Help, switching seat locations

dragonfly8 · Apr 11, 2009

I have decided to switch the car seats around and need some input.
Up until now, Kaden has been in either his Safeseat (which I recently put away) and his new True Fit, RFing, behind the driver in our 1999 Suburban. Connor is FF in his Radian, middle position. The lock on the rear passenger door is not working properly so I would really like to not use the passenger rear side for car seat installation.
I am finding that with the True Fit, the straps are extremely difficult to tighten when Kaden is in it, as the strap gets buried into the back seat. I am guessing this is a common complaint. So, I am going to put Connor (who is approx 35-36lbs) in the TF FF in the center position (already installed it, it was sooooo easy to install tightly) and Kaden into the Radian (ours is RF to 30lbs and FF to 48lbs) until he hits 30lbs. He is approx 25ish lbs now, so we have a little bit of time. When Kaden hits 30lbs I will put him back in the True Fit until he's 35lbs. I just wanted to clarify that A) the safestop is removed when RFing, correct? My understanding is that it is only used for FF until the child is 40lbs. B) The radian can be braced against the front seat when RFing, right? This is the only way it will fit in my vehicle. If it is braced. I have nothing to RF tether it to though.

The reason I don't want to put the radian in the center spot RFing is that my suburban is a high vehicle and I don't have running boards. I have to use the handle overhead to step up into it, I don't know that I could do it with a baby in my arms. Connor is able to crawl under the RFing seat and get into his seat. Hopefully in the next few months we'll get a car and I won't have this problem!

Thanks in advance for your help!

shauburg · Apr 11, 2009

dragonfly8 said:
I am finding that with the True Fit, the straps are extremely difficult to tighten when Kaden is in it, as the strap gets buried into the back seat. I am guessing this is a common complaint.

Yes, this is definitely the most common complaint about the True Fit when used RF. I got around it by adjusting the harness tightness on my DS before tightening the belt on my install. Then once tightly installed I never adjusted the harness again. I just took advantage of the continuous loop harness to load DS.

I placed DS in the seat, pulled out one side of the harness, inserted arm #1, pulled out the other side of the harness, inserted arm #2, then evened out both sides of the harness, fastened the crotch buckles & finally the chest clip.

dragonfly8 said:
A) the safestop is removed when RFing, correct? My understanding is that it is only used for FF until the child is 40lbs.

Yes, the SafeStop is to be removed when RF. Yes, it is only used with FF children who are under 40 lbs.

dragonfly8 said:
B) The radian can be braced against the front seat when RFing, right? This is the only way it will fit in my vehicle. If it is braced. I have nothing to RF tether it to though.

Yes, the Radian can touch or be braced against the back of the front vehicle seat as long as the vehicle manufacturer does not prevent it (i.e. due to advanced airbags). Since your vehicle is older, this should not be an issue.

However, you don't want the Radian to be completely crammed up against the back of the front seat. If you think you might be really forcing the Radian up, can you post side-view pictures of the Radian installed natually (not braced), with the front seat moved up out of the way vs. braced, with the front seat moved back where you need it to be?