I'm increasingly curious about the issues we had with our Aton base installation, since the recent CR review identified exactly the issue we had--and then the Car Seat Lady response to this was that they had never encountered this problem in many, many installs. So--now I'm really wondering about its causes.
Here's the basic problem we had: when the base was installed with a seatbelt, it was extremely difficult to close the latch plate because the thickness of the seatbelt plus LATCH belt (which is pre-threaded and not removable) was, basically, thicker than the plate could accommodate, no matter how loose the seatbelt was. We pushed with all our might and this worked initially to close the plate and lock the base, but at some point the latch plate started to pop open on its own or simply not close at all, so it became more than just an annoyance. At that point we started working with Regal Lager CS (who, btw, are terrific!) and sent a number of photos during that conversation, etc.--so I'm 99% sure we were installing the base correctly. Based on the CR description, this is exactly what they encountered, too. Installing the base with LATCH was easy peasy, but I remember thinking it was funny that they advertised it as "easiest base to install" when it was so hard to do with the seatbelt (and also how nice it would be that when we got it out again for kiddo #2, we'd be installing with LATCH instead!)
Regal Lager ultimately replaced our base in case the issue was a problem with the latch plate mechanism, but the new one had the same problem; we ended up just transitioning to a convertible anyway so it wasn't a big deal. Before the CR article, I'd never seen any mention of this, so it sounds like it's an uncommon problem--but when I read that, my first thought was "finally, validation!"
Has anyone else encountered this with seatbelt installations of the Aton base? And any thoughts on why this might occur in some cars but not others? Is there ever variation in the thickness of seatbelts from manufacturer to manufacturer (or in older vs. newer cars), or is that standardized?
We still loved the seat for its other assets (especially the compact size and the ease of the base-less install, the main reasons we chose it) but I would love to know whether the problem with the base had to do with user error, our car, the base design, or what...any ideas?
FWIW, this was an original Aton installed in a 2001 Toyota Prius with a center shoulder seatbelt.
Here's the basic problem we had: when the base was installed with a seatbelt, it was extremely difficult to close the latch plate because the thickness of the seatbelt plus LATCH belt (which is pre-threaded and not removable) was, basically, thicker than the plate could accommodate, no matter how loose the seatbelt was. We pushed with all our might and this worked initially to close the plate and lock the base, but at some point the latch plate started to pop open on its own or simply not close at all, so it became more than just an annoyance. At that point we started working with Regal Lager CS (who, btw, are terrific!) and sent a number of photos during that conversation, etc.--so I'm 99% sure we were installing the base correctly. Based on the CR description, this is exactly what they encountered, too. Installing the base with LATCH was easy peasy, but I remember thinking it was funny that they advertised it as "easiest base to install" when it was so hard to do with the seatbelt (and also how nice it would be that when we got it out again for kiddo #2, we'd be installing with LATCH instead!)
Regal Lager ultimately replaced our base in case the issue was a problem with the latch plate mechanism, but the new one had the same problem; we ended up just transitioning to a convertible anyway so it wasn't a big deal. Before the CR article, I'd never seen any mention of this, so it sounds like it's an uncommon problem--but when I read that, my first thought was "finally, validation!"
Has anyone else encountered this with seatbelt installations of the Aton base? And any thoughts on why this might occur in some cars but not others? Is there ever variation in the thickness of seatbelts from manufacturer to manufacturer (or in older vs. newer cars), or is that standardized?
We still loved the seat for its other assets (especially the compact size and the ease of the base-less install, the main reasons we chose it) but I would love to know whether the problem with the base had to do with user error, our car, the base design, or what...any ideas?
FWIW, this was an original Aton installed in a 2001 Toyota Prius with a center shoulder seatbelt.