Please don't let my friends find out!

[swampnurse]

I am so embarrassed to admit this considering that i am known as the "car seat nazi" among all my friends and pretty much anyone who will listen! :)

I drive a 2003 Ford Explorer w/ LATCH in the outboard seats. My son is 3.5 y/o. He has been FF in his Wizard since 15 months when he passed the 33lb mark. (Yes, he is HUGE and I had hoped to keep him RF much longer!) OK, ever since turning him FF the seat has been tethered to the FLOOR behind his seat. It just occurred to me when installing one in my mom's subaru that it is supposed to be tethered to the CEILING! Yikes! There are no ceiling hooks, so what do i do? Take it to Ford and have them install some?

BTW...My 18 m/o daughter is happily RF in her Decathalon at only about 25 pounds. She should be able to stay RF for about another year, hopefully. And do you know, despite all my preaching NONE of my friends have kept their kids RF after they turned one! Sheesh! :)

[ellies mom]

I'd check your owner's manual. Your car is new enough that upper tethers should be required.

[KrisM]

My dad has had a new Explorer every year for years. I know the last few at least have floor tethers. I always check the manual before installing DS's seat, so I am sure of this.

I don't think tethers are always in the same place. On my car, they are the backs of the seats (a hatchback).

Anyway, check the vehicle manual and it should have them labeled where they are.

[Joolsplus2]

Tether anchors are all over hill and dale, yours are on the floor, hers are on the ceiling, you didn't do anything wrong :)

[daniele_ut]

Tether anchors are all over hill and dale, yours are on the floor, hers are on the ceiling, you didn't do anything wrong :)

Ditto - In my Subaru, they are at the very back of the cargo area near the floor. All wagons/SUVs are different in that regard. The ceiling anchors are more convenient, though, since they don't block the cargo area.

[PAfirsttimemom]

We have a Ford Taurus wagon, and our anchors are also on the floor in the cargo area.

[brianaw]

Now that I recently found out about doing both the tether and the latch (thank you ladies)... I drive a Durango and the tether is on the back part of the seat. I found them when looking through the owner manual. Funny thing though- only 2 seats in the whole thing have tethers... I guess when we have baby 3 we will need a different car :) I bought the Durango before pregnancy and never even considered finding/asking about carseats... I wish I would have known the center seat doesnt take carseats. Lesson learned.