How much movement is allowed (RF carseat installation question)?

[wencit]

Ugh, now I know why 85% of carseats are installed incorrectly!

DH & I finally got around to installing our Snugride yesterday. I read some of your posts that said that no more than 1" of movement is allowed at the base, near the seatbelt path. I think we got that down OK. However, I can still move the base if I grab it at the top (where the baby's head will be) and rotate it back and forth, say towards the driver's seat and passenger's seat of the car. Is that correct??? It just seems strange to me that only the back of the carseat base is properly secured. What about the front of the carseat?

Also, DH wonders what is preventing the carseat from tipping up (towards the back windshield) during an accident?

I guess it just seems strange to me that the carseat doesn't have more "anchor points." Of course, I'm planning to take the entire installation to get it checked by a CPS tech, but it doesn't hurt to get more than 1 verification!

Thanks!

[kellyotn]

Yup, that's right. Grab it at the belt path with your non-dominant hand (ie, you don't need to put all your weight into testing it), if its tight, you are good. (Assuming proper angle and such.)

The seat will be able to move upwards toward the backseat. Its perfectly normal and expected. If you think about a frontal collision, the seat will be forced toward the front of the car first, then may rebound back a bit. They are designed to do that, it seems wrong, but its not. I'll let the techs explain it. ;)