Radian RF in a 1999 Suburban, or should we buy a new car?

[zwickya]

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old and RF. She's also VERY tall. We plan to keep her RF another year or longer. She recently went past the 35 lb. RF weight limit on her First Years True Fit car seat that we had in our 1999 Suburban. She is in a RF Radian in our Toyota Corolla.

We recently bought a second Radian to use in the Suburban but have not been able to install it RF in center or outboard (second row bench seat). The seat belt stalk extends quite far from the seat. We tried twisting the belt stalk, but when we released it, the twist traveled into the seat belt path of the car seat.

From this thread (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=147408) and others, I get the impression that we won't be able to get the Radian RF in a 1999 Suburban. We haven't tried to install FF, but I also get the impression that this will not be possible and we don't want to FF anyway.

Two questions:
1. Is it possible to install a Radian RF in a 1999 Suburban, preferably in the center (second row, bench seat)?
2. If not, is there a car that works beautifully with the Radian? We are willing to buy a new car if necessary (though our budget is very tight), but I get more and more discouraged reading threads about how difficult it is to install the Radian RF in many vehicles. It seems like a drastic measure to buy a new car to fit a car seat, but our daughter is so tall, I don't think there is another car seat that will allow us to keep her RF for long.
Note on this new car option: Hubby and I are both very tall and would like for one of us to be able to sit in the passenger side front. In our Corolla, I have to sit in the back.

Any advice is so appreciated! I'm in so much stress over this, and we're down to one car that she can ride in right now, which is causing a huge burden.

 

[aept]

I wonder if the Maxi-Cosi Pria or the up-and-coming Clek Foonf would work in your Suburban. I would think it's easier to find a seat to fit the vehicle than the other way around.
If you are looking to replace the Suburban anyways, that's another story. What type of vehicle would you want to replace it with? Minivan? Sedan? Wagon? SUV?

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[kalamos23]

I have a 99 tahoe and installed the radian outboard on our bench seat. We have leather, and our belt stalks are not plastic, which I think probably helps. Do you have cloth or leather and what do the stalks of your belts look like, are they the belt material or plastic?

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[zwickya]

We would like to replace the Suburban anyway, but money is tight, so we'd rather not if possible. However, we feel very strongly that we want to keep her RF, so we're not considering a FF seat that would install right now.

If we replace the Suburban, we would like a small SUV/crossover, a wagon, or a minivan - something with some cargo space and also leg room.

The seat is cloth. The center and outboard on driver's side have belt material stalks, but the buckle is 2 1/2 to 3 inches long. The outboard passenger side has a rigid plastic stalk.

 

[zwickya]

I'm looking into the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 right now. We would lose 5 lbs. of RF with that over the Radian (Radian 45 lbs RF vs. Maxi-Cosi Pria 40 lbs RF). I'm wondering about the height max on these two seats. RF child must be 1 inch or more below the top of seat, right? Is there a way to know which seat is taller? I know you don't measure by child's overall height, b/c length could be in legs or torso.

 

[aept]

I'm looking into the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 right now. We would lose 5 lbs. of RF with that over the Radian (Radian 45 lbs RF vs. Maxi-Cosi Pria 40 lbs RF). I'm wondering about the height max on these two seats. RF child must be 1 inch or more below the top of seat, right? Is there a way to know which seat is taller? I know you don't measure by child's overall height, b/c length could be in legs or torso.

There is a "carseat features and data" section of the forum here at car-seat.org that lists the specs for almost every seat. You would want to look at the "internal seating height" to compare the two seats in terms of how long they would last RF'ing as far as the child's "torso plus head" height and the 1" rule is concerned. Also, Diono Radians actually have a 1.5" rule instead. The number they use is more conservative to make sure there is a full 1" of hard shell above their head and to make sure people aren't measuring their 1" to the top of the padding/fabric.
I believe the true fit might go even higher with its internal seating height but is only rated for 35lbs RF so it's best for tall thin kids in that department.

