My son is 4 years old and small for his age (about 34 lbs), and he’s always been in a car seat with a five point harness. We have a Britax Marathon and Sunshine Kids Radian. Both seats are solid and heavy with the latch system to attach them to my car. He recently has been complaining that the strap between his legs in the Britax hurts his "wee wee". I’ve tried loosening the straps a bit, but he still complains. I know he’s at the age where the booster seat is an option, but I’m hesitant to allow him to ride in one for safety reasons. I’m afraid the seatbelt won’t sit properly against his waist, cut into his neck, and allow his head to slump when he falls asleep (which he does often on car rides). Are there any seats that have a more suitable five point harness that will fit an older child, or any very safe booster seats that you can recommend? I was hoping they still make booster seats with the latch system to hold the seat in place so it doesn’t slide around in the car when not in use.

I haven’t actually bought the car seat yet so I don’t know what the LATCH system looks like or how to install it. Can you use both the LATCH system and the seat belt at the same time for added safety? What do you do with your baby’s car seat?

We bought a car seat and went out to install the base in our car. our cars are 7 and 9 years old and dont have a latch system in the seats. so we installed the seatbelt across the base as the directions stated and that went well. our question is, is the side of the base facing the driver’s seat suppose to move/go up and down? what i mean is i can grab it and lift it off the seat although the side buckled down does stay secure. is this normal for all car seats?

I let my sitter take my 9 month old daughter somewhere today, but her 2006 H3 only had the LATCH system on the side seats. In the Britax book it says to use LATCH whenever possible, so we went ahead and installed it behind the front passenger seat with that seat all the way forward.
I did of course install the versa-tether under the front seat too. I guess Im nervous since I have always put my daughter in the middle except the one time she was sick and I needed to be able to see her, but we dont have LATCH in our truck.
Anyone else end up doing this?
Now both of my parents are literally freaking out that I let our responsible 25 year old sitter take my daughter somewhere. They think she is going to kidnap her. AND they are ticked that she is on the side seat…
Matt’s Mommy, good point. Yeah the age thing is irrelevant, considering Im 24 and hubby is 26. They just worry that she’ll take off with her. This sitter loves my daughter, but she is great with us and is even trying to hook me up with another mom she sits for. I have work contacts, and a page of references. Still, my mother is calling me every 10 minutes "Nobody picked up the house phone yet, where are they?" (they probably just left)

I have a 2008 Accord Sedan and it has the LATCH system only on the two outside seats in the rear. However, I’ve heard that the middle is the best place to install a rear-facing infant seat to avoid the side airbags and side collisions.

Is it more important to install it with the LATCH so that it’s more secure? Or is being in the middle more important? I’m thinking I will install it either in the middle or behind the passenger side (so I don’t have to take the car seat out in traffic when I’m parked on the street).

Any thoughts? Thanks!
I have a Graco car seat that has the base that is permanently installed in the car.

My baby is out growing her infant seat and it it time to upgrade. I know that some car seats are made specifically for some cars so that the install easier and with the latch system they have tie downs in different places. How do I find out which car seat fits best in which car, specifically in a 2005 BMW x3. thanks for your help.

We will be vacationing next month and borrowing a car from dear grandmother while we are there. She is lending us a 2002 honda odyssey, but does not know if it has the latch system. Our sons car seat MUST have the top tether to be installed. If anyone owns one, please let me know if your car is equipped with the LATCH system.

does anyone know where i could get the latch system installed in my 1995 chevy lumina? does the dealer still do it for free or do i have any other options as to who could do it for me please help,

I recently got a convertible car seat for my son who’s a year old. It’s a nice car seat, but was hard to install in the car. I want to get another car seat that’s easy to install so that we can use it it in my husbands car and let let the grandparents use it when they take him. It needs to be easy to install with a seat belt, not just the LATCH system.

