GoBlue
11-07-2010, 05:45 PM
Hi all-
DD is almost 20 months old, and I just got 2 new Boulevard 70s to keep her RF (she was in her SafeSeat in DH's Infiniti G35 and in a Diplomat in my CRV....could have stayed in the Diplomat a little longer, but the Boulevards were on sale....).
So, even with the help of a friend who is a tech, we're having a hard time with the rear-facing installation in the center of the G35 (we currently have a rock-solid outboard LATCH install, but I'd prefer that DD be in the center if possible).
1. There is no LATCH in the center, so we have to use the seat belt.
2. The new lockoffs on he BLVD are inside the seat, so you can't have the seatbelt tight before you lock them, or they simply don't lock.
3. Even if we wait to pull the slack out of the belt after we've locked the locking clips, we can't get to less than an inch of side-to-side wiggle on the installation. We tried FOREVER, and finally she said she'd call the lead tech at Britax, and we just moved to the outboard position.
4. We wonder if part of the problem is that the contour of the back seat in the G35. It kind of has two "buckets" in the outboard positions, and then the center seat is a little higher up, almost like you're sitting on a hump. This worked fine for the SafeSeat, whose base was so big that there was still a lot of contact with the seat, but with the BLVD (the new BLVD base is hollow, so just the edges touch the seat), there's only contact at the front and back of the base of the seat....there are gaps around the side that you can fit your fingers through.
So, the questions:
1. Am I doing this wrong? Is there a way to get this seat tightly installed in the center using the seat belt?
2. The car has side-curtain airbags. Are there really any statistics that with the airbags, you're safer in the middle? Am I focused on this for no good reason?
3. Is there a different seat that any of you have successfully installed in this position for a similar situation (toddler for extended RF) that you would recommend? I got the seat from diapers.com, and while I'd rather not return it, I can.
Thanks so much!!!! I like the new safety features, but the "old" BLVD/Diplomat was SO much easier to install with the "exterior" locking clips. Why'd they change that?
DD is almost 20 months old, and I just got 2 new Boulevard 70s to keep her RF (she was in her SafeSeat in DH's Infiniti G35 and in a Diplomat in my CRV....could have stayed in the Diplomat a little longer, but the Boulevards were on sale....).
So, even with the help of a friend who is a tech, we're having a hard time with the rear-facing installation in the center of the G35 (we currently have a rock-solid outboard LATCH install, but I'd prefer that DD be in the center if possible).
1. There is no LATCH in the center, so we have to use the seat belt.
2. The new lockoffs on he BLVD are inside the seat, so you can't have the seatbelt tight before you lock them, or they simply don't lock.
3. Even if we wait to pull the slack out of the belt after we've locked the locking clips, we can't get to less than an inch of side-to-side wiggle on the installation. We tried FOREVER, and finally she said she'd call the lead tech at Britax, and we just moved to the outboard position.
4. We wonder if part of the problem is that the contour of the back seat in the G35. It kind of has two "buckets" in the outboard positions, and then the center seat is a little higher up, almost like you're sitting on a hump. This worked fine for the SafeSeat, whose base was so big that there was still a lot of contact with the seat, but with the BLVD (the new BLVD base is hollow, so just the edges touch the seat), there's only contact at the front and back of the base of the seat....there are gaps around the side that you can fit your fingers through.
So, the questions:
1. Am I doing this wrong? Is there a way to get this seat tightly installed in the center using the seat belt?
2. The car has side-curtain airbags. Are there really any statistics that with the airbags, you're safer in the middle? Am I focused on this for no good reason?
3. Is there a different seat that any of you have successfully installed in this position for a similar situation (toddler for extended RF) that you would recommend? I got the seat from diapers.com, and while I'd rather not return it, I can.
Thanks so much!!!! I like the new safety features, but the "old" BLVD/Diplomat was SO much easier to install with the "exterior" locking clips. Why'd they change that?