RF Tethered Seat reclined?

My seat was inspected and installed with the help of CSP technician. Blvd RF in the center, the seat was installed fully reclined and tethered. My question is my daughter is almost 1 year old, is there a proper recline? Should she be reclined or does it matter?
If the seat is already tethered then do I need to losen it in order to get the seat more upright (non-recline)? The reason I want it not to be reclined is cos the seat seems to have her facing more towards the ceiling I thought she might like it better looking out the rear view window. However, I am not sure if it is safer to have her at a recline?
It is also her first time in the Blvd seat so I want her to enjoy the seat rather hate it cos she is looking at the ceiling.

Thanks for your help

I remember being told that if a Britax seat is rf it MUST be in the recline position. Can't remember by whom though... My dd is rf in a RA and WIZ and I have them reclined but then tightened up so much by the belt (the seat then sinks down in the front where it meets the seatback of the car) that it is more upright. I don't tighten tether, but keep it with no slack. I actually have to have a pool noodle under the front of the RA to keep it from being too upright even in the recline position...doesn't make sense but that's the way it is. The noodle is rather squished at this point though .
If I'm wrong about the postion (recline vs upright) I hope someone corrects me!
C.

We've gone around a few times lately with this topic.

One of the techs on here(Heather maybe?) has called Britax and you CAN install RF in the upright position and use the tether to get a bit more reclined.

At 1, your daughter would be more comfortable more upright. The 45 degree recline is really only for newborns and babies with little head control.

Did the tech teach you how to install it on your own?

Also kudos to the tech for not telling you she needs to be FF because she is 1!

Susan

SusanMae said:

We've gone around a few times lately with this topic.

One of the techs on here(Heather maybe?) has called Britax and you CAN install RF in the upright position and use the tether to get a bit more reclined.

At 1, your daughter would be more comfortable more upright. The 45 degree recline is really only for newborns and babies with little head control.

Did the tech teach you how to install it on your own?

Also kudos to the tech for not telling you she needs to be FF because she is 1!

Susan

Click to expand...

I looked at how she did it along the way. the tethered part I could not see clearly but prob could figure it out from what she has done. We could not get a good installation till we tethered it down.
My question now is the easiest way to get the seat more upright ?would it be to losen the tethered and put the seat on upright and then tighten the tethered? which part of the tether do i loosen?

Put the seat in the upright position. Oh, yes, loosen the tether first to allow this movement. Just loosen the strap up a generous amount. Adjust the seat recline, double check for a firm install, then readjust the tether. The tether straps won't get as tight now as they did before. Just pull them taut and straight. But not so much that it starts to recline the seat again. Does that make any sense?

I recently went about RF tethering my 2yr old's Marathon. It was in the upright position, tethered to the seat leg of front passenger, the strap was pulled 'just' tight to keep the seat more upright.

trashtrishy said:

We could not get a good installation till we tethered it down.

Click to expand...

I have yet to install with a RF tether, but it's my understanding that the install has to be perfect before the tether is added. Also, I understand the when RF, the more upright the child can be, the better. During a crash the child will move toward the impact, if they are basically lying on their back, then they will "load" into the shoulder belts of their seat. If they are more upright, then the force will be spread out over the back of the seat. Make sense? I don't have any answer for you about whether your seat should be in "upright" or "recline" mode, for many vehicles recline mode is fine and then some people have to add a pool noodle to get to 45* for a newborn. Hope this helps!

Tara said:

Put the seat in the upright position. Oh, yes, loosen the tether first to allow this movement. Just loosen the strap up a generous amount. Adjust the seat recline, double check for a firm install, then readjust the tether. The tether straps won't get as tight now as they did before. Just pull them taut and straight. But not so much that it starts to recline the seat again. Does that make any sense?

I recently went about RF tethering my 2yr old's Marathon. It was in the upright position, tethered to the seat leg of front passenger, the strap was pulled 'just' tight to keep the seat more upright.

Click to expand...

How do I losen the tether sorry the tech did this part and I do not understand how to tether.
The seat was not tight till it was tethered to the seat leg of the front passenger. Do you think I should leave it more inclined cos the tether was the thing that help with the tightness of the installation and it sounds like if I understood correctly that if it was more upright I would get a problem with tight installation?

Squeeze the sides of the tether latch. Or the top or however it goes. Sorry, can't think of how the adjuster is on your seat. Some you lift a bit to loosen, others you squeeze/push. It should be pretty easy to figure out once you look at it and just mess with it. Just squeeze and you will feel the 'give' then continue to pull the strap from the other side to give slack. Did that help any?
Which kind of tether adjust does the BLVD have folks? Someone help explain that better please.

If the seat was not tight, not a sufficient install w/o the tether, I think I would look for another install spot first. You need to have a tight install, THEN tether. The tether can aid in the install, but it shouldn't be what really holds it down.

*someone correct me if I'm wrong*

Tara said:

If the seat was not tight, not a sufficient install w/o the tether, I think I would look for another install spot first. You need to have a tight install, THEN tether. The tether can aid in the install, but it shouldn't be what really holds it down.

*someone correct me if I'm wrong*

Click to expand...

