[mommyto3girls]

Hi, we had an appointment set up with our local dealership to install tethers for us this coming Monday. (we have a 1995 Econoline Conversion Van)

Today we received a call saying the retrofit tethers were discontinued and could no longer be placed in our vehicle. Not just the free program, but that they could not order the parts or anything even if we paid.

I did see two threads on Carseatsaftey.org (or whatever the big car seat forum is) that people were told this last summer but then after lots of phone time were able to get the tethers installed.

I also have an e-mail in to Kelly Adams-Campos, when I called Ford Customer Service, they directed me to her and said she handles all car seat safety/tether questions, but she volunteers to do it outside of her regular job responsibilities so the response time may be long.

Could not find much "official" word on the program at all online.

 

[Ironica]

I thought they were legally required to do it for cars made after some date in the 1980s? But maybe not for your model vehicle (since it's primarily sold as a cargo van, right? And adding seats is an option?

 

[mommyto3girls]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironica I thought they were legally required to do it for cars made after some date in the 1980s? But maybe not for your model vehicle (since it's primarily sold as a cargo van, right? And adding seats is an option?

Ours is a conversion van though, super plush, captains chairs in the 2nd row, back bench seat power folds into a bed, etc. And the pdf. page i foudn from the LATCH Manual says that our model year has 5 tether spots that can be used.

Thanks thoguh

and the dealership said that they could not order retro fit tethers at all anymore. not just specific to our vehicle

 

[Yooper]

We just had a tether installed for free in our 1995 Sable 2-3 months ago. The dealership was very accommodating but it took them a few weeks to locate a tether for our vehicle. They explained that they do install them for free but only if there are still parts available for that vehicle. The older the vehicle, the more possibility that the parts would no longer exist. It is my experience that there is a lot of mis-info out there. We have had a few older cars and have been through this multiple times with different dealerships. Each time, it seems like we have had to explain what a tether is to someone, so apparently this is not common knowledge for dealerships. I would try a different dealer if possible.

 

[mommyto3girls]

I received a reply from Kelly Adams-Campos with ford. I am awaiting her premission to copy her e-mail to me here and to share the document from Ford with the info for the dealers to get reimbursed. They will install up to 3 tethers for free under the program.

We may be out of luck though because it does only apply to original seats. our back bench may be the original (in which case i will have them install 3 tethers in the back for us), but I am pretty sure the Captain's Chairs are not ford seats and were installed by the conversion company

 

[jocelyndale]

A bit over a year ago, I contacted our dealership about acquiring rear tethers for our 97 Crown Vic. Our manual indicated they could do this for free, but I knew that there might be a time limit on that. Anyhow, they no longer install them for free, nor give them away. I was able to order one of the last *two* kits available (in the US, I believe). I don't know if that was a kit just for the crown vic, just for sedans, or what.

I imagine that they're not required to retrofit forever.