Britax advocate rear facing install in 2005 nissan pathfinder

[carebear23]

Hello! Please someone help me! I need to install a britax advocate rearfacing in my 2005 pathfinder. Hopefully i have no problems in the center position with the seatbelt since i do not have latch in the middle and have read that nissan wont allow borrowing latch from the outboard seats , bummer.
The real problem i have is with the top tether strap. In my nissan the anchors are all behind the seat which means i will have this massive strap over top the seat above my childs head with a rear install. The britax manual strongly reccomends that the top tether is used even when rear facing. I called 3 dealerships and the 800 nissan customer service line and nobody could tell me if i could create an anchor with the extra strap that is supplied with this carseat. I was hoping to anchor it around the bottom of a front seat but not sure if this could even work in the middle position since the stap would have to be pulled over to the left or the right to anchor to a front seat. I am so confused and only want my child to be as safe as possible. Any input is much appreciated.

 

[carseatcoach]

Yes, you use the D-ring to create a rear-facing tether point.

Yes, it is fine if the tether is slightly off-center.

 

[carebear23]

Thank you! Installation is very solid in the middle using the seatbelt. Am actually shocked at how easy it was considering i have no experience. Now i just need to find a local tech to double check it and make sure i did everything correctly. The only complaint i have with the britax advocate is the seat cover. You have to lift it up to feed the belt through of course but then once the belt is secured it is impossible to fit the cover back over the seat with the front of the carseat mashed so tight into the seat. Any suggestions on how to get my cover back on?

 

[Pixelated]

Do you not have slits in the sides of the fabric to allow access to the lock-offs? You don't need to lift the whole cover off, at least on more recent generations of seats -- I can't remember if the classic (white shelled) versions have this or not. Otherwise if you sort of slide the cover down between the edge of the seat and the vehicle seat you may be able to slip it back on.

 

[carebear23]

I did see slots cut out in the seatcover but fon't see how its possible to tighten the belt and lock it off through such a small slit. Seems to me they are there to unlock the seat easily without removing the cover. Thats the easy part though, lol! This carseat is so tight against the seat back that there is no way to slip the seat cover back on. I broke one of the clips( that holds the cover on) off the seat cover trying to squeeze it down between them.
Is it ok that its so tight into the seat? Should i use a noodle to give some space? I have 0% of the carseat hanging over the seat bottom as of now. I read that 3 inches is ok. That may give my daughter more foot room too. I may end up needing to use one anyway with the seat angle. The blue line indicator looks parallel but my driveway is not flat and the pathfinder seats are angled also. One more thing. How tight should the tether be? It seems tight but my husband wants to keep tightening. Looks like it moves the carseat back little by little each time he adjusts it but seens inevitable. How do i know when enough is enough? Thank you! For as much as these seats cost they really should send an instructional video. Maybe theres an app for that? Lol

 

[murphydog77]

Hi. The seat bottom cover lifts forward revealing the rear-facing beltpath. It tucks back up behind the child's back. So you pull that forward instead of having to pull the cover up off the seat.

You can try pulling the carseat back away from the vehicle seat a bit and installing it, but I've found that unless your vehicle seats are really squishy and you install the carseat so tightly that the carseat goes into that squish, that the carseat "walks" back into the seat crack over time and you're left with a loose install.

The rf tether should just be snug, not tight. The tether has a feature called rip-stitching on it that is a crash energy management feature. It could potentially be broken by over-zealously tightening the tether in combination with a hard stop or something else. Point is, snug enough to remove the slack. Britax does have instructional videos; check on their website.