Vehicle Head Restraints and Car Seats

Unregistered · Feb 8, 2009

Hello all,
Sorry I forgot my registered name and password and I'm at work. I am wondering if you all know of a list that has been created with vehicles that have head restraints that are either not adjustable or adjust in a way that still makes them incompatible with some car seats. I started a list and would love to follow up with some of these vehicle manufacturers, but I don't want to double work that someone may already have. Today's installation was the second vehicle in a week that I've had this problem with, it's getting ridiculous and these parents are not happy to discover that their newly purchased family vehicles cannot hold their childrens car seats the way they intended. I have not purchased the newest LATCH manual yet, so I'm not sure if there is anything in there or not. Thanks for the help...

Kelly
CPST-I/Paramedic

snowbird25ca · Feb 9, 2009

I know that the newer Jeep vehicles have this problem - I think the Patriot, Commander, etc. Seems to me the work around is reclining the seat back IIRC.

The Outlook, Acadia, Enclave, and the new Chev one that I'm blanking on the name of have fixed headrests as well, but the manual states to recline the seat back and that removes the interference with every seat I've tried so far including the MA which seems to be the worst offender in terms of interference - at least out of seats that I've seen and tried.

Unregistered · Feb 9, 2009

What does IIRC mean?
So, how far back are these seats supposed to be reclined? I'm not sure it would have helped in my situation, and that seems like a poor fix IMO, does anyone know if this issue is being addressed to the right people?

snowbird25ca · Feb 10, 2009

Unregistered said:
What does IIRC mean?
So, how far back are these seats supposed to be reclined? I'm not sure it would have helped in my situation, and that seems like a poor fix IMO, does anyone know if this issue is being addressed to the right people?

IIRC means if I remember correctly.

I'm not sure that in the Dodge/Jeep vehicles the recline fixes everything, and I don't have my LATCH manual nearby to see if it mentions the headrest issue in it or not. I know that in the GM vehicles I mentioned the seat is reclined all the way - which isn't that much because the seats don't recline the same amount as a typical front seat captain chair. :thumbsup: And in the case of seats in the GM vehicles, it has always fixed the problem. I know that the Jeep ones are much worse though than the GM ones.

In the case of the GM ones, I don't think it's a fix, I think it's a design... the headrests tilt forward for better whiplash protection for adults. They're non-removable so that they're not lost would be my best guess. And the seats have to be reclined if using LATCH anyways, so I think that they just intended that the seats be reclined when a child seat was installed and didn't worry about the headrest problem if the seats were left upright because they weren't supposed to be. :shrug-shoulders:

Northriver · Feb 10, 2009

2008 Buick Enclave has fixed headrests 2nd row captins chairs and not only fixed but yes, that tilted forward design that makes it really really difficult to install seats with tall shells. Reclining the vehicle seat does NOT solve the problem. I'm able to install our Britax seats, we have a Blvd and a DC but while the install is acceptible, it is not "solid". It spent 3 months working on the Radian and eventually with numerous tips from this board, got an acceptible installation but again, not solid. I'm a mom, not a carseat tech. I keep peering in windows of other Enclaves and I'm seeing - wait for it - lost of low back boosters.

Our high back booster sits a good 8" away from the vehicle seat back.

Vehicle Head Restraints and Car Seats

Unregistered

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snowbird25ca

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Unregistered

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Northriver

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