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Originally Posted by carringb
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Thanks carringb! I don't see them listed on their site, so I assume it's an older model and you have familiarity with them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNWVAN
Kibo, you said "The biggest negative I've found is that the seatbelts don't have a ratcheting lock for use with child seats.". That's what I am looking for is something to use with a child seat. Are you saying these aren't safe or won't work?
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Not at all--I think they're safe, or I wouldn't trust my children's life to them. The downsides in my opinion are purely from a convenience perspective. Let me explain.
On many (most?) vehicles, you can activate a ratcheting lock feature by pulling out the seatbelt all the way. Once activated, you'll hear the seatbelt mechanism ratcheting as the seatbelt is retracted and it will not allow the seatbelt to extend again until the seatbelt has been nearly completely retracted. This is ideal for use with a child seat, as it allows you to tighten the seatbelt down like a ratchet strap. Contrast this with the "normal" seatbelt mode, which uses an inertia lock. Pull quickly and it locks, but move slowly and it will allow the seatbelt to extend--ideal for adult passengers, who generally want to be able to move around with minimal restriction.
The ratcheting lock makes it easier to lock the child seat in place once it's positioned, as all you have to do is pull the seatbelt tight and let the ratchet do the work. However, all of the child seats I've used have a built-in seatbelt lock that clamps over the shoulder portion of the seatbelt once it's positioned. This accomplishes the same thing, it just requires a little extra work to pull on the seatbelt while activating the clamping device. So the ratcheting lock (in my opinion) is more of a convenience and foolproofing feature. The ratcheting lock "feels" more secure because the upper strap pulls the child seat against the seatback when stationary, but in an accident the inertia lock will function just as well.
In case it isn't obvious, these seats don't have lower anchors for LATCH. Again, I feel that LATCH lower anchors are primarily a foolproofing/convenience solution, to ensure that child seats are installed correctly and make them easy to install or remove. They are no safer than a proper lap seat belt installation.
My seats had a bolted-on latching point on the rear of the frame that suggest it was intended for use with a LATCH tether, but the tethers on our child seats aren't long enough to reach due to the height of the integrated headrest. From a safety perspective, a seat that can accommodate an upper tether would be safer than these seats (when used with forward-facing child seats), as this can prevent the child seat (and hence your child's head) from moving forward up to 4-6 inches in an accident. That said, in our van application there's no ceiling/seat/hard objects for our kids to hit their heads against, so I don't feel like I'm sacrificing the safety of my children by not having upper tethers.
By the way, since storage is always at a premium, we've found the space between the legs is ideal for storing small things like our camp chairs, down throw blanket, etc. The wider base even has a (removable) crossbar to keep things from sliding out.
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