# OK to *not* tether a high-back booster?



## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

**We are in Canada**

DH's aunt has offered to take DS1 out sometimes, and we just want to check if his seat will be okay in her vehicle. He rides in a Graco Ultra CarGo booster (with the seatbelt, not the harness). She drives a 1998 Ford Explorer. I asked her to check her manual to see if there were top tether anchors and she said that the tether kit is an optional purchase, and is only available for the front passenger seat because the back seats fold down. She doesn't want to put the car seat in the front (I'd rather not either). She has airbags in the front but not in the back.

I don't have the manual handy for the car seat right now and the website where I usually look at the manual is down (argh). As far as I can see on the ICBC and BCAA websites the tether is only required for forward-facing harnessed seats, but not booster seats - is that correct? So she could drive DS1 but not DS2 who is in a forward-facing harnessed seat? We have them both tethered in our car.

And is that really true that you can't put tether anchors in the back seat? That seems kind of weird to me.

Thank you!!


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## Twinklefae (Dec 13, 2006)

I believe, but am not sure, that to use a seat as a booster, you MUST untether it. The top tether is required by law for all forward facing booster seats, but is not an option with the booster mode.

This is really a good time to look in your car seat manual, as it will tell you.


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Twinklefae* 
I believe, but am not sure, that to use a seat as a booster, you MUST untether it. The top tether is required by law for all forward facing booster seats, but is not an option with the booster mode.

This is really a good time to look in your car seat manual, as it will tell you.

OK the Graco website is back up so I checked the manual. It doesn't say though. It just says that if you want to use the tether, check the vehicle's manual for instructions. So that implies to me that it is optional... but this seat can also be used with a harness, so wouldn't the tether be required in that case?


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## 4Marmalade (May 4, 2004)

I have a Graco 5-point carseat/booster that we are currently using as just a booster seat. Under the section in the manual talking about using without the harness it says "If you want to use tether to hold seat in place, secure it now". I also asked at a car seat clinic and they agreed that it was OK to tether the seat to help hold it in place but it is not something that affects the safety of the seat. We had it tethered for a while in one vehicle but once we moved it to our van we do not have a tether available so it is not tethered. When it was used as a harnessed seat it was and needed to be tethered.


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

OK, so it sounds like we are fine then. I have to say that this is all a bit confusing though, and the manual certainly doesn't help! I can see why people get this wrong. Shouldn't the manual say that you *have* to tether the seat when it is harnessed? I mean, I knew that we did, but I'm sure that there are a lot of people who don't know that...

I don't really understand why the tether would be required when the seat is used with the harness but not when it's used as a booster. Just out of curiosity, is anyone able to explain the reason for that? It seems to me like it should be required for the booster as well, but there must be something that I am not understanding about it.

So if someone has a vehicle like that (can't put tethers in the back), and they have a child in a forward-facing harnessed seat, what do they do??


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

The seatbelt holds the carseat in place (and it's down pretty low, in that belt path), the harness straps hold the child. Nothing is really holding the top of the car seat. The top tether secures it and reduces head excursion.

In booster mode, the dynamics change completely. Instead of the seat being held by the belt and the child being held by the straps, now the seat is not secured but the child is being held in place by the seatbelt. The shoulder portion of the lap/shoulder belt holds the torso of the child in place, in turn holding the booster in place, and head excursion is greatly decreased. The top tether might help a tiny bit with that, but mainly it just holds the seat in place (and is very helpful in keeping the booster from tipping).


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## just_lily (Feb 29, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama2Xander* 
So if someone has a vehicle like that (can't put tethers in the back), and they have a child in a forward-facing harnessed seat, what do they do??

I know of a couple that had an older vehicle with no tether spots. They on occasionally drove their grandson around so they didn't tether it. They actually got pulled over and got a pretty hefty ticket, and had to have an anchor point installed after-market.

That was in Edmonton.


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## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

Quote:

I don't really understand why the tether would be required when the seat is used with the harness but not when it's used as a booster.
As a pp said it has to do with how the seat functions when using the harness & when using the booster

Quote:

So if someone has a vehicle like that (can't put tethers in the back), and they have a child in a forward-facing harnessed seat, what do they do??
they get tether anchors put in after market. Sometimes you need to search the vehicle though. in a 1998 ford it should have back anchors. We had a 1994 ford & it did, you had to pop things out of the trunk to get to them. It was a car but 4 years later the bigger vehicles should have had them. If they do they'll most likely be located on the floor under the seat, or under the seat themselves.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

All vehicles made since 1989 have a spot to install tether anchors


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *an_aurora* 
All vehicles made since 1989 have a spot to install tether anchors









I'm referring to the fact that she said the vehicle's manual said that tether anchors cannot be installed in the back, only in the front passenger seat. She said it is because the seats fold down. That is what I find strange. It does mean that she will not be able to drive DS2 around at all until he is in a seat-positioning booster, but it's not a huge problem.

Thanks for your earlier explanation, btw


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

I think I'm not explaining myself very well... blame the lack of sleep, lol

I understand that often tether anchors need to be installed after market. We had to have them installed in our car. I totally get that. What I was trying to ask is about the fact that her vehicle manual said tether anchors CANNOT be installed in the back because the back seats fold down. It said that the anchor kit is only available for the front passenger seat (which has an airbag). So if someone had that vehicle and had kids of their own, would they literally have no choice but to buy a different vehicle? There's no way around it, if you need to install a forward-facing, harnessed seat?


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Nope, she definitely can have anchors in the back seat


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

There are LOTS of cars where the back seats fold down. Including my Mazda which has top anchors standard from the factory. Also, that vehicle manual was written in 1998, lots of things have changed since then. I'd at least contact a trustworthy shop or dealership before assuming that it's impossible to install top anchors for rear seats.


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## sunnymw (Feb 28, 2007)

Maybe it would help if we knew what year/make/model her car is?


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnymw* 
Maybe it would help if we knew what year/make/model her car is?









1998 Ford Explorer

(I did put that in the first post







)


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## sunnymw (Feb 28, 2007)

(whoops, sorry, missed that!)


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