Tall Baby/Short Mom with Marathon in Center

[kelli701]

Hi All,
I've been lurking for a while, and haven't felt like I had anything to contribute. But I do need some help or reassurance now. My son is 15 months old, and was 24 pounds and 28 inches at his 12-month check up. I just moved his MA to the center of my backseat from behind the driver's seat (rear-facing) after reading some of the crash stories lately. I also just started using the tether because I didn't think I had an anchor point before. Anyway, he can't climb into his seat and I bump his head every time I try to lift him into the seat. I am 5'3 and have short arms, so I find it really hard to reach the center of my Toyota Camry to put him in and adjust the harness. How important is it for him to be in the center? I really felt like the LATCH install I had behind my seat was more secure (used the shoulder-lap belt with lock-offs for the center install). Thanks in advance for your help!

[bubbaray]

Does your Camry have side air bags? What year is it?

If you can't get a good install center and can't use the seat safely center (ie. problems with the harness), then you should move it back outboard.

Also, is your center install with belts or LATCH? IIRC, there are no models of the Camry with 3 sets of LATCH anchors and Toyota does not allow borrowing, so any center install would need to be with belts.

[HIU8]

I'm also 5'3" and had a marathon installed center RF in a Camry (2002 model). I literally had to climb into the car completely to get DS into the seat. I hated it. BUT I didn't want DS outboard b/c I bumped my head on the doorframe more times than I care to acknowledge. I was able to get a rock solid install RF with the seatbelt and tethering also in the center though.

[kelli701]

Oh, great point about the air bags! It is a 2009 hybrid model, and it does have side curtain air bags. That makes me feel much better!

Yes, I did use the lap-shoulder belt for the center install, knowing that you can't borrow LATCH connectors on Toyotas.

[jjordan]

I think the center is something like 30% safer? Pretty negligible (especially for rear-facers, who are very safe in side impact crashes regardless of their position in the car). Pretty soon he'll be able to crawl into the seat himself, so you can either tough it out until then or move him outboard until then.