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Car seat installation and check

ldmwldmw member
edited March 2015 in May 2015 Moms
we had our car seat inspected at the police station and the officer reinstalled the seat with rubber grip pad used for carpets placed underneath the car seat base. The install was secure, but I researched it when I got home and learned the rug grip can disguise a bad install. We removed it and reinstalled ourselves and got a tight install.
I'm a little worried that a certified installer world use the rug pad, which leads me to ask how is everyone's else's car seats installed? Ours are now directly on leather seats. What's safest?
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Re: Car seat installation and check

  • louloutte87louloutte87 member
    Ours are probably different in Europe, but ours clips directly onto the seat using a seatbelt. The company who sells it to us does the check and there's a special gauge to help you a-line it.

    I don't know whether that's helpful, but I've never heard of a rug pad. I would, however, like to think the police know what they're doing!
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  • canadianmom89canadianmom89 member
    There is actually only one not-for-profit organization who checks carseats in my area and they only host clinics every 4-5 months and don't do one off inspections. I did not realize this and they had one in January (before we even had a car seat) and won't have another one until May (I'm due May 1 so really not helplful). So we were on our own for installation, I was able to send the organization a video of our install for them to look at that way and they made some suggestions. Because of the angle of the seats in our car we had to use a pool noodle wrapped in a towel to get the right recline on our carseat. But I think if the seats in my car werent sloped so much the base would have been fine on its own because we could get a tight install just not the right recline without it being boosted up by the pool noodle.
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  • bean8213bean8213 member
    Unfortunately, not all inspectors (certified or not) are great or follow all the rules. If you can check that the install with the pad is secure (install it and then somehow get the pad out without undoing or loosening anything) and the install is still good, then go for it. But if you can't do that, then I just wouldn't use it.
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  • jerseymommatobejerseymommatobe member
    Facebook has a group called car seat for littles. It is administrated by certified car seat techs. You can upload a picture of video of the install and ask if it is correct. I find the group to be extremely informative about car seat installation and safety.
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  • sunnyday016sunnyday016 member
    Unless they were certified by SafeKids, they are not a certified CPST. Not all police stations/fire stations have a real CPST. The person that helped you did it wrong, nothing should be between the car seat and the vehicle seat. Some manufacturers allow their own products to be used or a thin towel- your manual will say.

    Car Seats for the Littles is an awesome resource. I would ask & troubleshoot there before anywhere else.
    S- March 09 E- Feb 12 L- May 15


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  • ldmwldmw member
    The sad thing is that this person is CPST, we looked him up. From what I gather from Car Seat Littles is that rug grip/shelf liner used to be recommended to get a tight install on leather seats. It is no longer recommended but it appears many certified techs are still using the old methods.

    Thank you all for the recommendation on Car Seat Littles. We are now safe and secure!
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