Question Help with Honda Pilot and Diono Rainier RF

[Unregistered]

Hi! I would love some help figuring out how to safely continue rear-facing my big 2.5-yr-old in our 2016 Honda Pilot with Diono Rainier. I feel pretty clueless.

Our son is 38+ lbs and after much debate I've talked my husband into RF until 50lbs or 4yo. But the rear-facing install with the Diono seems a bit wobbly. My husband is saying there is nowhere to tether it. It's currently wedged against the passenger seat, which Diono says is safe, but weirds me out a bit. (The Honda manual just says it may give you an error signal on the airbag, but doesn't come right out and say you shouldn't do it. And we haven't been getting an error.)

Is wedging it against the front seat acceptable? Is there any option to tether in this car? Does the angle adjuster help at all with any of this? Any other suggestions? I do like the Diono a lot, esp since it's so narrow and we have another child as well. I really don't want to buy a new seat if I don't have to.

Side note - ideally I'd actually like to put this seat behind the driver, because then I can access the 3rd row more easily. But the driver's seat moves back and forth frequently, so if we are relying on the wedging for stability that won't work. Any thoughts on whether this is possible?

Thanks in advance!

 

[wendytthomas]

Hi there.

Wedging a seat to make it stable is not ok. You're testing for movement at the belt path only? The head of the seat moving is not an issue.

An angle adjuster will sit the seat more upright, so you can probably get it behind the driver without too much trouble.

You can tether it to the front seat track if you want. Do NOT overtighten it. Just remove the slack..

The concern about the airbags is not just that the light won't work, it's that the light indicates if the airbag is working for the passenger. So if you're in a crash and the carseat has messed with the passenger side airbag sensors, the airbag may not go off. It's not a small deal.

How tall is your child? This seat has a 44" limit for rear facing, or 1.5" of shell above the head. Will it be tall enough to get your child to four?

Wendy

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the reply. Since I posted this I learned that you are supposed to test at the belt path only. We did not realize that. It is less than 1 inch of movement down there. It's only the top that moves a lot. My husband wanted to brace or tether the seat because of that movement, but it sounds like maybe that's not necessary, which would be great.

I'm short, so space behind the driver's seat isn't too big of an issue. My husband was concerned b/c he thought it needed to be braced or tethered in addition to being snugly fit at the bottom. But given what you've said, it sounds like that isn't a problem.

What I meant about the airbag is just that the sensor hasn't given any error warnings at all; I am not sure whether there could still be a problem with it functioning, even if there is no error warning.

Our son is 37-38" right now at 2.5 yrs, so we have some time. Hopefully can get close to 4. He has a long torso, though, so I'll check on the 1.5".

Any particular trick to tethering on the front seat track?

Thank you!!
-Jenny

 

[wendytthomas]

If you can get the D ring around it, then you're good. But don't over tighten, you can't put anything under the front seats for airbag issues. So make sure the tether is all the way back on the track. Or just not tether it. It's not required.

You're using the seatbelt to install, yes?

Wendy

 

[Unregistered]

Ok thanks! Yes, we are using the seatbelt.