How is your Regent Tethered?

[murphysmommy]

Not to stray too far from the subject but why is it that we can't (shouldn't?) use LATCH, seat belt, and top tether to install a carseat? Wouldn't the use of all 3 be an additional defense against low LATCH weight limits and possible seatbelt failure? Sorry for the rookie question but what gives? MM

 

[wondering1]

Info suggesting heavy duty tether anchors:

http://www.saferidenews.com/html/LATCH_P49.htm

http://www.saferidenews.com/html/Safetynews.html

 

[AdventureMom]

So when you harness to the seatbelt on the 3rd row, I assumed you would pull out the male buckle, connect the tether to the hole in that, then let it retract until it locked. Then I saw a picture of one tethered to the actual webbing of the lapbelt, with the whole seatbelt in the 3rd row buckled. So what is the right way to do it?

 

[scatterbunny]

Not to stray too far from the subject but why is it that we can't (shouldn't?) use LATCH, seat belt, and top tether to install a carseat? Wouldn't the use of all 3 be an additional defense against low LATCH weight limits and possible seatbelt failure? Sorry for the rookie question but what gives? MM

I answered the same question from you already in another thread.

 

[scatterbunny]

So when you harness to the seatbelt on the 3rd row, I assumed you would pull out the male buckle, connect the tether to the hole in that, then let it retract until it locked. Then I saw a picture of one tethered to the actual webbing of the lapbelt, with the whole seatbelt in the 3rd row buckled. So what is the right way to do it?

Either way is fine. Both are covered in the LATCH maual.

 

[AdventureMom]

Either way is fine. Both are covered in the LATCH maual.

Thanks, Jenny... For some reason, it makes more sense to me to use the buckle itself. We don't have a Regent so it's not an issue for us (yet), but I'm helping with a seatcheck on Thursday - - and just wanted to know in case asked I'm sure the officer holding the check - on his own time - probably already knows, but still...

 

[scatterbunny]

You'd be surprised at the people who DON'T know that it's okay to tether like this. I had to look it up and "prove" it to my instructors at the 1-day class.

I have had Hayley's seat tethered both ways--to the metal tongue of the male portion, unbuckled, and to the webbing of a buckled belt. I like the second method because it is more centered with our tether strap and carseat. Buckled to just the male buckle tongue, it tilted the seat over time.

 

[Jimaie(mom2boys)]

You'd be surprised at the people who DON'T know that it's okay to tether like this. I had to look it up and "prove" it to my instructors at the 1-day class.

I have had Hayley's seat tethered both ways--to the metal tongue of the male portion, unbuckled, and to the webbing of a buckled belt. I like the second method because it is more centered with our tether strap and carseat. Buckled to just the male buckle tongue, it tilted the seat over time.

do you have pictures available of tethering this way?? I'd love to see how its done!!

 

[scatterbunny]

do you have pictures available of tethering this way?? I'd love to see how its done!!

This is a single-strap tether strap, not the V-style that Britax seats have (I don't have a picture up of the Husky tethered, I need to get one!), but it still shows the basic concept.

 

[Jimaie(mom2boys)]

This is a single-strap tether strap, not the V-style that Britax seats have (I don't have a picture up of the Husky tethered, I need to get one!), but it still shows the basic concept.

Thats so great! I would have never had a clue that you could tether like that! SO good to know

 

[scatterbunny]

I didn't either until a great tech here copied/pasted the info directly from her LATCH manual.

If tethering to a lap/shoulderbelt the belt must be locked, either with the belt's own locking mechanism or with a locking clip.

 

[hipmaman]

You'd be surprised at the people who DON'T know that it's okay to tether like this. I had to look it up and "prove" it to my instructors at the 1-day class.

I have had Hayley's seat tethered both ways--to the metal tongue of the male portion, unbuckled, and to the webbing of a buckled belt. I like the second method because it is more centered with our tether strap and carseat. Buckled to just the male buckle tongue, it tilted the seat over time.

Just to agree with Jenny that this is how we tether (ff) carseats in Canada, temporarily. I say temporarily because we do it in a pinch if the child needs to leave the clinic in a ff carseat as the only way but the vehicle does not have an installed tether anchors yet.

Tether anchors are installed for a small nominal charge (about $10-15 CAD for the anchor itself but the labour to install is free). So we always tell parents to get a permanent anchor installed when leaving the clinic.

 

[lovemyfamily]

You can't compare a Radian, Marathon, Boulevard, etc... to a Regent. First the Regent harnesses to 80lbs (15 more pounds then the others). Has top harness slots 2+" taller then any of them. That is 2" of torso growth or at least 2 more years in a 5pt harness. We will see what Recaro brings out but right now its just rumors until it's truly annouced and on the market.


My point in all of this is a Regent is not an obsolete car seat and I don't see if ever being so in the near future.

I strongly agree with you. Until there is something out there that comes close to providing what the Regent does, it shouldn't be considered obsolete.

 

[lovemyfamily]

Assuming your child fits in another hwh seat, if the tether were to fail, would you rather have them in a regent that does not pass the 32" test without a tether, or one of the other seats that does?

What is the 32" test?

