RF but using FF belt path

niccig

New member
I have heard stories here about people using the FF belt path for a RF car seat, and I always thought how could that happen. Today I saw 2 friends do it.

One friend's DH left with the infant seat in the car, so she and another friend put a Graco convertible in the 2nd car, so she could drive somewhere today. I met up with them later on and they were telling me how they had difficulty with getting it installed, but they finally got it. I'm standing 5 ft from the car and I see the shoulder part of the seat belt at a weird angle. I look in the car and sure enough they used the FF belt path for the RF seat. I was surprised that they had enough seat belt to install it that way. The 2nd friend that helped with the install got a little huffy when I said it was wrong, as she's a bit of a know it all when it comes to raising kids. They also had the straps on the top slots above his head, they knew it needed to be adjusted, but didn't know how. Both of them have 2 kids. I fixed the seat for them.

I hang out here too much, I forgot that not everyone knows about car seat stuff.
 
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ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I did that once. I had never had a problem before, had even read the manual, checked the labels, etc., had used the seat both RF and FF before. It's not like it wasn't clearly marked. But I was sleep-deprived, with a four month old, and ready to cry because I could NOT get it tight! (I was using LATCH.)

We ended up calling a tech, who not only was very kind about the whole thing (I felt like the biggest idiot in the world when he showed me what I'd done) but told us more about ERF and EH and was just all around awesome. He's the reason I want to be a tech (and he happens to be a member of this board. :) ) What a great guy. But yeah, I felt like dufus of the YEAR. I mean, it's right there on the labels!
 

MustangMama

Active member
I don't know (other than being a sleep deprived new mom as above, LOL) how someone could mess up a rear facing install using the FF belt path. On every carseat there is CLEAR directions with PICTURES on how to install a carseat. I work part time at a daycare and see some nasty things done with a car seat. One mom has a Graco Snugride with a broken handle that doesn't lock!! I told her to go to a carseat check and they could help her out and she replied with "Oh, you think I'm a bad mom because my car seat is broken!?" No actually I was just trying to help you out since you're 23 and pregnant with your 5th child. Wonder what the first childs car seat looked like....:whistle:

But yeah, we should all post horror stories of the horrible things we have seen.....cause I have about 500 of them......saw a 2 yr old in a booster seat today...:whistle:
 

Pixels

New member
I've seen FFing using RF path before, but never the other way around. I can understand why people do it, too. I was installing a Radian for the first time, and when I checked it, the bottom of the seat pulled way forward. The first thought that ran through my head was well, there's these other holes down there at the bottom where the problem is, if the belt was there then it couldn't possibly slide forward. And the tether holds the top up/back so then the whole seat doesn't move. Even though I had been on this site, and read the manual cover to cover, and read all the stickers, that thought still popped in there. Of course I didn't do it, but it made me understand why I see that installation.
 

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