Adding Car Seat Restraints to a 2000 LC

[Ryan5255]

I am looking at purchasing a 2000 LC with 187k miles as my daily driver as I have short commute. One concern I have is that I have 1.5 year old who will ride in the LC everyday and the 2000's were before CRS systems that are now in place. Does anyone have any experience retrofitting car seat anchors into an older LC. I believe Toyota has a kit to do this 73709-12010 although since I don't own the LC yet I'm not sure how this will work. Is the seat frame in the second row accessible to be bolted to? Any help will be greatly appreciated as this decision is a big deciding factor.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Search LATCH limited to the 100 section, few threads on that very topic.

 

[r3run33]

yup do search back when I had a 99 I purchased anchor extenders from babies r us and anchored both under the rear seat and then over the top to the cargo area 3rd seat area. Yes it was over kill but when its your kids you always go over board. if you have trouble finding anchors you can use climbing supply stuff also

 

[RyanStl]

When shopping for ours my wife who is big on the carseat issue, I mean I car, but she actually goes to carseat forums like I do Mud. She got a tip that there is a kit to retrofit the 2000 to Teather. However, when we called around no dealer would install it due to liability. I ended up with a 2002.

I have a buddy that has a 80 and uses high quality clips to turn his rear cargo ties into Teather anchors. My wife wasn't cool with that idea.

Many, you should have heard her flip out when I considered getting a '66 Mustang as a daily driver. All she cared about was it didn't have shoulder belts.

 

[Ryan5255]

Thanks I did search LATCH and came up with a lot of info. Run33 I believe I came across your previous thread. If I purchase this LC I will use the seatbelt to secure the car seat right off the bat and then do as you mention. It is a little difficult to imagine at this point as I don't have a LC to check out yet. At this point my daughters seat is still a rear facing seat.

 

[RyanStl]

Yes, 1.5 years old, that is good you still rear face. A lot of people just switch their kid over to forward face at 1 yr old. I have kids that are small in stature so my three year old still rear faces. It can get a bit annoying because the kids can really dirty your backseat, but it is worth the safety.

Now, the day I don't have to deal with carseats will be a great one. I still have a 22 month old, so it will be a while yet.

Too bad the darn things expire because I could make a lot of money reselling all of the carseats my wife has purchased over the years. She doesn't go for the cheap ones either.

 

[patrickfinley]

Buy a new Britax Clicktight car seat and you won't have to spend a dime on LC mods. Britax is moving away from LATCH connections with some new models. Britax makes some of the best seats in the business. We kept our girls rear facing till age 2 1/2.

BOULEVARD CLICKTIGHT Convertible Car Seats | Britax USA

As far as tether anchors:

Rear Facing - tie it around your front seat mount
Front Facing - Use the 3rd row anchors

The downside with the 3rd row anchors as rear tether points is that it will eat up a lot of space in the back of your SUV. Even in a 2001+ the tether points eat up real estate in the back. It's just something we deal with.

 

[SALTY METHODS]

I just use the seat belts to strap the car seats to the 2nd row.

 

[sean2202]

@Ryan 5255

If you want more safety move up a few years to one with side air bags as well. I believe 2003 for LC

 

[06 flstfise]

I wouldn't worry about it. LATCH is not anymore safe then using the seatbelt correctly. It does make taking the seats in and out easier though. If you are not comfortable putting the seats in with the seatbelt you can go to www.safekids.org and find a local FD,PD that will install it for free and hopefully teach you how you can install it correctly as well.

 

[Ryan5255]

Thank you all for your quick and helpful responses. I just drove the LC and love it so will probably purchasing it sometime this week once I unload my current truck.