Chrysler Town & Country 3rd Row Lean

treydawgmt

New member
Hello all,

I have a 2014 Chrysler Town & Country. I'm having a problem it seems many people do.

I have three children, and currently the oldest daughter is FF in a Safety First (Grow & Go I'm pretty positive). My son is RF in a Baby Trend Elite Convertible Car Seat - Sweet Pea in a bucket seat, and my youngest daughter is RF in the other bucket seat. All three are currently installed using the LATCH systems.

My wife and I would like to place both my son and oldest daughter in the third row. This would necessitate the use of the seat belts instead of the LATCH system. Whenever we try moving my daughter to the outside and using a seat belt though, she winds up leaning. I think this is due to the location of the shoulder secure point, being more forward than other vehicles, but I'm not positive. We can get the seat belt to lock by pulling it all the way out, and then tightening it as much as possible. The seat still moves significantly from side to side if you pull on it at all. When she sits there, if you take a curve too sharp, she will lean some, and need to pull against the side panel to right herself. Are there any easy ways to fix this? If not, are there any semi-reasonably priced seats that can alleviate this problem?

Thanks for any thoughts!
 
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wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I'm sorry, but it's not very safe for your daughter to be on the side of your van forward facing, since there is no top tether anchor for her. There's one in the center, but I don't think you can get her Grow and Go in the center next to a Baby Trend convertible.

What's happening that makes you want to move them around? Maybe we could work around that so your forward facer could have a top tether? You have three, so maybe we could move kids around so your forward facer gets one of the three available, and you still get whatever you want to get done as well?

Wendy
 

cookie123

New member
You could put the younger two in the captain's chairs and put the forward facer in the middle in the 3rd row. Is she old enough to get in and buckle up? I would spend some time teaching her, then you'd just have to give her a quick check. Alternately the two rear facers could go rear. Take out one of the captain's chairs. Put the convertible seat behind the forward facer. Then after you buckle up the rear facer, stick the infant seat in. Or load from the trunk. My daughter got rid of this van because of just this. She got tired of loading from the trunk.
 

treydawgmt

New member
We currently have the two younger RF in the captain's chairs, and the oldest FF in the center. However, this makes it really difficult for my wife to get to my daughter to unbuckle her, and makes moving around difficult, in general. The real problem - I have kids that will be in car seats FOREVER. My 6 1/2 year old daughter is like 38-40 pounds. My 3 1/2 year old son may never be 40 pounds (haha - he's currently 28ish pounds)! Neither are tall at all either. It would be most convenient to have the two older kids, who can buckle themselves in, but not unbuckle, in the rear facing the appropriate ways. This would allow easiest movements, etc.

I'm not totally opposed to buying new car seats if there are any that would work here. Getting rid of the van is likely not an option either, especially since we love everything about it except this. (Which is currently not a HUGE problem, as we have the daughter in the center in the back at the moment).
 

lgenne

New member
Are you in Canada? Does your oldest have any developmental issues? If neither, the solution that jumps out is to put the 6.5 year old in a booster in the 3rd row.
 

treydawgmt

New member
Still looking for some thoughts.

My daughter, while 6, is like 41", maybe 42", and weighs about 39 pounds. She's got some low muscle tone too. She is, in my opinion, nowhere near ready to be in a booster seat, even though she is legally able.

We're at the point we need to buy a new seat for my youngest too, so I'm really looking for any thoughts on any forward facing car seats that might work with the belt on the side of the 3rd row in a Chrylser T&C.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Generally a carseat shouldn't tip if it's installed tightly enough. It probably has to do with the design of the 3rd row seat being difficult working with the design of your Grow & Go. You could pass that seat on to your youngest and get something like a Graco Nautilus SnugLock or Chicco MyFit for your 6 yr old. Both have lockoffs which I prefer to use in seating positions where there aren't tethers because they couple the carseat more closely to the vehicle seat.

If you don't want to pass the G&G down and want to stay with lockoffs, the Graco 4Ever Extend2Fit and 4Ever DLX have forward-facing lockoffs. The Britax ClickTights should work in your van as well as does the Chicco NextFit/NextFit Max.
 

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