Parkway maybe not compatible with Sienna belt?

[Elizasmom]

My 5.5 year old DD was in a Regent up until a couple of days ago when she urinated all over it to such an extent that I have moved her into a Parkway (Tiffany fabric -yeah!!) while I figure out how to get the smell out of the straps on the Regent. I can't bear the thought or reinstalling the Regent every time something like this happens, so we may just stick with the Parkway.

Here's my question. She is in the passenger side captain's chair. In this seating position, the belt actually comes out of the "shoulder" of the seat itself. The belt guides for the Parkway are actually ABOVE the slot the belt retracts into. So the belt actually comes UP and then through the belt guide and then back down. I don't think it rests very well on her shoulder because of this, and the belt guide doesn't hold it very well. I think it would be much better if the shoulder portion of the belt were coming from some higher point such as the side wall of the van, and I think my problem may worsen as she gets taller and the belt guide gets to be several inches above the belt slot.

Would the Recaro booster work better maybe? What are the belt guides like on that? What's the story on this new higher weight limit Recaro harness seat coming out? I would love that it the harness slots are higher. I sure didn't get my 65 pounds out of the Wizard (she's 44 pounds and too tall).

[murphydog77]

I just briefly had my dd in a Parkway in the passenger side seat in our Sienna and didn't have any problem at all with the angle of the seat belt, but she was on the 2nd to lowest setting of the PW too. I can't visualize it being a problem if it just comes straight up and over the shoulder belt guide on the PW, but that may not be the case (my PW is already boxed back up and ready to send to somebody, so I can't run out and see). Once the seat belt is through the shoulder belt guide, it should sit nicely on the child--I say "should" because I'm not there to see it obviously :). I will say that this same seat didn't work well at all for us in our Lexus SUV because the shoulder belt on the seat belt comes out forward of the vehicle seat. We have problems with all boosters in that car, darnnit.

The only way you're going to not have problems is if the shoulder belt guide on the booster is at the same exact angle as the seat belt bezel. Perhaps the Regent looks better now?

Heather, CPS Tech
http://www.CarSeatSite.com