Best car seat protector with tether support?

[karennj]

My last van had leather and we used towels under the carseats and tether strap and the van seats were still a mess. I am wondering if a proper car seat protector would work better. We are getting a new van and I really don't want the seats to get ruined. I have the Britax frontier high back boosters so I want something that covers the back and base of the van seats (and extends down to where the feet hit the seat). I also would like to find something that will cover the top of the seat where the tether strap pulls down. That is probably where most of the damage to the seat occurs but most of the car seats don't have something to protect that area.

What do you all have and do you think it offers good protection on leather seats?

 

[wendytthomas]

The only mat allowed is the Britax mat. There's no other option.

Wendy

 

[ketchupqueen]

And if you get a proper install, you're going to have dents in the cushions, with or without a mat.

 

[safeinthecar]

You only need to take the slack out of a tether. Denting the vehicle seat top is overkill.

 

[Nedra]

You only need to take the slack out of a tether. Denting the vehicle seat top is overkill.

Really? I thought "just getting the slack out" was for a RF tether, but that a FF tether had to be really tight. I installed an Evenflo/Snugli seat with a "tru-safe tether" (or something like that, not sure of the exact name) that changed color when it was tight enough and it didn't change color until the vehicle seat top was pretty severely compressed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[karennj]

Yes, I wondered about the tether that goes over the top of the seat. That by far does the worst damage. My husband cranks that thing down. With our old seats, I did feel like it made the seat more secure but the new frontiers have that click tight function with the seat belt and it gets a really solid install. I was wondering if the seat is so secure with the belt if we really need to crank down on the tether as well. I will take a look at the britax mat.

Regarding the safety issue, why is a towel ok but not a thin protector?

 

[wendytthomas]

You don't crank down on the tether. Just remove the slack.

A towel is not ok for a Britax. Some carseats allow it because they've tested it. Others have either tested it and it's not ok, or not tested it.

Same with the protectors. Like I said, your one and only option here is the Britax mat. You cannot use another mat, or a towel. Other companies state a thin towel is ok, but no mats. Others are ok with mats or towels.

Wendy

 

[mping]

I have leather seats and have had a car seat in our captain seats for nearly 7 years until recently when my daughter uses an Incognito in one of them. The seat eventually bounced back from being dented from a car seat and a tether. Just wanted to throw that out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[karennj]

Thanks! If we are just removing the slack of the tether that will help significantly.

 

[joolsplus3]

Thanks! If we are just removing the slack of the tether that will help significantly.

Yeah, it'll help a lot. I had squishy seats in one car and felt like I needed to pretty much destroy the top of them to get a good install, it wasn't pretty. Learned more in the next car and after 11 years, the leather seats were the only not-destroyed part of my van