Tether Anchor Pictorial Guide

crunchierthanthou · Aug 14, 2008

Tether anchors have been required in all vehicles in the US and Canada since 1999. Although there are specific standards for them, vehicle manufacturers still find all sorts of ways to make them confusing.

Debbie/Defrost and I were both planning articles about different vehicles with quirky tether anchors. We decided that putting them all in one thread may be a helpful reference.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Feel free to post pictures of TAs in your vehices along with any helpful hints.

crunchierthanthou · Aug 14, 2008

1995-2003 Windstar

TAs under second row captain's chairs are holes in the cross bars.

picture used with permission from Keri1292

TAs under bench and front seats are more traditional metal loop style.

Third row TA

picture used with permission from Nisha

You hook the tether down/backward for all Windstar TAs, per vehicle owner's manaul (as shown in photos above).

additional info-
1995-1998 has two TAs on second row as well as one for the front passenger seat. Third row TAs can be retrofitted under program R7C with part number YF2Z-15613D74-A.

1999 has 6 total TAs- one on the front seat, two in the second row and three in the third.

2000-2003 has 6 total TAs as well as 4 sets of lower anchors. TA positions are one on the front seat, two in the second row and threee in the third. There are lower anchors for all rear outboard positions. The third row can be used for either two outboard or one center LATCH install (center only allowed with carseat that allows for non-standard spacing of 9.8").

Power front seats do not have the 6th TA.

MorgieBear'sMama · Aug 14, 2008

2002 Chevy Venture

Tether hook must be rotated 45 degreese to the right to clip into TA.

wendytthomas · Aug 14, 2008

2001 Nissan Xterra

On the floor in the trunk. The flap is marked, it's just rubbed off of mine.

Great idea!

Wendy

Melanie · Aug 14, 2008

Whoever designed the Xterras must not have kids. Don't they realize a car full of kids = lots of stuff.

unityco · Aug 14, 2008

'97 Suburban Tethers for Second Row

Tether adapter part - it buckles into an unused third row position:

Tether done up:

HEVY · Aug 14, 2008

So do all cars after 1999 have a tether anchor?, That means I don't have to look for a newer car than that?

crunchierthanthou · Aug 14, 2008

thanks for posting your pictures everyone. Unityco, I was especially hoping you'd repost those.

HEVY said:
So do all cars after 1999 have a tether anchor?, That means I don't have to look for a newer car than that?

They've been required since September 1999. Remember that vehicle model years are generally a year ahead of the calendar year (2009s are showing up at dealers now). That means most 2000 and even a few 1999 MY have them, though they didn't show up in some vehicles until the 2001 MY. It just depends on when in the calendar year the production run was finished for the vehicle model in question.

wendytthomas · Aug 14, 2008

Melanie said:
Whoever designed the Xterras must not have kids. Don't they realize a car full of kids = lots of stuff.

It's not been a problem. You can normally stuff something small behind the tether, then other bigger things in front of it. Most SUVs are like this.

Wendy

unityco · Aug 14, 2008

crunchierthanthou said:
Unityco, I was especially hoping you'd repost those.

Glad to oblige!

unityco · Aug 14, 2008

2004 GMC Sierra Extended Cab Pickup:

In this truck you connect the tether hook to the adjacent seating position's anchor. If you had two seats outboard, they would both be connected to the centre tether anchor.

This is the anchor directly behind the centre seat, where I have the carseat installed. The tether strap goes through the fabric loop at this position. It does NOT use the metal anchor.

Here you can see the tether strap routed through the loop and then attached to the anchor for the outboard positon:

Here is a close-up of the hook and the anchor:

And here's what the whole thing should look like:

MomToEliEm · Aug 14, 2008

2003 Toyota Tundra - Has the suicide doors so not a full size back seat.

Back seat position on driver side

You have to slide the tether strap under the metal bar at the top of the seat

Pull the tether strap down the side of the seat down to the bottom anchor

Center seat position

You have to fold down the cup holder thing in the center to see the tether anchor area. You force the tether strap through a small hole on the top of the seat and try hard to get it down to the tether anchor position which is behind the flap with the picture on it. With this setup, the tether strap really needs to be as tight as needed prior to installing the carseat because once you fold back the cup holder, you can't really reach the strap to tighten it. Due to this, you have to be holding up the carseat up above the seat (if you don't you don't have enough slack to work with it) while trying to get it down into the hole to the anchor. Usually when our seat was installed in the middle, we just left off the tether anchor as it was too difficult to use.

