Highly technical - infant car seat ! (1 Viewer)

[corsair23]

Does anyone have advice for the actual install? I have a 92 w/o latch The graco install manual and FJ80 manual are completely diff.

Thanks,
xander

Are we talking an infant seat with base still or a toddler seat or a booster seat?

And when you say the Graco and FJ80 manuals are completely different what do you mean? They differ in how they tell you to install the seat? In that case I'd go with Graco states as that information would be 15+ years newer and up-to-date.

As for the install here are my opinions:

Infant seat with base: If possible put the base and seat in the center seat position that has just the lap belt. This puts the baby in the center and most protect position. Put the lap belt through, pull as hard as you can to compress the seat and base together.

If you have to put the seat on an outer seat position put it on the DS seat position (read somewhere it is slightly safer than PS because the driver tends to see stuff that is about to hit their door better than a PS impact). If your belts don't lock then you should use one of those "buckle" deals to hold the lap belt and shoulder belt together - Some use the buckle regardless. Again, sinch that bugger as tight as possible. I kneel on the seat with all my weight while pulling on the belt and when down that sucker doesn't move

Toddler car seat: Basically the same as above...Middle position is best, then driver's side as second. After that, I put the youngest on the DS and oldest on the PS. Shouldn't need the "buckle" as long as your belts lock.

As for the "latch". Are you referring to the strap from the top of the seat that should go to a hook on the floor or similar? I latched mine to a rear cargo tie down. Not a perfect solution but better than nothing. You could also try to hook it to the 3rd row seat floor bracket.

Booster seat: This one is pretty straight forward. Center position doesn't work as there is no shoulder belt so DS position first then PS position second. Again I put the youngest on the DS while some just say to pick your favorite and put them on the DS

Hope this wasn't WAY more than what you were asking. I've seen may car seats that parents just kind of half ass buckle in not worrying about it being loose so figured I'd be specific as to what worked for me

 

[Atoyot1031]

My wife is a pediatric nurse and swears by the Britax. Claims it is the safest on the market (it must be like a Volvo...er....something).

The one we have converts from infant to toddler...

Hope that helps

 

[Brindleboxer]

I own three Britax and definitely notice a difference in the brands. But essentially it will go to how much money you have to spend (Britax is on the high side) versus the capacity (weight and height maximum/minimum).

Also some do not come with the Latch system option and this only matters if you have a car/truck that is equipped for it. Once you use this setup you will love it -- very secure and easy to transfer the seat without all the resituating. As for the top anchor, I have no experience with this because no car I have had has this option.

I even bought a Britax for our babysitter because the one that she had was subpar in my opinion (I worked out a price share between us and her --- but she definitely got the better deal). I decide this as the safety of my child is more important than the money.

Another aspect when choosing a seat is to trial fit it in your vehicle, the first convertible seat I bought was the Britax Boulevard and it would not seat right in my wifes Volvo because of the high back. We then switched to the Britax Marathon and have had no problems in any car we put it in. My .02 on this subject

 

[philos1]

X whatever the count is on the Britax (Marathon here) works great fits both my 60 and the wife's Infiniti very nicely (we got one for each we liked it so much).

 

[nakman]

Wife's car has a newer Britax, very nice. I've got an older Britax I got off Craigslist for the 40 (yes still new enough thanks..) and I'm running an Alpha Omega in the 80, which seems to be doing just fine.

As for installing those infant bases, you need to shim up the side towards the back of the seat to get the thing level. The fire station used a piece of pool noodle, which I thought was a little cheesy.. I ended up making a series of shims out of 2x4's and an old towel - just staple gun an old towel around a 2x4. I then screwed the shim right into the base using deck screws, so it couldn't squirt out of there. The result is a 2" shim that gets the level of the base right, then you crank that lap belt down while it's sandwiched in between the seat & base.

We didn't have the "shim" enabled for the ride home from the hospital and our son's head kept flopping down onto his chest, since he wasn't "kicked back" far enough. Felt like the worst parent ever.. on day 1!

 

[BPMOU]

Hey guys, just installed the infant base in the wife's matrix last night and thought I would tell you about the Graco base. They changed the base over the last couple of years so that you don't need to make a shim to make it level. The base has a "foot" that goes into the seat that you can adjust from 1" to almost 3.5" and the new seats have a level when put the seat in the base that tells you if it is installed at the correct level or recline. I thought that it was pretty cool. Just thought I would let some of you who are going to be a new dad like myself know how the new Graco Snug Ride base works. I'll put my base in the 80 tonight.

 

[corsair23]

Ok folks...go easy on the new dad - For some reason I see a thread about wiper blades/refills in my mind

All kidding aside Brandon, congrats on your soon to be "new dad" status!! Way cool to be a dad

 

[Walking Eagle]

Ok, our head hurt after looking at the two aformentioned brand of seats. How long did you guys use the seats before the babies outgrew them? If 20 lbs is the cutoff line for baby seats, I'm assuming that in takes about two or three months to outgrow these seats?

My wife and I did the graco with two bases. The bases are handy. Our problem came when our blessing got too tall for it. He wasn't a year old, and not heavy enough for a forward facing one, so we got a convertable one that did rear facing and front facing, then later I got a front facing only that is a perminate fixture in my truck.

Ours had the little foot thing someone else was talking about. It wasn't enough to keep it level in her CR-V, so we bought a one of those foam wedges.

I actually think a good off-road test of car seats for 1+ year olds would make a great magazine article

 

[NorCalSam]

Britax!