Car seat without top tether

[Chitowngirl]

My DS is 3 y/o and rides ff in a britax marathon. My in laws (who occasionally drive him places) just got a new (used) car with no top tether. Is that safe for him? Or should we plan to not let him ride in that car except for emergencies?

Thanks.


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[gymnbomb]

What kind of vehicle? Some can be retrofitted.

[candaceb]

What kind of vehicle? Some can be retrofitted.

DH drives a '94 Honda Accord and I was able to go to the dealer and have them order the part. It cost less than $10 and I installed it myself.
If the car was made to be sold in Canada as well as the US, it should have the holes there already - that was the case with the Accord. I just had to poke through the liner.

[mom2binsd]

It must be a pretty old car. We were able to retrofit my IL's 97 Buick, the part was ordered through the dealer and FIL installed it. I would look at getting it installed.

[Chitowngirl]

What kind of vehicle? Some can be retrofitted.

It's not that old. It's a convertible. Haven't seen it yet. Not sure if it can be retrofitted.

[Liziz]

I hope you can easily do the retrofit, as that would be best!

To answer your question though -- I personally am not comfortable using a FF-seat with a standard install without a top tether. I'm not an expert on carseats, but I think the safety improvements of the top tether are pretty important. I know others are more relaxed about that than I. I'd do it in an emergency, but not when I had another choice. (The one exception is DD's Recaro ProSport. It installs differently and the shoulder belt actually goes across the seat like it would on a passenger -- so holds the top of the seat much better even without a top tether)

[Joolsplus2]

Convertibles generally lack top tethers, and they can't be added. In a Britax, I'd use the seatbelt to install, including using the belt lockoffs. Those 'act like' a tether, and I'd be fine with it up to 40-45 pounds or so (hopefully that's about age 4.5- 5 and a good booster age/size/maturity).
Generally I'm very pro-tether, but with the remarkable performance of that seat with lower-weight kids--head excursion is very low, even without a top tether, owing to the safecell structure under the seat-- I wouldn't sweat it.
Another option might be the RideSafer Travel vest, though 3 year olds can be a bit too squiggly for it.

[Chitowngirl]

Wow! Thanks Jools!

My son will be thrilled to hear that. He's been begging to ride in the "race car" and so far I've said no.


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