# Help!!! sis thinks is "good" to use latch AND SEATBELT TOGETHER



## hipmummy (May 25, 2007)

Can someone please provide me with the info on why it is dangerous to install a Chicco Keyfit 30 base ( or any carseat for that matter with the latch and seatbelt together. She "claims" the police said it was "ok" which I highly doubt. I sent her a few links but she refuses to listen to someone with experience. Thanks in advance


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## Latte Mama (Aug 25, 2009)

It's not that it's "bad" , it's that it hasn't been tested that way in all the crash studies. So anyone doing that is basically using their child as a potential crash study "dummy" if you will. No one knows if using both is better or worse. Many police and firemen are not trained well in child safety seats so I would never listen to them unless I knew they had current training from Safe kids and it meshed with what I research online.


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## TiredX2 (Jan 7, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hipmummy* 
Can someone please provide me with the info on why it is dangerous to install a Chicco Keyfit 30 base ( or any carseat for that matter with the latch and seatbelt together. She "claims" the police said it was "ok" which I highly doubt. I sent her a few links but she refuses to listen to someone with experience. Thanks in advance

Well, it sounds like she is not going to listen. It also sounds like she didn't read the instruction manual which says at least 5 times that you can use it safely with latch OR seatbelt:

http://www.chiccousa.com/Files/pdf/p...ctions3_00.pdf

Good luck.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Yep, sounds like she went to some random police station. Most cops are not techs and however helpful they try to be, they can really cause problems (like in this instance). Tell her to read the manual, that should confirm to her that she can't use both.


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## blessedwithboys (Dec 8, 2004)

tell her to read the manual and to make sure if she takes advice from anyone, they are certified to be providing it.

i have a friend who has a super spendy britax and still keeps her 4.5yo ds harnessed yay! but one day after we rode around in my car for hours i happened to noticed she had installed it with both the seatbelt and LATCH. i told her she couldnt do that, but she argued with me that the lady in the snooty baby boutique where she bought the seat said it was ok, in fact extra safe and secure.

NTS, my car, my rules. i won that argument that day, but who knows what she does in her own car. hopefully she read her manual.


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## infraread (Jun 3, 2003)

So, why exactly is it bad to use both? Is it just because it hasn't been tested well, or does it affect the integrity of the seat?


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## chickabiddy (Jan 30, 2004)

It's bad to use it that way because we don't know what will happen. It's not difficult to imagine how it *could* affect the integrity of the seat: ride-down could be compromised or the forces from two different belts could change how the seat reacts in a crash. It may or may not happen, but you don't want your child being the test dummy for that particular scenario.


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## HappilyEvrAfter (Apr 1, 2009)

Wow. I'm perplexed as to why they wouldn't test it just to know....even if it's just show how badly it would effect a child IF it WOULD adversly effect a child.

Strange. They test all kinds of other things just to see what would happen....


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## chickabiddy (Jan 30, 2004)

Maybe they have and it failed. Again, we don't know, which is why we don't do it.


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## MaryJaneLouise (Jul 26, 2005)

I'm sure testing costs money, and most carseat companies don't want to spend money they don't have to.


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## HappilyEvrAfter (Apr 1, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *chickabiddy* 
Maybe they have and it failed. Again, we don't know, which is why we don't do it.

But wouldn't it make sense to publish that data somewhere to keep parents from actually doing it?
Not that I'd do it just because the data isn't out there, but...i dunno.

Just seems like, if they say NOT to do it then they know a reason why. Why not publish that data to further emphasize against it?

Otherwise, why not test it to see if it IS a better method? If they don't really know then test to see if it has a better impact.
Not that I think they believe it is a better alternative, but, again, why not publish WHY it's not a good alternative?

Just seems odd to me. That's all. The "WHY _don't_ we know?" is my issue.









Is it one of those, "We haven't had enough parents do it and kill their children to make a huge campaign against it" issue?
I'm not trying to stir anything up....again, just a strange thing to me.


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## flitters (Sep 18, 2003)

I am not sharing this link to endorse using the seat belt together with latch. However, there is some data suggesting it does not make much difference:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/s...report-923.htm

(oh, scroll almost all the way to the bottom for that info.)


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