Actual tether hook in the center position

brooklynsmommy · Aug 15, 2008

Seriously, every manufacturer should have those unoccupied seat belt tethers!!!! Those would be so convenient for just about everyone. They should come with cars.

Mom2One+One · Aug 15, 2008

2003 Chevy Trailblazer

Anchor is located almost underneath the seat. Pic #2 is a closeup of the anchor.

There are no anchors for the third row.

TerisBoys · Aug 15, 2008

1997 Pontiac Transport (I assume this is true for it's clones as well - Chevy Venture/Olds Silhouette) - tethers for middle row outboard are the base of the third row seatbelts.

Defrost · Aug 16, 2008

Here's the Dodge Ram tether anchors (and for anyone following these discussions on various threads, this just goes to show that we always need to double-check our info - I was WRONG about the Dodge being the same as the Fords. Apparently there is a metal loop I wasn't aware of - I missed it the first time I read the vehicle manual.

)

This is an '06 Dodge Ram Quad Cab; there are different types of tether anchors for the Regular Cab and Mega Cab.

One of these is behind each seating position in the back seat:

Carseat installed outboard; gray strap is the tether, black straps are the routing straps; tether hooked is attached to the metal loop in the middle of the routing strap in the adjacent seating position:

Close-up of attached tether; my index finger is looped through the routing strap for the center position, and my thumb is pointing at the metal tether anchor used for the outboard seating positions:

Scanned from the vehicle manual; diagram of routing/anchoring:

Scanned from vehicle manual; diagram of tether anchors for Regular Cab Rams:

Scanned from vehicle manual; diagram of tether anchors for Mega Cab Rams:

I'll try to get the F150 later this weekend.

Defrost · Aug 23, 2008

I'm posting these for mish; she'll reply with more info about them. This is a Chevy:

Pic 1:

Pic 2:

Pic 3:

Pic 4:

Pic 5:

Pic 6:

mish · Aug 23, 2008

The pictures Defrost posted for me are a 2001 Chevy Silverado Extended cab. The crew cab anchors will be different.

You thread your tether strap through the webbing loop at your seating position, then attach it to the metal anchor of the seating position next to it. If the seat is in the middle, it can be attached to either outboard position. If the seat is outboard, you attach it to the center position. You can attach tethers from two outboard seats in the center. They would both be attached to the same anchor.

unityco · Sep 9, 2008

You know what I was thinking about those extended cab pickup tethers - the ones that you anchor to the adjacent seating position?

You really only need two of them. Two outboard seats would share the centre one, and only a seat in the centre (and you can only have one seat in the centre

) would ever use an outboard one. Therefore, one of the outboard anchors is redundant (but you'd still need both outboard fabric loops.)

Not that it matters, more anchors give your flexibility, and I believe manufacturers are required to provide three anchors, but even with three seats installed, you wouldn't use them all.

Just an observation.

snowbird25ca · Sep 9, 2008

2007 Saturn Outlook. Tethers are on back of seats for all 3 2nd row seating positions, and center position of the 3rd row.

For the outboard positions, V tethers are routed on either side of the headrest. A single tether is routed directly over top of the headrest. I always found the one side of the V tether slipped under the edge of the headrest.

Link to a single tether: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/snowbird25ca/compass true fit/DSC01357.jpg You can't see the back of it, but can see how it goes over the headrest.

2nd row you flip open a plastic piece to expose the anchor:

3rd row is just a metal loop: (center of seat back in center position. I have the seat cropped out as I'd taken the picture to illustrate the LATCH top tether symbol. :thumbsup: )

Tether Anchor Pictorial Guide

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