Convinced friend to ERF, but seat install is bad

mamita · Mar 4, 2008

First, the good news... after talking several times to my friend and her DH, I convinced them to switch their DD back to RF. (She's 17 months, and about 25 lbs). They have a Marathon seat for her.

The bad part -- they have the seat incorrectly installed (the seatbelt is through the FF belt path! I love this kiddo, and want her to be safe, but here's the deal... I think my friend and DH are already a little tired of my "car-seat" fanatic attitude and do not want them to start disliking me for my "intrusion" over what they do with their DD.

How do I approach them again?? I would love to install the seat for them, but since I'm not a tech, that would not be advisable -- right? What should I do? Help!!

keri1292 · Mar 4, 2008

I install for friends and family.
You couldn't possibly do any worse.

mommyto2angelgirls · Mar 6, 2008

obviously you have seen the seat in their car. and with the seat installed wrong she is now less safe then she was with it installed properly forward facing. i would tell her oh i did that with my seat belt when i installed it too. i put the belt through the wrong slots they have to go in the other under her butt. then just fix it. if you aren't in the car when you go over tell her you want to check somethin g about the seat either a recall or something you noticed on yours and want to see if its the same. that way you have a reason to see th seat installed wrong.

Victorious4 · Mar 6, 2008

Yes, it's true that kiddo was safer FF if it was installed correctly before -- it shouldn't be too hard to explain why it's not correct now: the seat has obvious sticker pictures you can point out nicely & just start helping her fix it.... Yyou're welcome to use my Misuse Album as an example that hers is incorrect (click my screen name to find my homepage). I don't remember how far in the picture of incorrect belt path is, but it's there -- the problem with FF path for RF install is that the seat will be partially ejected.

Somewhere online there is a crash test video of this, I'll try to look.

Also, can another tech confirm whether a similar case was explained in detail in the new Virginia research shared by the CPSboard?

snowbird25ca · Mar 6, 2008

papooses said:
Also, can another tech confirm whether a similar case was explained in detail in the new Virginia research shared by the CPSboard?

I recall an infant bucket seat that was installed ff'ing and rotated around the seatbelt and flipped upside down landing on the floor. I also recall an 8? mo old baby who was ff'ing in a convertible.

I don't recall a convertible seat with the belt path being mixed up off the top of my head, but some of the cases made a bigger impression on me than others...

Victorious4 · Mar 7, 2008

Thanks, Trudy, I cannot get the files to open on my laptop

But! I did find a crash test video that shows what will happen to her child with the seat incorrectly installed in this manner

tl01 · Mar 7, 2008

papooses said:
Thanks, Trudy, I cannot get the files to open on my laptop But! I did find a crash test video that shows what will happen to her child with the seat incorrectly installed in this manner

What a great video!

valleyfam · Mar 7, 2008

Wow!! Unbelievable video!! Thanks for sharing. I plan to bookmark that one.

Convinced friend to ERF, but seat install is bad

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