Passes 5-step test... should I be worried about the videos??

Kat_Momof3

New member
He's been riding like this for a few months now and has also put on some more weight and grown a little so when I tested him in his booster, he definitely is too big to use it... and I could feel how the sides dug into his thighs/bum.

I just don't know if I have an option other than an 86-Y at this point, so hopefully you guys will ease my mind... or be able to tell me if the purchase for the 86-Y is needed (if I buy him one, though, I know I'd need to put Jeffrey in one, too... or else he'd be so upset at his little brother using the seatbelt on a booster when he has to use a harness).

So tell me what you think about the fit.

These are when he first made the switch.

DSseatbelt108d.jpg

Dseatbelt108c.jpg


This is more recent (chopped out the Radian and Nautilus... it was part of when I tested the fit of the 3 across)

Damianthirdrow.jpg
 
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joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I'd use a big backless (Dakota?) if it didn't make the shoulderbelt fit terribly. That one next to the Radian definitely looks like the lapbelt is too high on the tummy.. :twocents:
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
The vehicle headrest seems angled backward in the first two pictures and caught my eye. Was it turned around to previously accommodate a child restraint in that position? I'd turn it back around for a lowback boostered or unboostered passenger if you haven't do so already. I can't see enough of the headrest to be sure in your more recent picture. :)
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Ditto about feet resting flat on the floor & direction of the headrest....

Also, in the Radian, even though it's a lightweight jacket, I would take the time to pull the bottom of it out of the way of the harness. Only takes a few seconds once in you're in the habit :)

I'd use a big backless
I haven't tried the Dakota, but I have sat relatively comfortably in the backless booster base of the Safety 1st Intera & Eddie Bauer Cubb aka. Safety 1st Prospect. They're mega-wide so the captain chair should work since it wouldn't interfere with a tight configuration.

Another option I would consider if you absolutely don't want to have to buy the entire combination seat or 3-in-1 would be the Ride Safer Travel Vest. It would be more time consuming, but would be easier for travel.

I see no reason for an EZOn if he's mature enough to remain still. If it were a lap-only belt, definitely, but not with the set-up you have.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
His feet DEFINITELY touch the floor.

With a booster (even the Cosco High Rise/Auto booster, which is the thinnest booster I've found), the tops of his ears go to the top of the headrest at it's highest (past it in the third row)

The headrest was turned backwards because otherwise it angles forward and prevents ANYONE sitting there comfortably (including myself or his father)

Also, turning it backwards made him have more growroom than having it facing the right way and simply raising it.

I'm still trying to figure how to swing the monterey for his brother, who outgrew the Fisher Price highback, is too big for the turbo we used to have that is now destroyed (expired), and can't use a parkway as he's in the third row (if he weren't, I couldn't CONSIDER trying to find his brother a booster or even 86-Y (no top tether outboard third row)

Just when I'd gotten used to it and resigned myself, the videos come out and now I'm wishing that I'd searched longer.

The belt LOOKS high, but his shirts are long... those are his hip bones...

In his dad's car, he outgrew boosters before he did in my van... the shoulderbelt was slipping off his shoulder... and now I wouldn't be able to put him in one without putting someone in front or swapping the radian out for a ride safer vest.

UGH.

I've seen the Dakota... it's thicker than the Cosco High Rise, but a little wider.

I could swing the Evenflo Right fit... and no expiration means it wouldn't be a waste even if he COULDN'T use it.

I may see how he's doing (aspergers and bipolar and he's coming off Zoloft that made him manic) and if he'll cooperate, I'll take pics with the headrest flipped around and in and out of the cosco backless once we get the Van fixed (aka... figure out why the battery won't stay charged). For now, I'm having to take the kids in my dh's 2-door 2007 Chevy Cobalt.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I doubt he would fit the Monterey, anyway... since he is too tall to use the Nautilus with the back on (haven't tried that one, backless, but we need that seat to harness his sister)
 

ginny4

New member
i know i wish i never saw those darn videos! ugh! i feel your pain. tho my DS is a lil shorter. he still just fits the turbo but i'll be buying the monterey because he HAS to remain in the 3 rd row (with a low back vehicle bench seat). seating arrangmentas work out better with him back there than in the middel capt chair. if he moved to 2nd row i'd be cursin everytime i put the baby RF in the 3rd row. i just couldn't take that. so a $150 will solve that problem for now. besides he's a sleeper & without a highback he flops all over the place.
does your DS sleep in the car too? does he have a problem with floppin over?
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
surprisingly, he doesn't have issues with that at all.

He used to... so bad that it was why I first did all I could to scrounge money for a Regent that he then outgrew 9mo later... he grew over 6" in 6mo.

