Recaro proride RF no leg room at all

[KeithsDad]

Hi All, Thank you for having this site for newbies like us to get a little assistance with our children's safety.

Here's the story. My wife has an 08 Chevy Equinox and we just purchased a recaro proride because our son is outgrowing his babytrend infant seat length wise but is still on the skinny side so we wanted to keep him rf for a little while longer. He's 17 months, 32 inches standing, 20 inches sitting height and 28 lbs. The reason we upgraded was because in his infant seat he's run out of leg room. So i install the recaro this morning and while i still need another towel under the see to get it perfectly level the seat bottom of the recaro is up against the seat back of the vehicle which gives him less leg room in the new seat. the problem with the baby trend also was that the shoulder straps were adjusted as high as they could go and were about 1.5 to 2 inches below his shoulders so it was getting seriously uncomfortable for him to ride in it. I know you cannot put anything between the seat in the car and the Proride to space it out more but are there any tips i should try to get him a bit more leg room as we'd like to keep him rf until at least 18 months, or should i flip him the ff.

also, anyone with an equinox (i think all years have the same back seat setup) used the latch set up on one side or the other. with the infant seat, the latches were ok as the base for the babytrend seat was narrow. however with the Recaro if i keep it to the 2 closest anchors the seat is wider than the anchor points and if i anchor the inboard latch to the center seat anchors to get the base of the seat up against the vehicle seatback it seems that the seat slides from side to side more than my liking?

Thank you again for your input.

 

[safeinthecar]

Reclining it the rest of the way will buy a little leg room, but not much. The Proride has the least amount of leg room of any convertible seat. That being said, sometimes parents think the legroom is more of an issue than the kid actually finds it to be. If he is just kicking back and putting his feet up and doesn't seem bothered, I'd say go with it. If the legroom is bothering him, can you return the seat or sell it to fund a different seat with a bigger seat pan?

Also, you are right in not wanting to turn him frontwards quite yet, but 18 months is a bit off the goal. You want to shoot for 2 years as a minimum, further if you can make it, so keep that in mind as you decide what to do at this point.

The Graco My Ride has a lot of similar features as the Proride but has at least double the amount of legroom.

I'm totally not following you on the LATCH issue unfortunately. Which anchors are you describing? Maybe number them left to right and describe what you are trying to do again?

 

[tiggercat]

I think the equinox might be one of those weird beasts with 5 anchors, chose the right two?

Sent from my iPod touch using Car-Seat.Org

 

[safeinthecar]

I think the equinox might be one of those weird beasts with 5 anchors, chose the right two?

Sent from my iPod touch using Car-Seat.Org

That's what I'm thinking too, but I'm too lazy to go dig through the class materials in my car to know for sure. hence the request for a numbering system.

 

[KeithsDad]

thank you, I'll try to get him reclined a bit more and see how that works. As it sits now (a shade off level) he's sitting Indian style or sticking his legs to one side and he hates it. every car ride is a screaming match so maybe a bit more reclined will help for the next 2 months or more

on to the latch set up. our car has 6 base anchors 1 being the outboard passenger side and 6 being the outboard driverside (if you're looking head on at the seat) I have it hooked up on 5 and 6 right now but to get the seat tight enough the latches have actually pulled themselves in between the car seat and vehicle seat back because the latches are close together. If i switch the latches to locations 4 and 6 then the latches are to either side of the seat base and the seat base butts up against the vehicle seat back however even though I tighten the S**t out of it with all 190 pounds of my weight on the seat it still seems to slide back and forth from side to side and that worries me more than them being between the seat and seat back. at least the vehicle seat doesn't move.

 

[wendytthomas]

Can you return the ProRide? Kim said, 18 months is six months shy of the bare minimum to turn him forward, and ideally he'll rear face to closer to four years old. If he's this miserable now, I'd get something that will work better, rather than fight over this daily. Luckily, there are many seats that are cheaper with weight limits equal to or higher than the ProRide's, with TONS more leg room.

http://carseatblog.com/5168/why-rear-facing-is-better-your-rf-link-guide/

Also, the 2008 Equinox has five anchors. From the passenger side it starts at 1 and goes to 5. This is according to my 2009 LATCH manual.

O_____O O_____O_____O

So if you have the child on the driver's side you use the two closest to that door. You can't spread them out and just use another anchor. If you put a child in the center you use the fifth anchor and the inner driver's side anchor.

Posting pictures may help, but honestly it sounds like this seat is not a good match for you, unfortunately. I'd definitely recommend a different seat.

Wendy