OH MY GOODNESS

[Melanie]

Our Lesson for the day: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS CHECK YOUR CAR SEAT TO MAKE SURE IT IS BUCKLED IN!

Yep, that's right. It moved SO much because the seat belt had come unattached!! GASP! We are so very very lucky that we were not in any accidents. I am scared just thinking about it. We have an RA so it has that clip keeping the belt on, so it wasn't totally obvious and I always put Ds into his car seat from the side opposite of where it buckles.

Today I put him in and wiggled it again to see if it moved the 1" at the back, as per what you said, and it didn't move much at the back (lots at the front), but maybe 1", so I thought "I'm just going to put a twist in the belt."

I went to the other side and it was not even buckled. My heart just about lept into my throat. It gets worse, Dh's guess is that it happened when we had a guest sitting in the back, that perhaps they inadvertantly pushed the button for his seat instead of their seatbelt...LAST SUNDAY!.

I got the seat buckled back in with minimal movement (my first time, up until now I've just spectated), but I'm going to have Dh put all his weight on it when he gets home and make it tighter.

I'm so sad that this happened, I feel like such a bad parent, but lucky at the same time.

SO, the lesson is ALWAYS CHECK YOUR CAR SEAT TO MAKE SURE IT'S REALLY BELTED. And Dh's lesson is that when I say the car seat seems lose is not time to defend his installation job, it's time to check it out. I will ALSO do the same in the future.


--Melanie who is feeling very watched-over right now.

I was just going to reply to my original post: http://www.windsorpeak.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/2238.html but I wanted to make sure everyone saw this.
Mommy to Jonah

[sophiesmom]

Melanie..

The same exact thing happened to me last Feb. I had my aunt (we were visiting her in NYC, she has no kids) in the back seat, and when she got out she unbuckled sophie's seat by accident. I had no idea, we drove home (PA) from NYC w/ her unbuckled, and probably didn't realize it for a day or 2. I was soo upset, it was awful.

Now I have 2 kids, and one day my mom sat in the back and when we got home ,she unbuckles the baby's seat belt, even after I told her to be careful before we had left because of what my aunt had done. Thank goodness it was when we got home, although I was upset because I had the seat installed by a tech. Luckily w/ the locking clip, I was able to get the base back in just as tight.

I feel watched over too... I'm trying to figure out something that I can put over the buckles to avoid this... Soon my son will be in a convertible, so maybe there won't be room for anyone back there anymore.. I like to have the space but would rather my children be safe..

Stephanie

Sophia 8/4/01
Anthony 5/11/03 mother's day gift!

[gremlin44]

This happened once with our SnugRide.

I took a piece of duct tape and put it across the push button for the seat belt release.

While that obviously doesn't completely prevent someone from unlocking the seat belt, it does make it difficult to press the button down fully. Between the added resistance and the odd feel of the duct tape, a person who was accidently trying to unlock the seat belt would notice and realize what they were doing--or at least realize that something wasn't right and perhaps take a closer look at which belt they were unlocking.

[Melanie]

Great Idea! I think I may do that...