Auto Locking Retractor Broken / Britax Carseats

[LoriW]

Hi all-

Ugh, out of nowhere, one of my back seat belt's ALR is not working. My car is a 2001 Subaru Forrester (no latch :( ). I have a Britax Decathlon on that side. It has a locking clip built in, which is installed and seems to be a very good installation. But I am worried and annoyed about the ALR not functioning. Is this a concern from a carseat safety standpoint, or is the fact that I have the locking clip make it OK? It is also tightly tethered to a tether anchor on the roof of the car.

On a side note, is it normal for a ALR to break after some period of time? Incidentally I had my car in the shop today for work - had new brakes installed. Could that be related?

Thanks!
Lori

[o_mom]

Does the ELR portion still work? Does it lock when you stop fast?

I think what you are saying is that the "switchable" portion is not switching from ELR to ALR, correct?

In that case, it *should* be OK since the ELR portion will lock during braking and impact and hold the seat tight. The Britax lockoff will hold it in place until the ELR kicks in, but it still relies on the belt to lock. However, something in the mechanism is obviously broken if it won't switch, so I would move the seat to another seating position until you can get it fixed, if at all possible.

[LoriW]

Hmmm...that's a good question - how can I figure that out - whether the ELR is still working or not?

Unfortunately I don't have an alternate seating position (2 kids, 2 carseats, one Subary Forrester).

I'll call the repair shop today and see if possibly they did something...

Thanks,
Lori

[Joolsplus2]

Just tug the shoulderbelt super fast and see if it locks (OR... you may have to actually slam on your brakes... take another adult to the parking lot..sit them in the belt, slam on the brakes, have them tell you if it locks...some belts are 'tug dependent' and some are 'car stopping moving' dependent). Compare it to the working belts. If it doesn't lock, you may absolutely not use that position for any person or carseat. (You'd have to put someone in the front or hope their seats cram next to each other if it doesn't work if you have to go somewhere)

Fingers crossed it's an easy/cheap/fast fix!!!!

[LoriW]

Thanks for the advice.

I think the ELR is working - it does lock when I retract it and yank on it, it just doesn't stay locked. What a pain in the butt! I wonder why this happened. I am going to call and find out the costs of repair...

Lori