Car Seat.. I HATE YOU (help needed kinda long)

h2ojock13 · May 2011

Hello Everyone,

I am about to lose my sh*t over our Baby Trend car seat.. I know there was a post before about installing a car seat in a Hyundai Santa Fe and I can't find it.
I've literally called about 6 fire stations in my area, 2 police departments and 1 "boutqiue" store (who will install the car seat for $20). The fire departments and police stations keep passing me along to different stations and no one is helpful.

This is my problem. My Santa Fe is a 2001 apparently this was before the "latch" system was installed in cars and before Hyundai had center over the shoulder straps so I have the lap belt and thats about it.. No latch nothing even remotely close I could "jimmy rig" into a latch system. The issue with the center belt is that even when I have it at its tightest the car seat base still moves quite a bit from side to side. I watched a youtube video on how to install the car seat but it is with the latch system which does me no good.. I can't buy a new car (I've thought about it) and I don't know what to do.

If anyone has an older car and they're using the center lap belt with a base system can you take a picture of it and share.. or if anyone has a video
that I haven't seen yet on how to install a base unit in the center of a car using the lap belt I would appreciate it.

Thanks In Advance for any help, I wasn't planning on the darn car seat stressing me out so much but I literally didn't sleep last night and want to
cry just thinking about it being in my car. (YAY HORMONES)

tokenhoser · May 2011

A lap belt is easier than a shoulder strap one, generally. Is it one that extends, or just one that you manually adjust? Either way, the real secret is to WRENCH it tight - or get someone that isn't pregnant to pull really hard while basically putting their full weight onto the base. You may need a locking clip if it doesn't have the proper locking mechanism, but my 94 geo metro managed to have the base installed without any extra parts. I definitely hear you on the old car/no latch stress.

h2ojock13 · May 2011

tokenhoser:
A lap belt is easier than a shoulder strap one, generally. Is it one that extends, or just one that you manually adjust? Either way, the real secret is to WRENCH it tight - or get someone that isn't pregnant to pull really hard while basically putting their full weight onto the base. You may need a locking clip if it doesn't have the proper locking mechanism, but my 94 geo metro managed to have the base installed without any extra parts. I definitely hear you on the old car/no latch stress.

It manually adjusts, which is the hard part i'm dealing with because I get it as "tight" as I think I can get it but the top part of it when I adjust it is super loose.. The car seat also didn't come with a locking clip so one of my co workers who has 4 kids is bringing me one from her old car seats to see if that helps

jg_girl1 · May 2011

I have the baby trend installed in the center with a lap belt. I'm not sure if I have it as tight as it is supposed to be but the base really does not move much so I trust it is safe. I still have not gone to get it inspected yet (I am really bad). If you find a place the does inspections let me know. I didn't use the locking clip as I thought that was only when using a shoulder seat belt.

h2ojock13 · May 2011

jg_girl1:
I have the baby trend installed in the center with a lap belt. I'm not sure if I have it as tight as it is supposed to be but the base really does not move much so I trust it is safe. I still have not gone to get it inspected yet (I am really bad). If you find a place the does inspections let me know. I didn't use the locking clip as I thought that was only when using a shoulder seat belt.

TMC does it, but they're far from my house and its appt. only so I wanted to just be able to hit up a police station on my way home and have them fix it and be on my way. Since your closer to TMC than I am, you can try to set up an appt by calling this is the number I found (520) 324-5604.

choogasian · May 2011

We got really frustrated with the car seat situation today too. First, we went to the fire station. They said they don't inspect them because it's a liability??? Ok, whatever. We asked them where to go, they said go to the CHP (California Highway Patrol) office. So, we drove across town to have them look at it. We get there and there are plenty of CHP officers sitting around doing nothing. So, we ask about inspection and the lady asks us "When is the baby due?" We told her that we are being induced tomorrow. She tells us to hold on. She walks away and says that no one is available to check it, would we like to come back at 8am on Monday? I said, well, that's not really gonna work because we will be in the hospital with a brand new baby!! Then she tells us to just read the manual and we should be fine. She told us the law only requires us to have a car seat, no requirement to check it out. I almost lost it. I said thanks for the help and walked out. Grrr.

mzsparklepdx · May 2011

We also have an older car with just the adjustable lap belt in the middle. We're also concerned that the far end of the car seat seems to swing side to side a lot, even with the lap belt cranked tight, but we haven't figured out anything else to do.

