Xiaoniu 小妞

I got a chance to learn about my car seat on Tuesday. I scheduled some time with a trooper to get ours checked. It was well worth the time. Even when you think you know all there is to know there is always something you need to learn.

Myth #1

Car seats need to be welded to the car. I mean, tied down so damn hard that you wonder if you can even get it out without hurting yourself.

Not true. You just need to install it tight enough so that it doesn’t move more than 1 inch in any direction. That doesn’t mean holding on the front and yanking around. That’ll always result in movement. You have to grab the back where the seat attaches to the car (LATCH or seat belt) and pull.

BTW I confirmed this by reading the manual. It states it very clearly that you check for movement at the back of the seat, not the front.

The trooper explained that if the seat had to be extremely tight then nobody other than big men could put them in. That is incorrect. How else is a petite woman (or man) and grandparents supposed to install seats. They can if they know how to.

Also, installing a seat that tightly can actually cause harm. Damaging the seat by putting undue stress on it. They’re only plastic you know.

Myth #2

You need a base to put the Graco carrier into a car.

Again, not true. This one took me by surprise. The carrier we have can actually go into a car without a base. The base is mainly for convenience. Installing the carrier into the car take a little skill (unlike the snap and click base) and is installed using the seat belt. Pretty neat. In a pinch the carrier is a seat.

Myth #3

If you use a seat belt to install the seat you must using the locking clip.

Not if you have a car with two-mode seat belts. i.e. Seat belts that work like normal belts for adults, but have a locking mode, usually engaged by pulling out all the webbing and letting it reel some of it back in. The webbing goes back in but you can’t pull anymore out.

With these type of seat belts it is unnecessary to use a locking clip, since the seat belt mechanism takes care of not allowing any webbing to be released, the basic purpose for the clip.

So, I think we are all set. I learned I don’t have to strap the seat into my truck with such force and we found an easy way to install and remove the seat from Sue’s car. Seeing as her car is so small we’ll end up putting the seat on the passenger side in the rear instead of the middle. That’ll allow Sue to sit with the baby when I drive. We can then easily move the seat to the middle if she drives alone. No need to leave the seat in the car indefinitely, which can cause damage to the seat in the car.