seat belt extenders - need help in Australia

Hi all,

I have 3 child restraints. My oldest children are in a Britax Maxi Rider (used as a tethered booster with Protecta harness) and an Infa Vario with harness. My eldest (a small 7 yr old) can't go in the Infa because the seat belt won't go around him and the booster seat. I can only use the Maxi on the outside of the seat to get the seat belt around them both but there's not a lot of room left on the seat belt for when he grows. The seat belt in the kids' father's car isn't long enough for the Maxi at all so he's bought a Babylove Ezygo (I think?) booster which looks like the Vario.
My question is, are seat belt extenders the answer to my problems with the seat belts not being long enough either now or shortly? Are they actually safe to use or is there something else I should be doing? The manual for the Vario says it's not suitable for use with seat belt extenders but I've no idea why. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Mel

Re: seat belt extenders

Seatbelt extenders change the geometry of the seatbelt fit slightly, and most child restraint manufacturers don't allow their use.

My husband is a big guy. The seatbelt in our truck fit, but if he moved a little it would lock when he was a passenger. This posed an obvious safety risk since he was having to unbuckle in order to get the seatbelt to switch back so that it wasn't locked anymore. Long story short, we got a seatbelt extender from the dealership and it came with very explicit instructions about who should and should not use it and included that it should never be used with a child restraint.

I have to guess that it's mainly because of the slight change in seatbelt geometry, but possibly because there's an extra buckle to interfere with the carseat itself?

At any rate, I'm afraid you'll have to find restraints that work in those positions with the seatbelts you have. I'm not familiar enough with vehicles in Australia to give you anymore specific information, but hopefully someone else is.

(I'm going to edit your thread title to say Australia in it - hopefully that will get you some more targeted help for other suggestions.)

Re: seat belt extenders

Seat belt extenders are only meant to be used for larger occupants who the regular seat belt does not fit around properly, and are not meant for child restraints. The connections of the belt extender are in a location that could potentially come unlatched easily, and/or could affect the install of the seat. On a booster seat the connection would lie directly in front of the child, causing the potential for injury. It sounds as if your seat belt is not fully extending, as it should have enough length to easily go around a child in a booster, with extra belt left. What vehicle are you having issues with?

Oh okay, thanks.
I'm driving a Holden Berlina (like a commodore) and the kids' dad drives a Ford Fairmont. I've been to a licenced car restraint fitter for help and he said the belt was fully extended. The middle belt seems to be quite a bit shorter than the outside ones. The Maxi can't go anywhere properly in the Fairmont. The Infa Vario booster is a compact one so I don't know what I'll do when the kids get a bit bigger. It must be very hard for those with kids more solid than mine - maybe that's why there are so many little kids sitting in the adult seats

Thanks snowbird25ca for adding Australia in there. :thumbsup: I didn't think of that

Thanks both for your help

You could get new seat belts put in, talk to your local garage. The maxi riders aren't that big, it seems strange that the seat belts only just fit around them. We have 2 hondas and they have wicked short belts.

Hi, where in Au are you? I am on the Gold Coast and if you live near me I would be more than happy to try to help you. I do have 2 different booster seats that you can try to see if they work better.

My friend had a commadore and we had no problem fitting 3 seats in her car, that was 2 maxi's and a Graco booster. I have never encountered a seat belt being too short. What year is your car?