Rear facing tether in Toyota Sienna

[True Romance]

I just installed a Britax Decathlon for my son in our 2004 Toyota Sienna. The seat is RF and I want to use the tether to get a tighter fit. I originally had it tethered underneath the seat it is on to the anchor on the back of the seat. But after reading several sites about car seat safety, they said Britax does not endorse tethering underneath the seat.

Where else can I tether? Does anyone else with a Sienna have a good recommendation?

Thanks.

[jeanum]

In my '05 8-passenger Sienna LE, to tether a RF Britax Boulevard installed the middle seat in the second row, I can pop off the small plastic cover on the back edge of the front passenger seat's inboard metal seat track/railing. Then it's possible to loop the D-ring tether webbing attachment (included with Britax convertible seats) underneath and around the metal seat track. Then I can clip the versa tether through the metal D-ring. Hope this helps.

[murphydog77]

I've got a video of how to rf tether on my site: http://www.carseatsite.com/videos.htm . I happened to use my 2004 Sienna to film the videos :D.

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

[ColorBlue]

I just recently read this about not tethering behind the seat its on. I've had my seats rearfacing and tethered to the seat they are on since they were first installed in my car. I can't remember ever seeing this before a few weeks ago and I am usually up on these things. Where does Britax say you can't do that? And do you know why they would say that?

I guess I can't see what difference it would make RF tether to that seat or FF tethered to that seat.

I drive a 2004 sienna with two RF seats in the second row and a FF seat in the third row.

Thanks for your help.
Tracy

Grace...my big four year old girl.
Ellie and Maddie...my little 18 month old girls.

[murphydog77]

Britax can't guarantee the seat will perform as it should in a crash if it's tethered that way--it's all crash dynamics. Britax has crash tested the tethered toward the front of the vehicle (Swedish style) and that's the only way they recommend now. It's been over a year now since they stopped saying you can tether to the vehicle seat on which the car seat is installed. The instructions for tethering are in the manuals and on their web site.

It's very easy to tether rf in Siennas, unlike other vans, so it won't be hard to change your tethers.

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