Seat Belt Tightner

[catcombs]

What is the thoughts regarding seat belt tightners? Currently we are using the "mighty tighty" on our RA and SnugRide base. My car doesn't have LATCH so we are obviously using the seat belts and my husband feels like he can get the seats in there much tighter using it. I have a feeling that you aren't supposed to use a secondary devise but I couldn't convince him of that just based on my hunch! TIA

[Joolsplus2]

Yup, they are bad. Not allowed by the seat makers, the car makers, or even some states (they are illegal in California, probably other places). This is the best page http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/SeatBeltTite.aspx and I know many techs who've encountered these things really damaging the seatbelts.

On the plus side, the Roundabout is the easiest seat to install with a seatbelt, ever. The built in lockoffs and nice square base make it almost completely foolproof in most cars. And the snugride may need a locking clip (the Mighty Tite doesn't take the place of a locking clip, which is a fairly simple but important safety device) to keep it from tipping if installed with a lap/shoulderbelt.

Too bad techs can be so hard to find, you could have gotten some great installation tips and saved the $30 for something way more fun.

Oh, and I agree, it really DOES make a super tight install, but it's seriously not necessary to do that much work and add extra products (I bought one just to play with it, I know it's amazing, but it's in my sock drawer, lol)

:)

[o_mom]

I think the fact that Sunshine Kids (maker of the Mighty Tite) doesn't allow it to be used on their own seats says quite a bit about it.

[murphydog77]

I had someone come through a seat check with a MT on a lap-only belt with a retractor (it was a Ford Expedition). Once we were able to get the MT off the belt--it took over 20 minutes--we discovered it had broken the retractor by pulling the belt too tight.

They are bad news.

[tg_canada]

I read something on these at car-seat.org which I'll put into my own words. This device actually stretches the seat belt, which is what makes it do such a tight install. Apparently, seat belts are designed to stretch in an accident, but are not meant to be in this pre-stretched state all of the time. Then, if an accident were to happen, the seat belt will not stretch as intended but perhaps could snap, because it's already stretched to its max. If it snaps, it's obviously not going to keep the child restraint in place.