Had my seats checked on Thursday... a few questions

I went to a seat check on Thursday. I was VERY impressed with the CPSTs. They were very nice and really did take their time. :thumbsup:

I do have a few questions, though.

When I arrived-
(I have a 2006 Honda Civic, by the way)

1) My Nautilus was installed behind the passenger seat. It was installed with the seatbelt and the top tether, tethered OVER the headrest since that is what Honda told me to do since the tether anchors are so ridiculously close to the edge of the seat and thus I couldn't get the tether tight enough.
The CPST said the installation was perfect except for the tether since it needed to be underneath the headrest. He fixed it.

2) My Radian XT was installed, RF, in the center. It was installed with the seatbelt (locked) and the tether, which was tethered to the seat track of the passenger seat. I had had to twist the female end of the buckle two times in order to get a tight installation, but it was in ROCK-SOLID.
The CPST said the installation was perfect except for the fact that I had locked the belt instead of using the locking clip.



So, my first question is regarding that whole locking the belt versus using a locking clip.

~ Why is it better to use a locking clip? I had absolutely no tipping at all from locking the belt. Why should I use a locking clip? What is wrong with locking the belt? I thought it was better to lock the belt since it is harder for a RF child to get ahold of the loose belt and to get it twisted around a body part, including the neck.

~ The entire buckle was outside of the seat when I had it installed with the locked belt and the twisted female end. Now, with the locking clip and no twisting, the buckle is inside the belt path. Is that okay?



My second question is regarding the LATCH versus seatbelt. One of the techs questioned why I was using the seatbelt to install in the outboard position. I told her it was because I could get a tighter installation there AND because it allowed me to get a three-across arrangement. She said, "Oh. Well, you have LATCH in this car." I know that. I just don't want to use it. Am I wrong in doing what I did?



Overall, I was very impressed by this check. They checked EVERYTHING, including every label, every part of the seat, and so on. They spent a good twenty to thirty minutes on just my car and my two carseats.

Thanks for your help!

There is absolutely no reason that you need to use the locking clip, from your description. It just makes things more difficult. Why on earth do they think the belt can be locked, if not for carseats? Anyway, if the buckle is on the edge of the belt path, that is not correct, and you need to twist it back down. I always have to twist mine down (2002 Civic, Radian RFing center) at least once, usually two twists. If you want to stick with the locking clip, I find that with that vehicle/seat/orientation combination, the buckle ends up outside the belt path, the locking clip inside. Again, you don't want the locking clip resting right on the edge of the belt path. It needs to be either completely in the belt path, or completely out of it.

It sounds like the tech you had has a strong preference for LATCH. If seatbelt works better, use it. Besides, Honda's LATCH limit is 40 pounds, so you'll have to use the seatbelt at that point anyway.

Were they able to get the slack out of the top tether on the Nautilus with it routed under the headrest?

pixels99 said:

Were they able to get the slack out of the top tether on the Nautilus with it routed under the headrest?

Click to expand...

Yeah, they were. It took two of them to do it, but they did it!

It really is preferable to use the locking clip rearfacing WITH INFANT CARRIERS on certain locking retractors. It's pure foolishness to do it if you don't have to on a SKR. Makes the install more difficult, and the Radian is simply not going to tip the way a carrier or a lower end convertible might. My guess is he's used to installing carriers or Crappysports RF and just didn't have the experiential wherewithall to know it was pointless on the Radian.

Maedze said:

It really is preferable to use the locking clip rearfacing WITH INFANT CARRIERS on certain locking retractors. It's pure foolishness to do it if you don't have to on a SKR. Makes the install more difficult, and the Radian is simply not going to tip the way a carrier or a lower end convertible might. My guess is he's used to installing carriers or Crappysports RF and just didn't have the experiential wherewithall to know it was pointless on the Radian.

Click to expand...

That makes sense. I even said to him, "It isn't tipping at all. I would prefer to use the locking retractor, unless there is some safety reason not to do so, because of the (albeit SLIM) chance of the child getting ahold of the seatbelt." He said that they need to use the locking clip on a RF installation.

Completely wrong about the locking clip.

If the entire buckle is in the beltpath, that's fine. If it's out that's fine. If it's at the bend that's not fine.

I find the Nautilus so much easier to install with the seatbelt that I never do it with LATCH, even if it's available to me. In fact, the LATCH strap is still tucked up like it came out of the box. I do agree about the headrests, though. Unless you have headrests humps and not movable ones I go under. Sometimes I have to tighten the tether strap before I attach it, but I do it that way. My husband's Audi has them literally behind the headrest, about three inches behind the seat. It's horrid to get them tightened. But I have yet to have a problem going under (or around in the case of a Britax).

Wendy

If it helps get the tether tight, you can connect the tether and tighten it first, then connect the seatbelt or lower anchors. In some vehicles, you absolutely have to do it that way with any seat.

I am considering going out and taking the locking clip off. I liked my installation SO much better than what they did.

I will take some pictures to show you the difference.

I had an instructor tell me once that I HAD to use a locking clip on every RFing seat. I would rather switch the retractor, less of a hazzard that way.

Oh, and latch? Since I keep 2-3 car seats in my car at all times, I rarely get to use latch.

Ditch the locking clip, it just adds a projectile. As for the Nauti, I'd use the seat belt anyway since it has to be used over 40lbs.

Locking clips are a last resort. They can break when the seatbelt locks during the crash and come off the belt.

I've helped friends who used to go to the state police to get their seats installed. They installed them for them, never made the parents re-do, and put them in so tight---I was just about ready to consider cutting a latch strap to get th seat out. The dad said that they climbed into the seat. On the plus side they wouldn't FF a less than 2 yr old. I'm tempted to go up there with Nicholas and see what they would do.

Susan

So... I went out this morning and took the Radian out so I could install it WITHOUT a locking clip.

You should see where the locking clip was! It was 1.5"-2" away from the sliding latch plate. OMG! I am glad I took it off!

I also made the seat more upright. The techs installed it at 45*, which I think is too reclined for my 16-month-old DN.

Glad you fixed it. Also glad that my clinics haven't been on here! lol