Question Missing Ford Child seat Tether anchor

Hello all and hope you are all doing well. Newbie here!

I am looking to buy a Ford Passenger van ( E 250 ) which comes with "school bus " style seats.

One of my kids is too young to be just buckled directly into the school bus seats directly in a booster and at the same time too old to go into a rear facing car seat. ( I would use a regular car seat but the vehicle doesn't have tether anchors )

a) I have seen car seats made by a company that are supposed to be made for these kinds of seats.
b) Do you have any ideas to solve the missing tether anchor issue? Do they sell a kit that a mechanic can install for me?

Any and all suggestions are welcome to solve this "tether anchor-less" situation. I have the pictures below for you to help me better.

Thank you for your replies and your time.

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MelodyoftheForest

Active member
I would be worried about the lack of head support for any passengers not in restraints. Whiplash protection is very important!

You could look into the Ride Safer vests for the child not yet ready for a booster.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I would be worried about the lack of head support for any passengers not in restraints. Whiplash protection is very important!

You could look into the Ride Safer vests for the child not yet ready for a booster.

:yeahthat: It looks like those seat backs are fairly high, though. Top tethers are only required in Canada, so even though they are a very important safety feature, you don't necessarily have to use a special carseat in this van. Kids ride in regular carseats on regular school buses every day! What's great about these seats is that they have lap/shoulder belts, so that adds to some upper support of the carseat and may help act similarly to a tether.

The only seat I would steer you away from is the Cosco Finale since it has a requirement that a tether be used. The Evenflo Maestro Sport (https://amzn.to/30usmr6) or Graco Atlas (http://amzn.to/2tAntig) are a couple to consider. The one that you're perhaps thinking of as a specialty seat for a bus seat is the Star: https://www.imminet.com/products/star/. It's consumer equivalent is the IMMI GO.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
If you won't be using all the seatbelts, you can also considering tethering to an unused belt directly behind. It isn't an officially approved solution, but it is tried and true and extensively crash tested and could be considered when weighing your options. An aftermarket retrofit, such as a heavy duty tether anchor such as that made by Ez-On is also something to consider. Every choice has pros and cons, and the choices are yours alone to make, but choices do exist.
 

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