I found several places in our area that do inspections on this site - https://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/

The soonest appointment I could get is late next week, after I'll be induced if I haven't delivered, but there is a drop-in clinic tomorrow if I can manage to get up that early. Good luck!

kammmmay · May 2011

choogasian:
We got really frustrated with the car seat situation today too. First, we went to the fire station. They said they don't inspect them because it's a liability??? Ok, whatever. We asked them where to go, they said go to the CHP (California Highway Patrol) office. So, we drove across town to have them look at it. We get there and there are plenty of CHP officers sitting around doing nothing. So, we ask about inspection and the lady asks us "When is the baby due?" We told her that we are being induced tomorrow. She tells us to hold on. She walks away and says that no one is available to check it, would we like to come back at 8am on Monday? I said, well, that's not really gonna work because we will be in the hospital with a brand new baby!! Then she tells us to just read the manual and we should be fine. She told us the law only requires us to have a car seat, no requirement to check it out. I almost lost it. I said thanks for the help and walked out. Grrr.

This is why I am not even bothering to go get mine checked. How do I know that they even know what they are doing.

Is there a man that could help you get it tight enough? I certainly am not as strong as I was at the beginning of my pregnancy (maybe because nobody will even let me carry a freaking gallon of milk) so I would probably have the same problem if I had a manual belt to tighten. Maybe sit on top of the base and pull on the belt with all your weight to tighten it if there isn't a guy lying around.

mzsparklepdx · May 2011

My DH clinched the lap belt as hard as he could with me pushing/sitting on the base. The front of the base flips up off the seat if it's too tight and sways side to side if it's "tight enough". I'm hoping the weight of the baby will weigh it down, but something just doesn't seem right about it.

h2ojock13 · May 2011

kammmmay:
choogasian:
We got really frustrated with the car seat situation today too. First, we went to the fire station. They said they don't inspect them because it's a liability??? Ok, whatever. We asked them where to go, they said go to the CHP (California Highway Patrol) office. So, we drove across town to have them look at it. We get there and there are plenty of CHP officers sitting around doing nothing. So, we ask about inspection and the lady asks us "When is the baby due?" We told her that we are being induced tomorrow. She tells us to hold on. She walks away and says that no one is available to check it, would we like to come back at 8am on Monday? I said, well, that's not really gonna work because we will be in the hospital with a brand new baby!! Then she tells us to just read the manual and we should be fine. She told us the law only requires us to have a car seat, no requirement to check it out. I almost lost it. I said thanks for the help and walked out. Grrr.
See, this is what I was told too.. your not required by law to get it checked out. NO but the mommy guilt in my head will never let me forgive myself if my poor unborn child gets injured because my husband and I were not good enough parents to figure out how to install his damn car seat.
This is why I am not even bothering to go get mine checked. How do I know that they even know what they are doing.
Is there a man that could help you get it tight enough? I certainly am not as strong as I was at the beginning of my pregnancy (maybe because nobody will even let me carry a freaking gallon of milk) so I would probably have the same problem if I had a manual belt to tighten. Maybe sit on top of the base and pull on the belt with all your weight to tighten it if there isn't a guy lying around.

The "man" (who I love) who helped me install the car seat last night was my husband. This is his 2nd kid (my first) and not only did he think that the car seat should be behind the passenger side (to which I informed him of side collisions DUH.. he had his 1st 12 years ago and doesn't understand that EVERYTHING has changed since then) but he was the one who decided it was tight enough. So, I'm going over his head but it just gets more frustrating..

I'm just venting now Sorry

vml14 · May 2011

Honestly, if you are having a lot of trouble installing it in the middle, I think you should try it behind the passenger seat. My first daughter was always behind the passenger because it felt safer in our car, and now with 2 kids, they are both on the sides.

janetphillips? · May 2011

honestly im pretty sure no matter how tight you get the seatbelt the other end of the seat is still going to be able to flip up a little...its the nature of the bucket seats, from my experience...

kammmmay · May 2011

vml14:
Honestly, if you are having a lot of trouble installing it in the middle, I think you should try it behind the passenger seat. My first daughter was always behind the passenger because it felt safer in our car, and now with 2 kids, they are both on the sides.

From most of the moms I have talked to, they have moved theirs to the side because of convenience. After the first baby, you cant put the car seat in the middle anyway, so its not a big deal.

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Car Seat.. I HATE YOU (help needed kinda long)

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