elizabuffw
New member
Hi,
I have a 2006 Suburban with captains seats and a third row bench. I drive a carpool where I have kindergarteners to second graders...mostly four kids sometimes five.
My family is this.....5.5 year old son 43" and 38lbs currently in a Recaro Young Sport in harness mode in the captains chair. 2.5 year old daughter in Britax Boulevard. Not sure of her dimensions, but she's probably 50 to 75th percentile and not as small as the ds. Baby due in the beginning of May....will go into a Britax Companion that I used with my dd.
I'm thinking the baby and dd will go into the captains seats. The ds will go center of bench hopefully in a Safeguard. That position has no headrest and is lap only....so it has to have a high weight 5 point seat otherwise I think it is pretty much worthless right? (If only I had been more clued in when I bought this car.....Chevy just makes me mad over his arrangement) I tried a Sunshine Radian in there but could not get a good install (a first with a carseat for me) and decided that even if some superhero could do it at our local firestation, I still needed to be able to due a safe install myself. So sadly went away. And yes, this was with brute force, mega twisting of the seatbelt stalk etc.
Currently, I put one of the other carpool small 5yo in the dd's Boulevard with the straps maxed out. My son rides in his Recaro, and the two older kids are in Fischer Price narrow boosters (forget the name...used to be branded as Britax) without the backs. Between them is a bonus Britax Marathon used for someone in an emergency. This is where I hope to put the Safeguard.
I don't like the boosters. The kids are always leaning etc no matter how much I tell them to cut it out. My son, who rode in the Marathon the other day, had popped into the booster when I returned from delivering the 7 year old to his doorstep. He now perceives his seats to be baby seats. I made him crawl back into the 5pt. but I can see that we're about to start a battle here. I would like to keep him harnessed for a long time.
So here starts my questions:
1.) If the Sunshine Radian didn't install in that middle bench seat with lapbelt only (there is a top tether) do I have a hope with the Safeguard? Do I have any other options for a bigger kid in this position?
2.) Width is squished on either side of the center bench position. I have lap/shoulder belts here, and no tethers. (you can't share a tether can you? That would seem to be a no-no, but the anchor is positioned for either the middle or the outobard position) If I wanted to five point these larger kids....does it make sense to 86y them? I know very little about this 86y. Is it hard to retrofit? Everytime I have been to a Chevy dealer, they are absolutely terrifying with their complete lack of knowledge (they wanted to use the cargo net anchor as a tether in my last vehicle) about child safety.
3.) If I had a tether anchor, could the 86y just attach to that?
4.) What is a turbo booster? Are there any thoughts for really safe boosters should it come to that? I ask this because ds also rides in three other peoples cars. I bought 3 Safeguard go's and installed them....but the older kids have broken the head rests (which Safeguard waranteed no problem....but they also say it provides head protection.) I am tempted to keep them off while in other people's cars. My friends are respectful of my five point decisions, but just put their own kids in backless boosters. Let's say I am definitely the safety freak in the group.
5.) Which leads into....if the 86y can be attached to an anchor point, then is there a good booster to be placed into other people's cars? I'm thinking of next year in case my ds's height exceeds the go's. Plus he's convinced that when he is 6 he does not need the five point. Time to get pics of race car drivers out. It doesn't help that everyone we know is in boosters. Argh.
Bottom line: I'm looking for the safest and most versatile line up in my car to accomodate all sizes (which I am willing to spend money on) and what to do about other people's cars.
Sorry for the long post....but I'm a bit stumped here and would appreciate all words of wisdom. Besides that Compass seat and the Nautilis are there any other high weight 5pt skinnny seats coming out next year?
Thanks again,
Elizabeth.
I have a 2006 Suburban with captains seats and a third row bench. I drive a carpool where I have kindergarteners to second graders...mostly four kids sometimes five.
My family is this.....5.5 year old son 43" and 38lbs currently in a Recaro Young Sport in harness mode in the captains chair. 2.5 year old daughter in Britax Boulevard. Not sure of her dimensions, but she's probably 50 to 75th percentile and not as small as the ds. Baby due in the beginning of May....will go into a Britax Companion that I used with my dd.
I'm thinking the baby and dd will go into the captains seats. The ds will go center of bench hopefully in a Safeguard. That position has no headrest and is lap only....so it has to have a high weight 5 point seat otherwise I think it is pretty much worthless right? (If only I had been more clued in when I bought this car.....Chevy just makes me mad over his arrangement) I tried a Sunshine Radian in there but could not get a good install (a first with a carseat for me) and decided that even if some superhero could do it at our local firestation, I still needed to be able to due a safe install myself. So sadly went away. And yes, this was with brute force, mega twisting of the seatbelt stalk etc.
Currently, I put one of the other carpool small 5yo in the dd's Boulevard with the straps maxed out. My son rides in his Recaro, and the two older kids are in Fischer Price narrow boosters (forget the name...used to be branded as Britax) without the backs. Between them is a bonus Britax Marathon used for someone in an emergency. This is where I hope to put the Safeguard.
I don't like the boosters. The kids are always leaning etc no matter how much I tell them to cut it out. My son, who rode in the Marathon the other day, had popped into the booster when I returned from delivering the 7 year old to his doorstep. He now perceives his seats to be baby seats. I made him crawl back into the 5pt. but I can see that we're about to start a battle here. I would like to keep him harnessed for a long time.
So here starts my questions:
1.) If the Sunshine Radian didn't install in that middle bench seat with lapbelt only (there is a top tether) do I have a hope with the Safeguard? Do I have any other options for a bigger kid in this position?
2.) Width is squished on either side of the center bench position. I have lap/shoulder belts here, and no tethers. (you can't share a tether can you? That would seem to be a no-no, but the anchor is positioned for either the middle or the outobard position) If I wanted to five point these larger kids....does it make sense to 86y them? I know very little about this 86y. Is it hard to retrofit? Everytime I have been to a Chevy dealer, they are absolutely terrifying with their complete lack of knowledge (they wanted to use the cargo net anchor as a tether in my last vehicle) about child safety.
3.) If I had a tether anchor, could the 86y just attach to that?
4.) What is a turbo booster? Are there any thoughts for really safe boosters should it come to that? I ask this because ds also rides in three other peoples cars. I bought 3 Safeguard go's and installed them....but the older kids have broken the head rests (which Safeguard waranteed no problem....but they also say it provides head protection.) I am tempted to keep them off while in other people's cars. My friends are respectful of my five point decisions, but just put their own kids in backless boosters. Let's say I am definitely the safety freak in the group.
5.) Which leads into....if the 86y can be attached to an anchor point, then is there a good booster to be placed into other people's cars? I'm thinking of next year in case my ds's height exceeds the go's. Plus he's convinced that when he is 6 he does not need the five point. Time to get pics of race car drivers out. It doesn't help that everyone we know is in boosters. Argh.
Bottom line: I'm looking for the safest and most versatile line up in my car to accomodate all sizes (which I am willing to spend money on) and what to do about other people's cars.
Sorry for the long post....but I'm a bit stumped here and would appreciate all words of wisdom. Besides that Compass seat and the Nautilis are there any other high weight 5pt skinnny seats coming out next year?
Thanks again,
Elizabeth.
