TechnoGranola
Forum Ambassador
1 thumb down because it doesn't work RF in an '07 Yaris sedan.
1 thumb down because it doesn't work RF in an '08 Acura MDX.
The reason it doesn't work in either is the same in both cases. The design places the adjuster knobs and harness release at the front of the seat. This means you need access in front of the knobs to be able to easily tighten or to loosen the harness. Both the MDX and the Yaris have the sides of the seats curve in towards the passenger for comfort. This means that the harness release lever (red lever) digs into the seat and makes it very difficult to access. Even if you decided to make the effort to access it, since it digs into the seat, you'd eventually wear out your seat (and wreck you leather if you have it) by having the lever continually digging up and down as you pressed it.
We just bought our MDX a few days ago and almost every vehicle we test drove had rear seats that came in on the side. This means that the ETA isn't designed to fit a lot of modern vehicles. I am guessing that it would work if the back of the rear seat was completely flat, but we honestly didn't test drive a vehicle that had that. Evenflo needs to check out current vehicles and redesign that knob so it is further back along the sides.
Having the seat in the middle would alleviate this issue, but the fact is that it is a wide seat and placed in the middle of the Yaris would mean a VERY cramped space for the outboard passengers. It's not much better in the MDX and also crowds the passengers.
Additionally, in the Yaris, this seat takes up a lot of space front to back. So, the passenger seat has to be fairly far forward which isn't as safe for the passenger. It is a small vehicle, but this seat takes up more room front to back than the Graco SafeSeat, the seat had to be moved up one notch to fit the ETA. (note that the SafeSeat is always installed in the Yaris without the base which may take up less room than with the base).
The recline action was also a bit clunky, but not something you would need to do often, so not a big deal.
The chest clip was like a puzzle piece, so it was finicky to do up. Likely something you'd get used to, but I found it easy to catch clothing (or fingers!) in.
Harness straps are the soft, thin webbing which I know from past experience, eventually softens even more and twists like a darn.
In the end, I am disappointed. I wish they would have put some more thought into the design and set back the adjustor knobs/harness release, used thicker harness webbing, and made a chest clip that wasn't such an odd design.
I didn't test it FF because I need RF for at least another year and a half. FF didn't matter to me at this point.
1 thumb down because it doesn't work RF in an '08 Acura MDX.
The reason it doesn't work in either is the same in both cases. The design places the adjuster knobs and harness release at the front of the seat. This means you need access in front of the knobs to be able to easily tighten or to loosen the harness. Both the MDX and the Yaris have the sides of the seats curve in towards the passenger for comfort. This means that the harness release lever (red lever) digs into the seat and makes it very difficult to access. Even if you decided to make the effort to access it, since it digs into the seat, you'd eventually wear out your seat (and wreck you leather if you have it) by having the lever continually digging up and down as you pressed it.
We just bought our MDX a few days ago and almost every vehicle we test drove had rear seats that came in on the side. This means that the ETA isn't designed to fit a lot of modern vehicles. I am guessing that it would work if the back of the rear seat was completely flat, but we honestly didn't test drive a vehicle that had that. Evenflo needs to check out current vehicles and redesign that knob so it is further back along the sides.
Having the seat in the middle would alleviate this issue, but the fact is that it is a wide seat and placed in the middle of the Yaris would mean a VERY cramped space for the outboard passengers. It's not much better in the MDX and also crowds the passengers.
Additionally, in the Yaris, this seat takes up a lot of space front to back. So, the passenger seat has to be fairly far forward which isn't as safe for the passenger. It is a small vehicle, but this seat takes up more room front to back than the Graco SafeSeat, the seat had to be moved up one notch to fit the ETA. (note that the SafeSeat is always installed in the Yaris without the base which may take up less room than with the base).
The recline action was also a bit clunky, but not something you would need to do often, so not a big deal.
The chest clip was like a puzzle piece, so it was finicky to do up. Likely something you'd get used to, but I found it easy to catch clothing (or fingers!) in.
Harness straps are the soft, thin webbing which I know from past experience, eventually softens even more and twists like a darn.
In the end, I am disappointed. I wish they would have put some more thought into the design and set back the adjustor knobs/harness release, used thicker harness webbing, and made a chest clip that wasn't such an odd design.
I didn't test it FF because I need RF for at least another year and a half. FF didn't matter to me at this point.
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