True Fit Premier installation questions

[KristenV]

We just put the headrest on DDs TFP today. Unfortunately we lost front seat space in the process. My husband is 6' and as it is right now doesn't fit. Can the seat touch at all? I couldn't find anything in the car manual. It's installed in a 2010 CX-9 GT. 2nd question, is it too upright? I have no idea how to tell if it's 35 degrees. And if it's not, can we get it more upright? Towel under the rear? I pushed down with all my weight while my husband tightened the latch strap to get it as is.

Thanks!

 

[wendytthomas]

It can gently touch, if your car allows. It'a a Mazda CX-9? My Mazda doesn't allow anything to touch the back of the passenger seat at all.

Uninstall the seat and check where the harness adjusts. Just beneath that is a yellow handle. Give that a pull and see if you have it in the recline mode. Sitting it more upright will help, then if you need to rerecline it you might use half a pool noodle or something with a little more give. It looks like it can go a hair more upright. You cannot put a towel under the back of the seat.

Wendy

 

[KristenV]

Thank you Wendy! Do you know what section of the manual I would find that info? I checked in the car seat section and the air bags section and didn't see anything (although I was mostly skimming because there are so many redundancies). That's a good point about the recline, we might have it set so that we didn't need the towels anymore! It's been so long now I really couldn't say. We will definitely check that in the morning. I might be posting pictures again to check the angle if that's ok... I get so worried that it will be wrong. Probably silly, but I wish I had something that could tell me what the angle is! They get so specific about what is and isn't allowed it makes me nervous. Especially since other seats can be more upright, I worry that we're endangering her if it's too far up... Thank you for letting me ramble

 

[KristenV]

Oh and yes, a Mazda CX-9, not sure how I forgot to put that part!

 

[wendytthomas]

Mine is in my airbag section. It's in both the warnings and in some of the huge block of text.

"Do not decrease the total seated weight on the front passenger seat:
When an adult or large child sits on the front passenger seat, decreasing the total seated weight on the front passenger seat required for air bag deployment is dangerous. The front passenger seat weight sensors will detect the reduced total seated weight condition and the front passenger front and side air bags and seat belt pretensioner system will not deploy during an accident. The front passenger will not have the supplementary protection of the air bag, which could result in serious injury. Decreasing the total seated weight on the front passenger seat could result in an air bag not deploying under the following conditions, for example:
Ø A rear passenger pushes up on the front passenger seat with their feet.
Ø Luggage or other items placed under the front passenger seat or between the
front passenger seat and driver seat that push up the front passenger seat
bottom.
Ø The front passenger seat occupant sits in a manner that does not place the entire
weight of the occupant on the seat such as by sitting too close to the door, grasping the assist grip or the rim of the moonroof and sitting with the seatback reclined too far.
Ø Any accessories which might decrease the total seated weight on the front passenger seat are attached to the front passenger seat.
The front passenger front and side air bags and seat belt pretensioner systems will deactivate if the front passenger air bag deactivation indicator light illuminates.
2-61
"

I copied and pasted that from an online copy of my manual a month or so ago on another forum.

Wendy

 

[safeinthecar]

Mine is in my airbag section. It's in both the warnings and in some of the huge block of text.

"Do not decrease the total seated weight on the front passenger seat:
When an adult or large child sits on the front passenger seat, decreasing the total seated weight on the front passenger seat required for air bag deployment is dangerous. The front passenger seat weight sensors will detect the reduced total seated weight condition and the front passenger front and side air bags and seat belt pretensioner system will not deploy during an accident. The front passenger will not have the supplementary protection of the air bag, which could result in serious injury. Decreasing the total seated weight on the front passenger seat could result in an air bag not deploying under the following conditions, for example:
Ø A rear passenger pushes up on the front passenger seat with their feet.
Ø Luggage or other items placed under the front passenger seat or between the
front passenger seat and driver seat that push up the front passenger seat
bottom.
Ø The front passenger seat occupant sits in a manner that does not place the entire
weight of the occupant on the seat such as by sitting too close to the door, grasping the assist grip or the rim of the moonroof and sitting with the seatback reclined too far.
Ø Any accessories which might decrease the total seated weight on the front passenger seat are attached to the front passenger seat.
The front passenger front and side air bags and seat belt pretensioner systems will deactivate if the front passenger air bag deactivation indicator light illuminates.
2-61
"

I copied and pasted that from an online copy of my manual a month or so ago on another forum.

Wendy

Reading that, I would say touching is fine as long as it doesn't push up on the seat. I would also say that as long as the deactivation light isn't illuminated, it's fine.

 

[KristenV]

LOL, I do remember reading that, I guess I just skipped the first bullet. Thank you. We did have it in recline mode! Thank you so much for suggesting we look at that. Here it is installed in upright mode, no towels, no extra force to install it:

 

[wendytthomas]

That looks pretty good. Eyeballing it it looks a hair more reclined than 30 degrees, so probably pretty close to 35. Not sure if it's *quite* 35, but pretty close. I've had mine look like that in the past.

Wendy

 

[KristenV]

Thank you for all your help! I appreciate it

 

[snowbird25ca]

Just one question for anyone who might come across this thread later.. In Canada the TF Premier has an indicator at the center of the foot area with a ball that rolls between a red zone and then 2 green zones that are numbered 1 and 2. If your seat has that indicator, then you can just go off of the indicator.

I'm in agreement with Wendy that the angle looks good. I just wanted to post that for the benefit of people who may worry about their ability to judge an angle by looking at it... no need to worry about the exact angle with the indicator seats, just go by the indicator.

That 35 to 45* range that was given was only specific to the seats that had the one "line level to ground" marking. The seats with the ball that rolls back and forth should have the different angles that that ball marks used as is appropriate for the child's development. The numerical angle range only really comes in to play when you have a seat with only the single line on the side of it indicating the angle.