I have a Britax infant carrier that my child is out growing, 20 pounds it also a lot to carry in that thing. I have two Britax car-seats that my older son used that are only two years old. I have tried to use the convertible car seats backwards which I never did before my first son fit in the carrier for a year. I can not make them tight to the seat, I use the latch system and have called Britax and they are still able to push forward hardly any force. I tried a 2003 taurus(my car), 2004 Chevy cavalier(husbands) and a 2006 Jeep commander(winter car). I can’t get them to tighten down, any one have another brand that will or maybe a new Britax that fits?
I don’t think I worded it right… The car seats fit in so tight forward facing that when you shake it, it will move the car. When turned around I can no longer use a top latch, so I have only the bottom latch system to use. With the angle of the seat when you are just pulling the carseat down by the front of it with nothing to have the back aginst it will not stay. Is it tight yes.. you can’t move it side to side but if you push on the back which is normally aginst the seat of the car it rocks forward. Lets hope that you understand better, fyi my husband is a cop and in our state they are certified to install car seats, but thanks for trying to tell me I am stupid.
Okay Ford has no recommended latch point for the top latch chevy no recommendation and jeep same there, I already called all of them. And FYI again 2006 was the first model year for a commander. yikes. I had a 2005 dodge minivan like in the video and yes they come with a bottom latch points from the factory. I have no bottom latch points from the factory and I don’t much care for the rebound.
AS I said before he is they go to a class once a year. But, that’s all fine. I still can’t see how the rebounding is safe, just really makes me scared. I don’t see latching the top teather if the manufactures told me they had no safe point.
Maybe I am but these are my children. Can’t help it.

does anyone know where i could get the latch system installed in my 1995 chevy lumina? does the dealer still do it for free or do i have any other options as to who could do it for me please help,

I have a 1999 Nissan Altima, and just wanted to know if it was possible to get a Latch System and/or Top Tether installed. We’ve been having a hard time getting our car seat tight since the belt doesn’t come up from the seat crease (as the car-seat’s manual suggests). I don’t know how to explain it, but the car has extra creases for the seat belts so it comes out of those. Just frustrated, plan on going to the next car-seat check at the fire department, but was just wondering if we could get this stuff installed so we wouldn’t have to adjust the car seat each time. I’ve called around to a few auto shops and they didn’t know, and the dealership mechanic isn’t in until Monday. Is it possible, or am I wasting my time? Also, if it is possible, what kind of price would I be looking at?
Glenn Z: Thanks for your answer, you did a lot of research! However, the car seat is brand new and has the latch belt to use so I don’t need a kit for that. I’m actually looking to install the metal latch hooks, and top tether (goes in the back dash) in my car to use the system that came with the car seat…

My wife is due in a few weeks, we got the Chicco Keyfit 30 travel system that has a base that fastens in the car and the carrier Just snaps in and out. The dilemma is I want the car seat to go in the middle of my rear seat in my car. My Car is a 2007 Ford Fusion and it has the latch system that it tethers in at the bottom. The car manual says that rear facing seat should be installed on either side but not the middle and front facing seats can be installed in all 3 positions. I have the base in the middle of my rear seat and it fits great using the latch system, it has no movement and it fits tight. The reasons I don’t want to install it on the side is if a side impact happens, my car has side airbag curtain ( but that comes down from the top and I don’t think it will interfere with a car seat), and if I have people that needs to ride in the back seat it will be a lot easier for them. I just don’t understand why it says not to install it in the middle of the rear car seat.

My husband has a 1996 Honda and I don’t feel like my 4 month old’s car seat is safely installed. It has a base that we leave in there all the time, but when the car seat is on it you can move it from side to side. Like if we wanted to lay back the seats, the car seat would definitely be in the way, but it will just slide over to make room. He says the seat belt won’t go any tighter. Is this a big deal? (If it is, please send me any kind of website that says how bad it can be, as I cannot convince him that it matters.) I have the LATCH system in my car and the carseat can only move maybe an inch, if that, when it is on the base we have installed with the anchors in my car. I am thinking of trying to get my husband to take his car in to have LATCH installed. Has anybody done this? How expensive was it? How long did it take?

i need to get my son a new car seat because he’s growing out of his infant car seat (hes 6months so he’s still rear facing). i bought a cosco scenera not realizing that not all car seats fit in all cars. how can i figure out which carseat work for my car? (i’d prefer him in the middle using the LATCH system)