I have a Britax roundabout and an '89 oldsmobile cutlas. We've just turned the carseat back to RFing and I'm having difficulty installing it. I've had no luck finding help through the local police dept, but that's another thread I guess.

Anyway my questions are as follows;

when you have your convertable seat installed using just the lap belt (no latch available), should you be able to push the seat all the way toward the back creating a "baby sandwich" between the carseat and back seat? It seems that the tighter I install it the easier it is for this to happen. This is prevented if I use a rolled up towel wedge as suggested by the manual, but then the angle of the seat is far greater than 45 degrees.

also, I am completely baffled by the height requirements for RFing...

the manual says she is too tall once the tops of her ears are even with the top of the seat.

in the FAQ section ofthe Britax website it says "however, the child is too tall when the top of the head is even with the top of the shell."

the CPSafety page it says she's too tall if "The top of the child's head is less than one inch from the top of the hard plastic shell of the seat."

which is it?

Thanks much in advance for responding to yet another carseat question! :duck:

You can tether Britax seats RF to prevent the baby sandwich. The 45 degree angle is the absolute max for RF, and is only necessary with a newborn. If your child is older, the seat can be sitting up straighter. Definitely don't let it get past 45 degrees. As for the height requirements, I would go with what the manual says. HTH!

You can tether Britax seats RF to prevent the baby sandwich.


If your child is older, the seat can be sitting up straighter.

What would I tether it to in an older vehicle? Nothing is mentioned in the vehicles manual about carseats or tethers.

I still have to have the seat in the recline position for RF though right?

Check your manual, but I'm pretty sure you can RF on any of the recline settings. DD is RF at 19 months, and her Marathon is at the 2nd (middle) recline setting, without a towel.

As far as tethering, you can tether RF to any part of the vehicle that is immobile and bolted down. I have DD's seat tethered to the seat track of the passenger seat. Just make sure the part you tether to does not move when the front seat is adjusted.

There are only two settings for recline on the roundabout. The manual says that it should be in the recline position for RF...but that has her almost laying down....not a happy position for a toddler! Which one overrides the other: the position of the seat or the actual angle of the seat?

thanks!

http://www.seatchecker.org/rftether.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/isakswings/ratetherrf.html

Here are two tether pages.