Is your carseat "anchored"?

Emily2me · April 2011

We just installed our new carseat and I'm wondering if it's normal to anchor the carseat? We did, because it didn't seem stable without it, but I don't recall ever seeing a carseat secured like this before. Maybe I just never payed attention.

This is what I'm talking about, notice the strap on the back of the carseat, attached to an anchor on the floor:

jerseygirl81 · April 2011

Ours is anchored, but since he's FF, it's anchored in the trunk.

buckeyethor · April 2011

We have a latch system.

Emily2me · April 2011

Another quick question- for anyone who has a convertable carseat, at what age did you change the recline position? Right now, we have it on the furthest recline, but when I sit in the passenger seat my knees touch the dash. I want to change to the 2nd recline position but not sure if it's too soon. DS is 4 months. The manual didn't have any info on this.

shawnsweetie · April 2011

Only Britax and Sunshine kids radian allow for rear-facing tethering. And only certain models, so you need to check with you manual to make sure it is okay.

addslove · April 2011

My parents had it anchored in their car when she was FF, like you have it there. I really don't know why to tell you the truth...we didn't anchor the same carseat in our car. But my dad installed it following the manufacturer?s instructions and his owner's manual.

sistrkate · April 2011

We have ours anchored in our minivan like that.

I don't think we have ever changed the recline position.

addslove · April 2011

addslove:

My parents had it anchored in their car when she was FF, like you have it there. I really don't know why to tell you the truth...we didn't anchor the same carseat in our car. But my dad installed it following the manufacturer?s instructions and his owner's manual.

That should have said RF = rear facing.

Ttimes3 · April 2011

It's pretty sad, but I know jack squat about carseat installation. B always handles it. Sorry, I'm zero help.

Missbollinger · April 2011

Yes the Boulevard CS DS2 rides in RF is 'anchored' as well as LATCH. We will tether when he turns FF too.

Miller238 · April 2011

Yes, ours is anchored like that. I think it makes a huge difference.

And I have never noticed you can change the recline position. I am not sure my seat has that option.

kristinleigh · April 2011

We have the Evenflo Triumph and it says in the manual that for RF it has to be in the furthest recline position at all times. Not sure if all carseats are like that though.

ETA: Our Triumph is not tethered - it tells you to clip the strap to the back of the seat when it's used RF - so my understanding is that the strap on the back is only used for FF for the Triumph.

hav2run · April 2011

We did not tether when she was RF. We had no anchor for that. Now that she is FF, we tether to the latch hook in the cargo area of my SUV.

Meg41208 · April 2011

Yes, we have a Britax so it was tethered RFing. Now it's tethered FFing, in a different place, obv.

Meg41208 · April 2011

Emily, I have one more question/comment about your seat's installation. Is the location where it's tethered on the floor specifically mentioned in your car's owner manual as a place to attach a car seat tether? If not, then it's probably not reinforced and you need to tether it to the bars that are screwed into the floor that the front seat is attached to. You will have to use the "D-ring" that comes with the car seat to do that.

gimbal · April 2011

Hopefully Meg or someone else can confirm this.

When we had our Britax inspected I was told that most companies design their car seats to fly up into the seat of the car during a collision (when RFing) to absorb the shock. That's why most seats aren't tethered. That's one of the things I like most about Britax and Radian seats. Although (according to the inspector) it's perfectly fine for the other seats to fly up into the seat of the car since they're designed to do so, I like the idea of the car seat staying in place.

Meg41208 · April 2011

gimbal:
Hopefully Meg or someone else can confirm this.
When we had our Britax inspected I was told that most companies design their car seats to fly up into the seat of the car during a collision (when RFing) to absorb the shock. That's why most seats aren't tethered. That's one of the things I like most about Britax and Radian seats. Although (according to the inspector) it's perfectly fine for the other seats to fly up into the seat of the car since they're designed to do so, I like the idea of the car seat staying in place.

The Britax tether is designed to absorb some of the crash force energy - while there will be some rebound, there is not as much as other seats.

Here is info on the Britax tether - I think it explains the purpose and function pretty well. https://www.britaxusa.com/learning-center/360-degree-protection/energy-absorbing-versa-tether

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