Can anyone tell me...

[Jukelemon]

The 95 and up LCs also have the type of seatbelt retractors you can switch to ratchet mode - ALR/ELR for curious types. This means that when installing a rear child seat in any retractor seatbelt except the driver's (safety issue), you can really crank the seat down tightly. Here's how:

Install the shoulder belt as the seat instructs, clip the belt to the buckle as though you're all done. Then pull the shoulder belt slack out all the way to the end of the belt. Now let the belt feed back in - you'll notice it's making a different sound and you're in ratchet mode. Get in the truck and jam a knee in the child seat with a folded towel under it (to avoid mashing the special foam some expensive models have under the child that deforms in a crash like a bike helmet), pressing the child seat down into the seat. Grab the belt and pull as hard as you can to get every little bit of slack out of it. Let go of the seat and it is now pinned down tightly by the ratchet mode.

DougM

This is what I do for both of my kids and it is VERY tight. The Latch system, for all practical purposes, was created so that placing a car seat in a car and locking it down is MUCH easier on folks that do not have the strength to tighten a car seat down with the shoulder strap. Now, I am not saying that the fellow above who adapted his LC for a latch is a puss, but I do not see any benefit to having a Latch (read side latches) over a ratcheted belt. My seats do not budge a bit when installed. I will stand corrected if there is evidence to the contrary.

 

[mabrodis]

Ratcheting seatbelts definetly can hold tight no doubt. But if using a shoulder belt it's a bit messy since the shoulder portion is pulling the carseat up usually but the bottom part is pulling it down. The main reason I used those steel beeners is I was putting the carseat in the middle seat on an 80-series, which does not have a lap belt for the center seat. Also (the main reason I did this) was because on my son's carseat at the time there was no room for the seatbelt buckle behind his back. His seat was designed ONLY for the LATCH system, so the seatbelt went right behind his back, not in a seperate area further back. So if I used the car's lapbelt the buckle ended up right in his back, not exactly comfortable or safe. Also in the 80-series the center lapbelt really can not be gotten tight, no matter how tight you get it, when on a carseat it'll work loose in a few days. The LATCH stuff cinches down a bit better and doesn't come loose at all. I don't doubt that normal seatbelts have a very high breaking point, but the LATCH components found on carseats are NOT normal seatbelt quality, or even close. They are strong, but you only use them for kids up to like 30 lbs, then you are sposeto use a normal car seatbelt anyway.

Very true the LATCH system was created so the average joe could get a seat in correctly and tight enough, and it works quite well for that