Install Safety 1st Uptown in center of 2004 Trailblazer?

[nrp]

I just posted a long tirade about my disappointing car seat check-up, and I forgot to ask my question. We bought a Safety 1st Uptown for the nanny's car, and she has a 2004 Trailblazer. The car's manual says that many car seats are too wide to install in the center, but that it depends on the seat. I haven't personally attempted to install the Uptown in her car yet, but I wondered if anyone had by chance tried this same combination? We have a 2000 blazer, and I know that you are not allowed to install a car seat in the center of our car, but the Trailblazer is wider.

Just to note, it would of course be a seatbelt install in the center (no center latch). If anyone thinks its iffy, I'll just install outboard with latch. Also, in a few months the nanny will also be driving DS in his new keyfit, so if anyone has advice on the best configuration for those two seats in the Trailblazer, I would appreciate it.

[Joolsplus2]

Darn, there you've gone and educated yourself about the center of Blazers and I'm going to turn your carseat world on end :bouncy:

GM has changed the rules on you...it IS ok to use the center of the 2000 Blazer, as long as the seat fits in between the seatbelt anchors, it's just they didn't send out manual addendums to say so (if you want, I can email you a letter from an Engineer at GM to prove it :)). AND... the official LATCH manual published by www.saferidenews.com also states that both GM and Dorel (Safety 1st) allow center LATCH usage at non-standard distances (11 inches is the standard distance, the center is typically a bit farther apart). The only bugaboo with using the LATCH in the center is that it can spread out and cover up the buckles for the outboard seatbelts, so sometimes the center seatbelt is preferrable (my Ford is like that...Britax and Ford also allow center usage, but the buckles are totally unusable if I do it...).

But since the only question you actually asked is if anyone knows if the Uptown fits in the center of an 04 TBlazer, That I don't know :(. It has a lap belt only there, right? I'm assuming... if it does, it probably will be fine, I don't think the Uptown base is extremely wide.

:)

[nrp]

If nothing else, this information makes me feel a lot better about having DD in the center of our Blazer for the first few months before I read that I wasn't supposed to!

About the latch on the Trailblazer, I am kind of new to latch installs, as neither of our cars have latch, but do I understand correctly that you are saying it is okay to use the interior latch anchors from the driver and passenger side to install in the center, even though there are no separate center latch anchors? The seatbelt issue that you mentioned may make this moot, but it would be nice to have it as an option.

BTW, I'll just say again how thankful I am to have you and everyone else on this board as a resource!

[Joolsplus2]

Right, it's acceptable to 'borrow' the inner LATCH bars from the outboard seating positions in THAT particular car brand with THAT particular seat brand.
Glad you feel better about your old install ;)

And, you're welcome, this is a very satisfying hobby!