Spiffy Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 so we received this fancy Eddie Bauer infant/baby seat and stroller combo... today I tried fitting it into the back of Red ('00 Forester S) and found it was totally incompatible... it doesn't have anchors for the LATCH system, and the seat belts come from the middle of the seat instead of the seat bight where the back/bottom come together... not to mention the emergency locking retractor belts would require use of the supplied locking clip anyways... I blame those fancy reclining rear seats... is there any hope for getting a child car seat to work in Red? I don't know if they're all this way... but if anybody knows of a make/model that will fit I'd appreciate it as it's easier to get a new car seat than a new car... --Spiffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strakes Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 The babyseat stroller combo car seats are hard to fit unless you buy a large car/minivan/suv. In our old 93 Legacy that didn't have LATCH, we found infant seats that fit. I forgot what model, but it was the smallest one made by Graco. The infant seat had to be installed in the middle of the back seat, and the over-head arm of the infant seat folded in between the front 2 seats. If you kept the infant seat arm up, it fit in perfectly anywhere in the back. Good luck. I suggest going to the babyseat section of the store with a tape measure to get the smallest one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 I don't have an answer for you, but I know this is baby/child seat fit issue is a problem in other cars. Friends of ours cannot get a baby/child seat to fit the back seat of a late model Pontiac Grand Prix. Now, they are thinking about selling their Pontiac. You would think that the child seat manufacturer would provide a list of cars that their seats would be compatible with, or manufacturer a seat that is a compatible fit with any vehicle. Sounds like a no-brainer approach, if they want to be in the child seat biz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiffy Posted May 13, 2008 Author Share Posted May 13, 2008 actually, I haven't even made it far enough to see if the size of the seat is an issue... I can't get the base to secure... there's no way to secure it... no LATCH system, and the seat belts coming from the middle of the seat area make it incompatible... I'm not sure if all the baby seats have these requirements... I looked a little deeper at the way the seats mount and am wondering if I can use something like a securing strap hooked to the mounts to hook the LATCH system to... but I don't want to rig something that'll be unsafe... --Spiffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strakes Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 About attaching without LATCH, call up Eddie Bauer and ask if they have any suggestions regarding the matter. Maybe they have an adapter or something that will allow you to use it? I agree with Rooster. My big pet peeve are these stupid child car seats. They make them so big now with cup holders and such that you can't get three across in the back of almost any car. All the car seat manufacturers think that big, cumbersome, and outrageous is what we need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unverviking Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 if I remember correctly, in our 01 OBW we had to put a rolled up towel under our baby seat base. My friend who is a professional fireman, and is/was trained at the time in infant seat installation. He said that in many cars like that they needed to have the back boosted on them to fit with the belt properly, and to be leveled correctly. It did take both of us to get it tight enough. We literally had to sit in it and adjust the belt at the same time. I will say that the new LATCH system is much better. We have it now in our Sonata, it makes installing the seat a whole lot easier. No more needing a 2nd person to sit in the seat while tighting the belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiffy Posted May 14, 2008 Author Share Posted May 14, 2008 the base has a 3-way adjustable level... again, it's not the size or position of the seat that's a problem, yet, because I can't get that far into the installation, it's that there's no way to secure the it... I guess I could try to fit the entire seat unit in there and see if that will even fit, since there's no point in going through a lot of hassle to secure the base to find out that the seat itself is too big... I'm just going to have to get a different seat for the forester that doesn't have the same requirements and use this fancy one in the old '82 GL... I need a seat from 15 years ago that's not designed with consumerism and impressing your neighbors in mind... small is better... --Spiffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiffy Posted May 28, 2008 Author Share Posted May 28, 2008 I found that the rear seat mounts are really strong and have enough access behind them to allow me to use the LATCH system to attach to those... it's not a loop, but with everything tightened down there's no way those clips are going to back out of where they are... this will be a lot easier than having to use the actual seat belts without the child-seat base and having to strap it in every time... still bugs me about how much the front end flops around, but others say that it's normal... --Spiffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaingoatgruff Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 my wife and i had this same problem with the belts in the back seat of her 97 legacy wagon. the majority of the problem was that the buckle end is too long and it makes it impossible to secure the base. i took the buckle end out then took it to a seamstress i know and had her shorten it. its a little harder to buckle now but it tightens up safely and she fixed it in exchange for a few hours of babysitting. i thought about heading to the jy to find a seatbelt set that would work but this works well and i like to avoid using currency anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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