Odd car seat check today

So I just did some checks this morning. I had a couple strange ones.

One was an AO 3 in 1 rear facing. I was thrilled their 14 month old was RFing still. However, their installation was strange to say the least.

The seat was RFing. THey had used the passenger side front seatbelt and went behind the front seat, through the forward facing belt path and buckled in to the passenger buckle. All I could think was, what does the front passenger use??

The other one was a lady who went to one of our checks about a year ago. We pushed ERfing on her then 18ish month old. She had a MA. So she agreed to flip him back. She came back since she had a new car today.

The child was now almost 3 and clearly was above the weight limit of the seat. I asked her his weight and she said she didn't know. All she knew was she was supposed to keep him rear facing as long as possible, so as long as she could buckle it, she would keep him that way because it was safer. Ok so, I guess we didn't explain well enough last time. We didn't actually mean as long as you can cram him in!!

We weighed him and he was 38 lbs. So I told her we needed to turn him FFing. However, because he was RFing she didn't have the HUGS on. She also didn't have them with her and did not know where they were :hitselfonhead:

She agreed to buy some more online ASAP. However, I had a dilemma. I had to choose between RFing above the weight lmit or FF without the HUGS which are required.

I told her to go buy a seat ASAP to tide her over


I'm not sure I made the right choice. What would some of you techs have done?? (we dont have spare seats here)

At 38 pounds, I would have FF without HUGS. I know they are required. I would not have considered it acceptable use. But the FPSVD does fine without the HUGS to 55 pounds, and I would have considered being HUGSless less of a risk than being so much above the RF weight limit.

chickabiddy said:

At 38 pounds, I would have FF without HUGS. I know they are required. I would not have considered it acceptable use. But the FPSVD does fine without the HUGS to 55 pounds, and I would have considered being HUGSless less of a risk than being so much above the RF weight limit.

Click to expand...

Ok I feel better then. That's what I did. Someone mentioned once on another thread that the seat probably wouldn't fail without them, but it performs better with them. So I just remembered that.

Eviesmama said:

The seat was RFing. THey had used the passenger side front seatbelt and went behind the front seat, through the forward facing belt path and buckled in to the passenger buckle. All I could think was, what does the front passenger use??

Click to expand...

Whoa...that might be the weirdest one I've heard.

As for the Britax situation, I also would have done FF w/o HUGS. Obviously I would urge the mom to call and order some ASAP (or find the original ones).

Eviesmama said:

Ok I feel better then. That's what I did. Someone mentioned once on another thread that the seat probably wouldn't fail without them, but it performs better with them. So I just remembered that.

Click to expand...

If I had to speculate, which is dangerous so don't try this at home, I'd guess that it might fail at 55 pounds without HUGS (since that's the FPSVD's limit). 38 is far enough away from 55 that I'd "let" the child go home without them.

I'd let her go home without them with orders to FIND them or call Britax immediately for their input.

I agree with everyone else. I would have sent her home FF without the HUGS. Do you have her phone number? Maybe you could follow up with a call to see if she got them?

Not a tech, but I know that the hugs are not on the RA, so since he's below 40lbs, I'd not worry about having him ff without the HUGS while she's waiting on hers to arrive.

mish said:

I agree with everyone else. I would have sent her home FF without the HUGS. Do you have her phone number? Maybe you could follow up with a call to see if she got them?

Click to expand...

She ordered them while she was here actually so I know they are on their way. I told her not to use the seat and buy a cheap seat to just tide her over until they arrive. Not sure if she will though

Eviesmama said:

She ordered them while she was here actually so I know they are on their way. I told her not to use the seat and buy a cheap seat to just tide her over until they arrive. Not sure if she will though

Click to expand...

I think she should be fine until the HUGS arrive. If the child was 45 or 50 lbs, I would be more concerned, but at 38 lbs I think it should be OK. As others said, the FPSVD (not the same seat but very similar) is OK without HUGS until 55 lbs, and the Roundabout doesn't require HUGS at all and it goes up to 40 lbs.

If it were me without HUGS (and I didn't already have a couple of extra seats ) I would feel reasonably comfortable using the seat without HUGS for a few days, though I would probably limit the kid's time in the car seat if possible.