Can a seat be TOO tight?

[chays]

I just saw a friend of mine who told me that she took her BLVD to get checked and the tech (I belive all the firefighters here are certified) told her the seat was in too tight and loosened it a little. Jools -- does that sound like it could possibly be right? I didn't look at it b/c I didn't want to offend, but that just didn't sound right to me. Thoughts?

[Joolsplus2]

Weeeeeellll... probably not (ie, it's not really possible for a seat to be too tight, no). If it was a new tech they might have heard 'up to an inch of movement is IDEAL' rather than 'acceptable'...? Or if they were a very experienced tech who had actually seen cracked britaxes from overzealous RF installs, then they 'may' be speaking from experience (I haven't heard of those in years since the old style Roundabouts, though, so I think they are just misunderstanding the 'one inch' rule)

[clc053103]

LOL! By the title, I thought you were talking about the harness! I was going to answer "well, if your child is turning blue...."

[lorinick]

LOL! By the title, I thought you were talking about the harness! I was going to answer "well, if your child is turning blue...."
I too thought it was about the harness.

[chays]

oops, sorry guys! I guess that is a pretty hilarious interpretation! Jools had it right, the seatbelt/LATCH install being too tight. Thanks for the info!

[Bryan mom]

I had a tech help me with changing my carseat from rf to ff today. I read my Britax manual and it says that the Versa tether should have tension in it. So, I went back to the tech and showed him the manual and my somewhat loose tether. He said that it shouldn't be too tight or it will breat the carseat. My gut is not to believe him since he's also saying that I should've turned DS long time ago (he's just 3 year and just turned 33 lbs).

So, what do you all say? I trust you all much more.

[Joolsplus2]

Yes, it needs some tension...not twanging like a guitar string or really cranked down hard, but if it's loose, then the carseat will FLY forward and then SLAM to a stop when it hits the end of the tension. You want it to be a constant PULL at the same tension through out the crash for best results and the less energy transfer into your child (ie, the most injury prevention).

As for 'breaking the carsesat'...um...(how to say this nicely, he clearly did not understand that part of the class?)... no, it's not a problem. The seat is tested with a full 65 pound dummy in a 35 MPH crash, the tether is attached to reinforced parts of the seat, it's just not going to break if the tether is taut (if anything, it's MORE likely to break when it's loose and the SLAM at the end of the loose forward flying happens! but it's not going to break at all).

I'm so glad you read your manual, I shudder to think how many kids he's sent off improperly restrained due to erroneous notions and not reading the manual.

[Bryan mom]

Thanks, Jools.

Yes, he lost his credibility when he started with the 1 yr and 20 lb rule. =)

[pastrygirl]

I have a related question. My (RF) tether has no slack until Toby sits in it. Then there is some slack -- it's not hanging slack, but it is not pulled taut. I avoided tightening it more when installing it because I didn't want to add more recline. Should I redo it even more upright, like dramatically upright, and tighten the tether enough so that there's still no slack when he sits in it?

[o_mom]

With the rear-facing tether, it is a different situation. It is preventing rebound after the inital impact. No matter how tight you have it pre-crash, it will develop slack as the seat moves toward the impact. So, a little slack when he is in it isn't a huge deal, IMO.

[wencit]

Or if they were a very experienced tech who had actually seen cracked britaxes from overzealous RF installs, then they 'may' be speaking from experience (I haven't heard of those in years since the old style Roundabouts, though, so I think they are just misunderstanding the 'one inch' rule) Um.....it's possible to have an "overzealous" RF install? How "overzealous" are we talking about here? My Marathon sometimes looks like it wants to pop into the mechanically upright position because I kneel so hard on the base of the seat to get it as upright as I can before I use the tether to recline it. Is that bad?

/nervous Mommy

[Joolsplus2]

Um.....it's possible to have an "overzealous" RF install? How "overzealous" are we talking about here? My Marathon sometimes looks like it wants to pop into the mechanically upright position because I kneel so hard on the base of the seat to get it as upright as I can before I use the tether to recline it. Is that bad?

/nervous Mommy

That's how I always used to do mine, it never was a problem :loveeyes: (it was the shell of the seat under the kiddos feet that used to split on old Roundabouts, I think they've been redesigned somewhat to prevent it happening).

:)

[wencit]

Whew, I feel so much better now! Thanks, Julie!