Weird Sienna seatbelt question

[emschwar]

DS is newly in a Monterey in our Sienna. He loves it. Buuuuut.... he can't buckle himself in. We have the 8 passenger, if that makes a difference, and the buckle for the seatbelt (sorry, don't know what it's called) is way far down between the seats that there's no way he can reach it and buckle himself in. It's a minor complaint, but is there anything that can be done about it? Does toyota sell an extender or anything? Thanks.

[mikeys_mom]

We moved DS to a Monteray in our Sienna a few months ago and it took him about a week or so to get used to buckling himself but now he can do it on his own.

My Sienna is a 2007 - 7 passenger and he is in the 3rd row, outboard driver side.

He usually pulls out the belt a fair bit longer then he needs and leans over the side of the booster towards the belt stalk to get it in. It sometimes takes him a few minutes and he will start to get frustrated but I just tell him to take his time and that he can do it.

[emschwar]

I'm not sure he has the arm length to really do it. The seat belt buckle is just below the level of the seat itself - it's really deep in there. I took this picture - I'm holding up the buckle for the middle seat - see how much higher it is? (Ignore the toy and the lollipop stuck between the 2 seats!) I suppose I could try moving him to the middle seat, but I don't know that I can trust his little brother not to hit him. (I originally had them next to each other, but when #2 was about 18 months old he'd amuse himself during the ride by hitting and pinching his big brother. Many tears resulted until I moved #1 to the outboard position.)

Oh - ours is a 2005 8 seater, if it makes any difference, and DS sits in the 2nd row, driver's side.

[mikeys_mom]

I am assuming that the seat is in the 2nd row - captain's chair. Yes, I know what you mean. I think the problem is also that the armrest on the Monteray is pretty high up.

When I carpool I have two boosters in the captain's chairs and one, (a clek Oto) really does not have armrests and the kids seem to have no problem buckling themselves in. In the other seat I have a booster with higher armrests and I usually have to buckle them in myself.

Could you try his seat in the 3rd row and see if it is any easier for him to buckle himself? Or, continue to buckle him in yourself until he grows a bit and can buckle himself in. Sorry, no other suggestions other than that.

[emschwar]

No - we have the 8 seater, so there's no captain's chairs.

[sariana]

We have a tiny Mazda 3, and DS can't reach the receptacle either. He isn't in a booster yet; we were just trying out seats. But it was frustrating for him.

Sometimes you can pull up the seat bottom and adjust the receptacles (I don't know if that's what they're really called) so that they extend a bit more. I have known them to get "lost" when the seat gets folded and such. So you could try pulling up the seat bottom (if it moves that way) and seeing if you can get more length.

I wouldn't recommend an extender because that's two more connections that need to be checked and could fail. IMO, the fewer points of contact the better.

[emschwar]

We have a tiny Mazda 3, and DS can't reach the receptacle either. He isn't in a booster yet; we were just trying out seats. But it was frustrating for him.

Sometimes you can pull up the seat bottom and adjust the receptacles (I don't know if that's what they're really called) so that they extend a bit more. I have known them to get "lost" when the seat gets folded and such. So you could try pulling up the seat bottom (if it moves that way) and seeing if you can get more length.

I wouldn't recommend an extender because that's two more connections that need to be checked and could fail. IMO, the fewer points of contact the better.

oh, now that's an idea. The seat does fold up for access to the 3rd row - I'll flip it up and see if I can raise the belt up a bit.

[Joolsplus2]

Good luck, I know my kids often needed help buckling boosters till they were 7, at least, no matter whether the belt was easy to reach or not (though the lovely old parkway was a tich easier because of no armrests, may it RIP...) (belt extenders change the geometry of the seatbelt and make it far less safe, so they aren't an option, unfortunately).