Sorry this is long, I was surprised and frustrated today. Was super excited to get my installs checked at a real live safe kids check. I had been corresponding with a tech in my area via FB about some install questions I had, but she needed to see it in real life to figure out my situation.
I pulled up, asked for that tech by name, she was helping another family and they said that all of them were certified and could help. I had no problem with that, and three techs crawled into my backseat to look at the seat in question (frontier 85 in 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan) One tech couldn't figure out what the seat was :doh: (the 85 wasn't on her list??) another started questioning if the center was even a valid point to put the seat , it is the only place with a tether...obviously an ok location for a carseat!! That same one commented that she had never seen a tether like that (v-tether). I was a bit discouraged realizing that even uncertified I seemed to know more about this stuff than they did (I know, a lot is car specific, but this is a common car and a much discussed seat).
The real clincher was when I asked a question about my Rfing blvd that is tethered to the Driver's seat rail. I was worried about moving the seat back and forth pulls the tether a small amount. The tech immediately told me that the way I had it tethered was not ok. She said that there was no way of knowing how much weight that tether point would hold. I told her that I had used the D-ring to create a tether point, using the driver rail, anchored to the floor. She said that even though I found some sort of hardware to hook my tether to that didn't make it safe (she didn't know what a D-ring is). She was adamant that if the Auto manufacturer has not tested, approved, and written in the manual every possible spot to anchor to, that means it is unacceptable. It doesn't matter what Britax says about tethering. While I get her point, it was clear that she was unfamiliar with RF tethering, based on other comments that she made (and britax seats in general). The tech that I had requested had come over by then and was frustrated that this other tech didn't really know what she was doing, but was clearly getting irritated with me and the fact that I didn't just accept her word as gospel. The irritated tech called a couple of other more senior techs, who stepped away, discussed, and returned with the official edict that I should call Dodge and ask if the rail is an acceptable tether point.
I left feeling like this :banginghead: I was disappointed that the "good" check had a tech who was so new and inflexible working it.
*On the bright side, the tech I came to see was great, knew what she was talking about, said that ultimately it was a judgement call, but the rail is a much used spot and well accepted as a safe tether point. :2thumbsup:
I pulled up, asked for that tech by name, she was helping another family and they said that all of them were certified and could help. I had no problem with that, and three techs crawled into my backseat to look at the seat in question (frontier 85 in 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan) One tech couldn't figure out what the seat was :doh: (the 85 wasn't on her list??) another started questioning if the center was even a valid point to put the seat , it is the only place with a tether...obviously an ok location for a carseat!! That same one commented that she had never seen a tether like that (v-tether). I was a bit discouraged realizing that even uncertified I seemed to know more about this stuff than they did (I know, a lot is car specific, but this is a common car and a much discussed seat).
The real clincher was when I asked a question about my Rfing blvd that is tethered to the Driver's seat rail. I was worried about moving the seat back and forth pulls the tether a small amount. The tech immediately told me that the way I had it tethered was not ok. She said that there was no way of knowing how much weight that tether point would hold. I told her that I had used the D-ring to create a tether point, using the driver rail, anchored to the floor. She said that even though I found some sort of hardware to hook my tether to that didn't make it safe (she didn't know what a D-ring is). She was adamant that if the Auto manufacturer has not tested, approved, and written in the manual every possible spot to anchor to, that means it is unacceptable. It doesn't matter what Britax says about tethering. While I get her point, it was clear that she was unfamiliar with RF tethering, based on other comments that she made (and britax seats in general). The tech that I had requested had come over by then and was frustrated that this other tech didn't really know what she was doing, but was clearly getting irritated with me and the fact that I didn't just accept her word as gospel. The irritated tech called a couple of other more senior techs, who stepped away, discussed, and returned with the official edict that I should call Dodge and ask if the rail is an acceptable tether point.
I left feeling like this :banginghead: I was disappointed that the "good" check had a tech who was so new and inflexible working it.
*On the bright side, the tech I came to see was great, knew what she was talking about, said that ultimately it was a judgement call, but the rail is a much used spot and well accepted as a safe tether point. :2thumbsup: