Question for techs - Tethers

Britex tethers and dealing with dealers

If you read the instructions to Britax, I believe it is the infant seats that allow you to attach the tethers to just about anything bolted down on the car - the seat in front, etc. But if the FF also says this, here's the rub - read the instructions that came with your car regarding child restraint systems and it will probably tell you not to do this (unless your car is older than the LATCH system and it doesn't address tethers at all). If your Britax seat is older and your child is heavy, check it for LATCH recalls because they have had issues recently because the older straps are narrow and don't hold the seat at the correct angle in a high speed crash when the child is near the upper weight limit for the seat.

Also, You may have to go to a national representative of your vehicle in order to get the correct information regarding retrofitting tether anchor points. Our local Toyota Dealer can't order locking clips or belt shortening clips because they have no idea what they are or what they are called, but Ford has no problem. The more we force them to learn this information, the better things will be for new parents that come along after us.

I'm late posting on this, but had just read something in my car manual today that gave me an idea about this.
I have a Chrysler Voyager. The manual said that while the 3rd row does have 3 sets of latches and tethers, you may NOT put 3 seats across in the 3rd row. (I'd like to see someone FIT 3 seats back there, anyway LOL). It says you may put one in the middle, or two with one on each side, but not 3 across, because that seat was not approved for use with 3 latched seats. Apparently 3 people are fine, but 3 latched in seats are not.

Could it be that this vehicle has some similar limitation?

In some vehicles, a row of seating may "share" LATCH anchors for the center and outboard positions. Since you may not attach two child restraints to the same anchor, you have a choice of using the outboard locations or the center, but not both at once.

In other vehicles, notably those from 2001 and earlier if I recall correctly, vehicle manufactuers were not required to test all seating positions with child restraint anchorages at the same time. So, the manuals may limit you to two at once for this reason also. I believe this may be why Chrysler actually removed some third row anchors for the 2002 model year. It was probably cheaper just to take them out than to retest/redesign them to meet the new standards.

Since there are always exceptions, we have to read the manuals thoroughly to know what is recommended. Hopefully, they actually tell us what we need to know;-)

KeikiHula said:

Wouldn't Britax know though if they will work?.... I've never looked to see what they say to use for cargo anchors, but I'm assuming you can use the tether anchors for both.
It sucks b/c you get so much conflicting information, how do you know what is really safe or not??

Click to expand...

No, unfortunately Britax has no way of knowing (beyond the same info we have, which would be the latest copy of the LATCH manual) which vehicles allow the cargo anchors to be used for tether anchors. That's up to the vehical manufacterer, and that information should be in your owner's manual.

In my Durango, the tether anchors are the cargo anchors. The manual says this. What I meant by "wouldn't Britax know?" is that I can't imagine Britax taking the liability in saying it was ok to use them, if Chevy (or was it Ford? LOL I can't remember which vehicle we were originally talking about) hadn't already said it was ok. My Durango manual says to use them, so if I called Britax, I assume they would tell me it was ok since Dodge says it is, KWIM?

Since Britax doesn't manufacter the anchors, all they can tell you is to follow the owner's manual that came with your vehicle. Since some vehicles do allow the cargo anchors to be used as tether anchors, and some do not, it's not a question for Britax (or Graco, Evenflo, Cosco, ect.)