And why I dreaded him outgrowing highbacks.

But somehow, by the time he did, he was fine. He sleeps bolt upright.

The belt does fit him better on the hips in the 2nd row, which is why he sits there.

He LIKES to sit in the third row, but it is harder to get a good fit, because the bench setup lets him scootch toward the cupholder more than he should.

the one I have problems with flopping on is my younger son, which is why I WILL somehow (I really don't know how at this point as money is tight and now we have to get the van fixed... turns out it is the alternator) get the Monterey.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
oh, and with the headrest... do I have to turn it back around?? He really freaks out about it touching the top of his head (it is SERIOUSLY angled.)
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
The angled headrest would provide more whiplash protection by design when it's not turned around backward. But if he won't sit there any other way, then it's your parental call, I'd say. Would he fit better and be more comfy in the third row, instead of the second row captain's chair?
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
The Right Fit is super comfy for older kids (surprisingly! It's just so contoury and smooth...).

I agree with Jean, the headrest really has to be positioned as the car manufacturer designed it, it SHOULD be right against your head...if the third row can be used properly and is more comfortable, I'd prefer it to a misused second row seat. :twocents:
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
To the other techs, about the headrest - it seems to me as if the headrest problem isn't that it touches the back of his head, but that it angles up OVER his head because he's still short enough to be below it. It also appears as though the vehicle seatback is providing head support at his current height (hard to tell where his ears are because of the hood, but they appear to be below the level of vehicle seat). Could it be okay like this for now, until he grows a bit more?

He fits the seatbelt as well as Thomas did when he stopped using boosters in some vehicles. And I wouldn't bother with an 86Y unless he had major behavioral issues that prevented him from using the seat belt appropriately.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Kat, what videos are you talking about? I'm not aware of anything new, and I'm SURE you've already seen all the videos that have been around for a while.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Kat, what videos are you talking about? I'm not aware of anything new, and I'm SURE you've already seen all the videos that have been around for a while.

In the google search box in the bottom of this page, enter: 'think again', it brings up a thread about how bad the 10 yo dummy gets crushed in a crash without a booster. Here it is http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=382015 (the concern is that children need the substitute hipbones of a booster until their own hips are big and strong enough to hold the lapbelt down properly...hips don't fully develop till age 20, but I think for now we'll just shoot for early puberty being more of an ideal benchmark for getting out of a booster rather than just the 5 step test)
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
This is the thread: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=34912 :)

Defrost, it's hard to tell for sure from the photos. As you said, the hood hides his ears. :) ETA: He may have grown some since then as well, I just remembered Kat said the last photo in her original post was more recent than the first two.
 
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BookMama

Senior Community Member
Thanks ladies. DS can definitely plan on using a booster until he outgrows it. (May actually be when he starts driving, at this rate ... he's only about 45" and 45lbs and will be 7 in a few weeks.)
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
The angled headrest would provide more whiplash protection by design when it's not turned around backward. But if he won't sit there any other way, then it's your parental call, I'd say. Would he fit better and be more comfy in the third row, instead of the second row captain's chair?


Oh, no, if it's safer, then that's that.

I did end up moving him back to getting the third row spot. I wondered about it when he was back there for those pics, but hadn't had a chance to check... on that side, the belt catches on the recline lever sometimes... it had... it pulls it higher... so I put him on the other side, watched him... it twisted the belt when it caught on the lever on the back of the seat for folding on it... I showed him, he fixed it, and then it sat lower...

My camera had no batteries (figures... first the van, now my camera), but I'll hopefully be able to snag some pics before my hubby pulls out the seats to haul some furniture for my SIL.

I put his brother in the 2nd row and he didn't mention the headrest being slanted or touching his head. BUT... I noticed that, when he dozed off on the way home, he didn't flop... the headrest, raised only enough to not push his head forward, kept his head from flopping.

So I think this is the answer (at least unless I can make sure that one of the other boosters would work with height room).

The only reason I'd had him in the 2nd row before was I liked the shoulderbelt being closer to his shoulder where it started (height adjustable)

But he says it's comfier in the third row and my getting back there and showing just where in the seat to sit (not with part of his bum in the crack between the bench and the cupholder) and telling him he had to sit that way or I'd put him in the 2nd row again really helped.

He is all about wanting to zone on any drive and liking to be off in his own world. His brother and sister interfere with that (he goes NUTS in the cobalt on longer than a 10min drive).

I didn't even think of how it affected safety... I figured since the headrest locked in and was solid (unless you push the button and try to raise it like you would when it faces front), that it was fine... And I would put it that way still for myself, but I'm not going to take chances with my kids.
 

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