Britax Car Seat ?

Summer in CT

Has anyone moved their LO into a convertible car seat yet?  I moved my son into his Britax Marathon about a month ago.  I use the latch system, but I didn't realize that when using this seat rear-facing that you should also use the Tether.  I did not use the Tether rear-facing for my daughters car seat (she has an evenflo) until she sat forward facing at 2 years old.

I guess my question is...does anyone use this seat without the tether?  Is it less safe?  I can't figure out how I would use it in my Subaru Impreza.  The tether would have to go over the front of the car seat to latch into the trunk.  TIA !

Summer in CT

HilarityEnsued:

Where did you hear/read that you are supposed to use the tether for rear facing?  I've read the manuals for both our Britax seats (Advocate and Pavillion) and neither says you should use the tether.

I've also never seen a RF car seat installed with the addition of the tether.

I agree, I never heard of it before either.  I have the Britax Marathon and it actually says it right in the manual. https://www.britaxusa.com/uploads/products/user-guides/10.pdf

Check out page 15 of the pdf (i think it's actually page 26)

The only reason I even checked this out was because my friend pulled up next to me in her car this morning and her daughters car seat was tethered rear-facing and I told her that it was incorrect!  I feel really dumb now.

Suebee8

I have mine tethered to the base of the passengers seat. I had it inspected after installation and they said it was installed correctly and didn't need any adjustments.

Summer in CT

Suebee8:

I have mine tethered to the base of the passengers seat. I had it inspected after installation and they said it was installed correctly and didn't need any adjustments.

Thanks!  I will have to check out my passengers seat.

LittleApple

You are correct in that RF'ing, the Britax seat needs to be rear tethered for extra protection.

Please post your question on the FB group called Car Seats for the Littles.  The Techs will be able to properly answer your question.

jess9802

Only a few manufacturers permit tethering rear-facing, and Britax is one of them. We've used the Marathon for our son since birth, and it's been tethered the entire time. It's tethered to the frame/leg of the passenger seat. The tether can't be too tight - you don't want it to change the angle of the installation, but there shouldn't be any slack in the strap. My memory from our car seat manual is that Britax recommends but does not mandate that you tether the seat when RF.

Katie829

LittleApple:

You are correct in that RF'ing, the Britax seat needs to be rear tethered for extra protection.

Please post your question on the FB group called Car Seats for the Littles.  The Techs will be able to properly answer your question.

That is not true. I just asked this question yesterday on that board. I have my daughter's boulevard RFing tethered using a d-ring. I found out only 3 car seats allow for it (Britax, diono and Combi). Also in my boulevard manual it states that it is strongly recommended but not required to use the versa tethers RF and/or FF. 

The car seat tech stated that in Canada the tethers are required. 

Page 26 of manual states that it is recommended. For what its worth I use them and would certainly recommend everyone use them. What's the point of have a great seat that allows for extra safety and stability if people don't use them.
https://www.britaxusa.com/uploads/cms/file/p435200_r1_blvd 70 cs usa.pdf