 

[scatterbunny]

All seats sold in the US must pass head excursion testing--they measure how far foward a dummy's head moves in a crash. 32" (measured from the back of the vehicle seatback) is the maximum allowable distance for an untethered seat. 28" is the maximum allowed for a tethered seat.

 

[twom]

I chose "tethered to a third row seatbelt" even though we don't have a Regent...dd's carseat (Fisher Price Futura, goes to 60 pounds) is tethered to a third row seatbelt and when we get her Husky soon it will be tethered the same way. Only because I don't have tether anchors and Mazda wants over $200 to install one.

Jenny -
I just wanted to let you know that you should be able to get tether anchors installed for free from Mazda. Here's the link from their webpage stating just that:
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPage.action?pageParameter=contactCustomer#1

I have installed tether anchors in a 1990 Mazda 626 and a 1994 Mazda 626. In one case I was able to have the anchors sent to me free and installed them myself. In the other case (a few years later) they would only give them to me for free if I had the dealership install them, and since it's a 2-hour drive to the nearest dealership, I just paid for the anchors and had them sent to me, and installed them myself again. But you should be able to go to a dealership and have them install anchors free of charge, as that is Mazda's policy (though they may have to order in the parts).

HTH!
Jody

 

[Synchro246]

You'd be surprised at the people who DON'T know that it's okay to tether like this. I had to look it up and "prove" it to my instructors at the 1-day class.

I have had Hayley's seat tethered both ways--to the metal tongue of the male portion, unbuckled, and to the webbing of a buckled belt. I like the second method because it is more centered with our tether strap and carseat. Buckled to just the male buckle tongue, it tilted the seat over time.

A few things. . .
I'm irritated that Britax customer service brought up tether anchor limits in cars when I called earlier today to try to get a replacement for my boulevard since this is in the Latch manual. What is the limit for tethering to a third row seatbelt as per the latch manual? Is there a reasonable assumption?

Also, I have mine tethered like this right now- to the male portion of the buckle. I was wondering if I need to do anything to make sure the buckle doesn't slide on it's seatbelt webbing. It's just a lap belt. I don't know if I'm being clear.

 

[NatenMaddiesMommy]

Anytime you can tether a carseat it's good to tether -- RF as well as FF (however, most carseats do not allow RF tethering). Tethering FF beyond the listed weight limit is still considered safest practice as it will offer some measure of increased safety even if the anchor does fail in a crash.... Tethering to an unused seatbelt behind the carseat is accapteble when there isn't another anchor point & tethering at a reasonable angle is also acceptable (using the adjacent anchor point, but not from one outboard side to the opposite outboard side).

So it's okay to tether an outboard seat to a center position tether? I though someone on these boards said that was a no-no?????

I have an Apex65 installed outboard in my Sienna for my 7 year old niece (50lbs). It is not tethered b/c there is no tether point for that position. Would it be beneficial to attach it to the center tether point (there is no car seat in that position)?

Sorry if this is unrelated to the topic.

 

[scatterbunny]

A few things. . .
I'm irritated that Britax customer service brought up tether anchor limits in cars when I called earlier today to try to get a replacement for my boulevard since this is in the Latch manual. What is the limit for tethering to a third row seatbelt as per the latch manual? Is there a reasonable assumption?

Also, I have mine tethered like this right now- to the male portion of the buckle. I was wondering if I need to do anything to make sure the buckle doesn't slide on it's seatbelt webbing. It's just a lap belt. I don't know if I'm being clear.

I think Britax is trying to cover their behinds by reminding folks of their VEHICLE tether anchor limits. This is still a gray area that techs can only educate parents on; there's no clearcut answer. Everything I know and believe says it's better to continue using a top tether anchor even after the limits have been reached, because the tether anchor is not what's holding in the carseat, the seatbelt is; the tether anchor is just a supplement, and it will do the job it's designed to do even if it fails at the height of the crash forces.

There is no "limit" mentioned when tethering to a vehicle seatbelt. My thinking is that a seatbelt is designed to restrain THOUSANDS of pounds of force, to hold back an adult. A seatbelt as a tether should have no problem supplementing the seatbelt already holding in the carseat.

Using a lapbelt is the easiest belt-tethering method, IME. Lapbelts will automatically lock (except for the rare kind that need belt shortening clips). The kind with a sliding latchplate (most common type) will lock when the sliding latchplate is held flat against the belt. That's exactly how it will be when a seat is tethered to it.

Here's my two pictures, one showing tethering to the buckle tongue (obviously unbuckled) and one tethering to the buckled webbing:

 

[scatterbunny]

So it's okay to tether an outboard seat to a center position tether? I though someone on these boards said that was a no-no?????

I have an Apex65 installed outboard in my Sienna for my 7 year old niece (50lbs). It is not tethered b/c there is no tether point for that position. Would it be beneficial to attach it to the center tether point (there is no car seat in that position)?

Sorry if this is unrelated to the topic.

Everything I have learned says only if it's stretching to a point less than 20 degrees off center. I know Britax verbally told someone that tethering to an adjacent seating position was acceptable, but someone else recently called and was given the standard 20 degree answer.