NE Mom
02-23-2012, 11:04 PM
We have a Britax Boulevard we want to install in my mother's car, as she watches our child once a week and might pick up on occasion as well. The Boulevard is 2-3 years old (it was my nephew's, so we know it has not been in any accidents) and is not the 70 lb. model. We would like to know how practical it is to install the car seat in an older vehicle--specifically, a 1991 Buick Park Avenue.
As we are currently going through the process of getting child restraint tether anchors installed in our 2000 Dodge Durango (yes, we keep cars a long time in our family!), we would like to know if we will have to have a similar upgrade done for the Buick--and how practical this is. Also, we want to know if Buick would pay for it (as Dodge/Chrysler tells us they well--I'll post again when we get the seat installed).
Also, the center lap belt is entirely manual--not retractable--and we were never able to satisfactorily install a base for the infant seat there. I guess we will have to check out the seat belts on the side in terms of how they lock (they do have shoulder belts and do retract).
If this installation is not going to be safe, I suppose we could have my mom install in my dad's vehicle, which has LATCH, and borrow that car on days she needs to transport our child. The seat installation would obviously be easier but it would inconvenience both my parents to use this fix.
Also, would we ask our town to inspect the car seat installation (since it's our child an our car seat) or her town to do the inspection (since that's her vehicle)? We are actually working across the state line if that matters. Not sure how the car seat inspectors work (we've just used the one in our town for the infant seat installation in our own two vehicles).
Any advice or experiences you can share would be very helpful! Thanks!
As we are currently going through the process of getting child restraint tether anchors installed in our 2000 Dodge Durango (yes, we keep cars a long time in our family!), we would like to know if we will have to have a similar upgrade done for the Buick--and how practical this is. Also, we want to know if Buick would pay for it (as Dodge/Chrysler tells us they well--I'll post again when we get the seat installed).
Also, the center lap belt is entirely manual--not retractable--and we were never able to satisfactorily install a base for the infant seat there. I guess we will have to check out the seat belts on the side in terms of how they lock (they do have shoulder belts and do retract).
If this installation is not going to be safe, I suppose we could have my mom install in my dad's vehicle, which has LATCH, and borrow that car on days she needs to transport our child. The seat installation would obviously be easier but it would inconvenience both my parents to use this fix.
Also, would we ask our town to inspect the car seat installation (since it's our child an our car seat) or her town to do the inspection (since that's her vehicle)? We are actually working across the state line if that matters. Not sure how the car seat inspectors work (we've just used the one in our town for the infant seat installation in our own two vehicles).
Any advice or experiences you can share would be very helpful! Thanks!