Need help with 2005 Honda Pilot and Britax

[ACamm]

My sons are transitioning to RF convertible car seats. We received the Britax Marathon 70 car seats last year. We tried installing the seats in our 2005 Honda Pilot today. The bight on the seats are very deep. When the fire dept. was helping us install the seat, they used foam noodles to level the base. When they tried this it made the base contact with the LATCH clip buttons causing them to unlatch. Does anyone know of another way to get the base level? Are there seats that are better suited for the Pilot? Any suggestions? Thank you

 

[wavegal]

If your having an issue with latch why not try a seatbelt install with them?

Also make sure you have the latch anchors facing the right way, I have an 06 Pilot and that shouldn't be happening if they are facing the right way IMO.

 

[canadiangie]

Hi,

Are you saying the base of the marathon is too wide in relation to the LATCH anchors?

Actually, it might just be easiest if you post a picture of your current install. Could you do that?

 

[MommyShannon]

How old is your baby? The Marathon has a range of acceptable angles based on the baby's age. It doesn't need to be fully reclined for an older baby. You might not need the noodle at all. The guideline on the side is the middle of the range. It can be a bit more upright.

 

[ACamm]

(This is ACamm's husband)



@wavegal - The latch was definitely attached right-side up, I've installed the pumpkin-seat bases before using the LATCH system, and the fire department guys were doing this too. They did also try the shoulder straps, however they didn't have any of the clips for them so it wasn't staying tight. Reading the manual, there are retaining locks for the belt straps, so perhaps they weren't familiar with Britax's system and didn't use them?

@canadiangie - The above picture shows the anchors are "inside" the width of the base. When the FD guys tried to use a piece of pool noodle to level the base it caused the rim of the base to bump the LATCH release button and the whole thing came off - definitely not safe.



@MommyShannon - This picture shows the current angle the seats are in. This is in our garage, so the car is level. The seats are reclined to position 3, which the manual says is 45 degrees from the base but you can see the seats look like they're pretty straight up since the base is tipping into the seat so far.

 

[wavegal]

Can you take a picture with noodle or a tightly rolled towel?

The men you saw are definitely not techs, britax doesn't allow locking clips with their seats since they have built in locking clips. Also your seat belts lock. You need to pull them all the way out and feed them back in slowly.

How old are your children? While it's more upright than I'd normally like it could work

 

[safeinthecar]

How old are the boys?

I'd probably cut a noodle in half to give it a little recline, but not quite enough to hit the release buttons. If they are young enough to need more recline than that, I'd use a however many pool noodles needed until I gained a recline that worked (no more than 45*) and install with seat belt. No locking clip is needed with a britax because they have them built in.

 

[ACamm]

Our twins are 11.5 months, though they were born 2 months premature so they're on the smaller side for their age. They have good head control so they don't need the full 45 degrees, but I'm just trying to make sure they'll be around the 30 degrees that the Britax manual recommends for RF.

The FD guys left the noodles in the car, so I tried it again with one of them. I'm beginning to think it was their inexperience with this model of car seat that may have been part of the problem. I noticed at first with the noodle under the seat that the base caught against the top of one of the LATCH clips, so I readjusted it and snugged it down. Right now, I can't even see the noodle as I have it so tight it appears to have completely compressed it (I would upload a pic, but the forum says I'm over quota right now).

The noodle did help a little, but only about 1-5 degrees. I was also unable to make the LATCH clips disengage when shaking the seat with a good amount of force, which is what the FD guys kept running into. I did trim the noodle a bit more than they had it too, to make sure it fit in the space between the LATCH anchors, so maybe in combination with what I mentioned above that was what was tripping them up?

Regardless, the seat base is still far from level, though like I said it is a bit better than before. I am hesitant to add anymore padding under it, as I've been told that adding too much is bad as the void becomes an issue.

@wavegal - so you think the angle there might be sufficient? We're looking up official inspection sites to get it looked at tomorrow, though in MO in our area almost every FD comes up as an official inspection site.

 

[wavegal]

As long as your not having a huge void its safe to have up to 3 noodles under the seat to get proper recline. You just need to secure them together.

Is the 11.5 mths their adjusted age or before adjustment?

Personally I liked the seats more reclined and with my Pilot I used 2 noodles to get a comfortable install. But at almost a year old 1 would be okay with as long as great head control

 

[LISmama810]

If you have it so tight you can't see the noodles, you might want to let up a bit .

How are you putting weight in the seat while tightening? With your hand or a knee? Either way, try putting weight (not too much) in the area where the baby's bum goes rather than where the feet go. That will automatically cause the seat to tip back a bit more instead of raising it forward.

Tighten while you're doing that, and check for tightness just by giving a firm tug back and forth at the belt path. You don't want to be rocking the heck out of it, just making sure it isn't going anywhere. As long as it moves less than an inch, you're good. If it needs tightening, put weight again in the bum area only and tighten some more.