strap/seat belt install. She said to put the seat belt behind the crotch strap (so towards the back of the car when rear facing) so that it doesn't interfere with the crotch strap. Baby is too little to move to the outer crotch strap setting still.

To answer PP, the Volt's middle seat is like a "jump seat" and really narrow/on a hump, due to the batteries under the car. It doesn't have LATCH lower anchors, although it does have a tether on the back of the seat. I have a Britax Frontier in the seat behind the driver anyway, so there isn't room to put the Nextfit in right next to it even if I could get a good seatbelt install.

This morning, DH drove the kids to daycare, and he was rear-ended by someone distracted by their phone. It doesn't seem like any damage was done to the car, and the kids weren't even crying afterwards, so it was more of a bump than a collision, but it's just a reminder that we need to have seats installed correctly every single time, and use the seats correctly, every single time. I'm so grateful that the children weren't hurt and am glad I was able to get this resolved over the phone with Chicco last night.

PS, the CPS techs/Customer Service at Chicco are phenomenal, even if I haven't been 100% happy with our Nextfits (issues with tightening straps, release buttons popping out).
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
So sorry your husband was in a crash! Remember, Chicco requires replacement after any crash. :(

You don't need lower anchors to install a carseat. If there was room in the middle it would be an option, you'd simply use the seatbelt to install. For forward facing you'd use the seatbelt and the top tether anchor you noticed.

If you're using the lower anchors for your Frontier, check the weight limit on them for your child. They're 40 pounds. After that you have to use the seatbelt.

Wendy
 

ald2012

New member
So sorry your husband was in a crash! Remember, Chicco requires replacement after any crash. :(

You don't need lower anchors to install a carseat. If there was room in the middle it would be an option, you'd simply use the seatbelt to install. For forward facing you'd use the seatbelt and the top tether anchor you noticed.

If you're using the lower anchors for your Frontier, check the weight limit on them for your child. They're 40 pounds. After that you have to use the seatbelt.

Wendy

Good note about the Nextfit. I don't think it was a crash...really just a bump. Not even a scratch on the car. I don't think we'd have to file anything for insurance, but I'll check with hubby to see what he thinks and also reach out to Chicco. We've unfortunately been down this road with Nextfits before, as it's the second time we've been rear-ended while stopped. The first accident was at a low speed, too, but did quite a bit of damage to our car, so our insurance replaced that seat (hit and run!). Good reminder to check with Chicco, though, because it was her fault obviously and she should have to pay for it if Chicco recommends replacing. I don't think Britax does in most circumstances where there's no damage to the car or seat, but I'll check with them, too.

I've done seatbelt installs, but I don't like using them with the Nextfit when you've got the crotch strap in the lower setting, because the crotch strap is right in the belt path. There isn't room in the car anyway.

Frontier is the click-tight version. We use the seatbelt for installation + rear tether. Even easier than LATCH! Love that seat. Even DH can do installation on that one without me coming behind him to tighten up something.
 

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