Can RA LATCH buckles go either way?

[sariana]

I just moved DD's RA from the CX-9 to the Mazda 3 because our lease is up. DH insisted that I had to attach the LATCH anchors so that the "thicker" side was on the more open side, which in his car means that the clip grabs from the top. This means that the adjuster part of the belt (the part you pull on) is under the tight part of the belt. So it is sort of like trying to adjust a seatbelt that is upside down.

Is it okay to have the LATCH anchors this way? Does it matter which way they grab the anchor? And is it okay to have the belt "upside down" like this?

The seat is still RF, but I just don't feel as confident in the installation as I did in the bigger car. In the smaller car the seat moves side to side some, not more than an inch, but it didn't move at all in the other car. In fact, this issue is what caused the argument with DH that I posted about a while back. He claims (and apparently rightly so) that the seat just does not install well RF in his car. I cannot get it any tighter, and I think maybe it is because the adjuster is under the belt instead of over it.

We also have a MA that DD could use. I noticed that because of the way its belts go over the bar, when the seat is FF, the hooks will grab from the bottom, while RF they will grab from the top. Since DH insists that they have to go a certain way, that seems to mean we will not be able to use the MA RF. Is that true, or is there a way to take the belts off the bar and reinstall them the other way?

I know this doesn't make a lot of sense written out. It's difficult to explain what I mean, but hopefully those of you with these seats will know what I'm trying to describe.

Thanks for any help.

[jjordan]

It does matter. I think that the anchors have little "this side up" arrows on them if I'm remembering correctly.

ETA: to switch them, you bring them up into the seat and pass one through the other (so the anchor & loop that started out on the child's left is now on the child's right and vice versa).

[KrisM]

Yes it matters. Reverse them so that the adjuster is on the outside. You just have to route the LATCH hooks through the seat and one through the loop of the other to get them on the opposite side. This turns them over so that the top is now the top again.

[o_mom]

If you are saying that the adjuster is on the side of the belt toward the seat, then that is backwards and you need to change it so that it is on the outside (the adjuster and 'tail'). You may need to take the LATCH belt completely out of the beltpath and rethread it with the other end first to do that.

As far as the direction of the connectors, it depends on how old your seat is, I think. The older ones had printing that said "up (with arrows)" and "this side toward seat". On the RA you rethread the belt to get them aligned correctly but on the MA you needed to pull the connectors along the black metal bar to the center of the seat an then thread one through the other to switch the sides - there should be an illustration of this in the manual.

The Marathon I thought they switched at some point in the last year or two to ones that only say "this side toward seat" so that it didn't matter which side was up as long as it faced the seat. I *think* that was a change across all the Britax seats, but again, you have to look at your specific connectors to see. The writing is all raised black on black print, so hard to see and you may need a flashlight if you are in a garage or it is dark.

HTH!

ETA: Here is a picture of how to switch them: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=82682

[sariana]

Thank you all! I found the arrows and such on the MA. The RA is older, so I'm sure it is on there as well. I'll have to uninstall it after the kids are in bed.

I knew you would know the answer!

[sariana]

Okay, I fixed it. But it still does not seem as rock-solid as I am used to. In my CX-9 it didn't move, and in my old Accord it seemed more secure, also. The best installation ever was in our old Jeep, which had only lap belts. It didn't move AT ALL in that car.

In the Mazda 3 I can still wiggle the seat side-to-side, which I could not do in other cars. I cannot pull the belt any tighter on either side. Is it because this car's seats are slightly concave, with a hump in the middle? Does that make it more difficult to get a good, solid install? I'm sure the seat is safe, but I wish it didn't shift so much when I push on it.

I may try to go to a fire station next week, just to have someone else check it. I think a car seat tech lives around the corner from me, too, so I may try to track her down.

Thanks again for the advice!