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[zwickya]

That "Features and data" section is so helpful - thanks! The internal seating height of the Pria is actually missing. But I realize with the Pria my daughter would have only 2 1/2" and 5 lbs. of RF left. That's not getting much for the price of the car seat, assuming it would even fit in our Suburban. But there's a local store that sells them, and we may try to install it just to see.

A new car is looking more and more likely if we want to keep her RF as long as we can. I'd still love to hear car suggestions for a RF Radian that doesn't put the passenger or driver seat up at the windshield.

 

[carseatcoach]

Assuming you can get it installed, you can try an angle adjuster to give the front seat passengers more room.

 

[zwickya]

Yes, we are ordering a Diono angle adjuster to take with us if we end up car shopping.

 

[safeinthecar]

Try having one person hold the female part of the buckle still so it can't untwist while another person tightens the belt. Generally, the twist will stay once there is enough tension on the belt.

If that doesn't work, the Clek Foonf is pretty expensive, but it is cheaper than a new car and will rf longer than a RN. If you can hold out for a couple of months that might be a valid option for you.

 

[zwickya]

We will try having one person hold the buckle still so it can't untwist. I'm glad you mentioned this. When the twist traveled up the seat belt, I really couldn't imagine how this twisting concept could work with any seat belt. How many times can you twist the belt? Is it three full turns?

 

[carseatcoach]

Three full turns -- 1080 degrees.

 

[zwickya]

Looks like the Foonf would give us 1 1/2" of extra internal seating height over the Radian, and the RF weight limit is the same. Looks like it will sell for $450 locally. That's crazy expensive! But yes, still cheaper than a new car! I wonder if we can hold out with one car long enough for the Foonf to become available so we can try it.

 

[safeinthecar]

The twist traveling up the belt is only an issue if it makes the install move more than 1 inch BTW.

You could also try to leave the belt untwisted but to tilt the seat toward the buckle as you tighten to help it travel all the way into the belt path. Once you get it tight, you might be able to straighten it out and make it work.

You could also find a temporary seat that rfes to 40# and use it until she outgrows it, THEN buy a foonf.

 

[zwickya]

I must stop and say a great big Thank You to all you wonderful folks for your knowledge and willingness to share ideas! You're helping keep so many kids more safe - mine included!

 

[aept]

As far as new cars are concerned, the dodge grand caravans and their clones (Chrysler town and country and VW Routan) tend to work well to install a RF Radian in the second row captains chairs. They install rather upright even without the angle adjuster and the front seats can go back a reasonable amount. This seems to have been the case for many model years, so should be true for new or used versions of these vans.

We used to have a 2005 Buick Rendezvous (mid-size SUV) and the RF radians installed well in that second row with decent room for front seat users. We had it behind the driver or center.

My husband is 6'0" and I'm 5'6", for reference.

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[zwickya]

And I like your idea to tilt the seat toward the buckle to try to get the buckle all the way into the belt path. Will try that too!

 

[zwickya]

Great - I will put those vehicles on our list of ones to try out if we end up going the new car route.

 

[zwickya]

Update:
We tried again to install the Radian in the center seat of the '99 Suburban using two suggestions mentioned here.
1.) Twist the buckle stalk. Could only get two full twists out of the buckle stalk. When car seat was tightened, buckle came up to hit the side of the belt path, making it impossible to get a tight install.
2.) Don't twist buckle stalk and tilt seat toward stalk to try to get buckle all the way into the belt path. I guess the buckle stalk isn't quite long enough for this to work. The buckle hit at the edge of the belt path.

We also tried to install the Radian FF in the middle seat just to see if it would work. It didn't work. Still got an incredibly loose install b/c buckle hit at belt path.

For now we have installed our First Years True Fit FF as a temporary solution. However, we're not going to use it until we get the install checked by a CPST. We are very unclear about where we're supposed to hook the tether onto the vehicle.

My daughter is 2 years 9 months but is the height of an average 4 year old, so I suppose she is safer FF than other children her age. We'll drive with her in the Corolla as much as possible where she is RF in a Radian.

 

[Brianna]

You can double check with your dealership, but it appears they no longer make the tether anchor piece you need http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=215198

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