The seat was installed that way by a CPS technician. The seat does not have a tight installation, but she said lets see how it is after tethered. It was tethered to the front carseat rail. After it was tethered it was very tight fit.
Could someone confirm that the tech did it right? I trust the tech but it would be nice if someone else confirm just for my comfort.

Tara said:

If the seat was not tight, not a sufficient install w/o the tether, I think I would look for another install spot first. You need to have a tight install, THEN tether. The tether can aid in the install, but it shouldn't be what really holds it down.

*someone correct me if I'm wrong*

Click to expand...

That's my understanding as well. Seat needs to be in securely (less than 1" of movement at the belt path) without the use of the tether. If you are not getting that, you need to try a different way of install (seat belt vs latch) or a completely different spot.

A tether is only used to enhance an installation - it can NOT be used to get a secure installation in the first place. If it was properly installed by the tech, you should be able to go out to the car, loosen the tether (or completely unhook it) and the seat should still be secure AT THE BELT PATH.

With a rear facing seat that is not tethered, there will be some movement at the top of the seat - that is normal. However, if you grasp the seat AT THE BELT PATH you should not be able to slide it side to side or forward and back much at all (up to an inch of movement is considered acceptable, but no movement or very minimal movement is preferred). Tethering a rear facing seat will stabilize the top of the seat, but it still needs to be tight at the belt path BEFORE it's tethered.

And as previously mentioned, it is safer for an older infant/toddler/preschooler to be more upright. The 45 degree angle is a maximim and is generally only needed for newborns. As they get older the seat can be more upright. My rule of thumb for my DS was that the seat was installed as upright as it could be without making his head fall forward when he was sleeping (my youngest was my only one who rear faced very long - until he was 3 years old - because my oldest two are 14yo and 11yo and NO seats rear faced past 20 or 22 pounds back then and they were that weight by 3-5 months old).

trashtrishy, the first thing I would do is loosen the tether on your DD's seat and make sure that it's tightly installed AT THE BELT PATH without the tether enhancing/altering the fit. If it's not snug enough at the belt path, then it's not an acceptable fit no matter how great it seems with the tether tightened. As you loosen the tether it may allow the seat to be more upright without reinstalling the seat, but chances are good that you'll need to reinstall it to get it more upright. If so, once you reinstall it (at a more upright angle) you can pull the tether tight just enough so there is no slack in it or you can pull it tighter to get more recline if you need to.

HTH,
Peggy

I think she was also having some confusion on HOW to loosen the tether strap. Can someone be of more assistance there? I have 3 seats with 3 different tether adjusters. I'm not sure which the BLVD has. Can someone explain how she goes about loosening the tether so she can make these other adjustments?

Tara said:

I think she was also having some confusion on HOW to loosen the tether strap. Can someone be of more assistance there? I have 3 seats with 3 different tether adjusters. I'm not sure which the BLVD has. Can someone explain how she goes about loosening the tether so she can make these other adjustments?

Click to expand...

I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure that the BLVD has the squeeze type tether rather than a tilt-lock adjuster for the tether. If so, when the tether is pulled really tight you've got to squeeze that adjuster REALLY hard to loosen it. You squeeze it from top to bottom (the way the webbing runs thru it), not from the sides. It's a lot easier to show in person or with a good picture, but I couldn't find one (at least other than on ebay, and I'm not allowed to get on there from the office). Once the adjuster is squeezed into the unlocked position it will probably loosen a bit on it's own, or you can pull on the webbing to get more slack in it.

Personally, I tend to unbuckle my seatbelt to get slack in the tether before I unhook/loosen the tether, but that's not what she is looking to do.

Okay totally not comfortable with center installation. When I grab the seat on the side it slides a lot I would say about 5-6 inches on each side.
So what I did was I installed the seat on the side with latch system and it is very secured not moving at all.
My question is the angle of the seat, I have the latch pulled very tight and the latch buckle where it tightens or losen the webbing is sitting in front of the front part the carseat so the seat itself is not up against the seat. I hope you know what I mean. Is this right?
Also when I have the seat upright it seems very upright so I now have it inclined. Is this okay for my daughter who is almost 1 or do I have to have her more upright?

At 1 she can be as reclined or upright as is comfortable. The more reclined position is for infants who lack head control, when they fall asleep their heads fall with chin to chest, closing off their airway. Not much of a concern with older children So, at 1 yr, as long as she's comfy, I'd say you're ok.

Glad to hear you worked on that install and are more pleased with the outboard position.

Sorry, I'm not sure about the LATCh part. I've not actually used it. Only to test a seat in a vehicle, not to actually use it and even that was only once.
And I'm not getting the mental picture of your situation. Sorry.

What I've done for my RFing four year old is to have her seat in the recline position, but then pull the base out from the bight of the seat (the crack where the seatbelts come out) about an inch. Then install her seat. She's now "reclining" in a very upright way. Then I pull the tether tight (and in my case I often have my feet or knees in her seat and I lean over the top of it and pull up on the tether from there so it's nice and tight). Since my daughter is four sometimes I'll do it when she's in the seat and let her tell me when it's a good angle for her. She lets me know if it's not right (she burst into tears yesterday because she could pinch some slack at her shoulders and I'm sure thought she was going to go flying out of the car if I so much as braked. I had to assure her that it was tight enough to keep her in the seat, but it could cause issues with spinal compression).

Wendy