It's time for our 2004 TL to get a baby seat. Our first is due in mid Jan so getting the autos ready. I've read thru some posts and bought the seat protector and might even put a towel under that just to be extra safe. The seat is a Graco Safe Seat and really like it. Plan to use the lap belt instead of the latches in the TL. Any other tips or tricks from current mom's and dad's on how they set up their TL's for baby...

 

Why are you not using the latches? I used the seat belt in my 99 Maxima and hated it, the shoulder belt kept retracting a little at a time and would pull the passenger side of the baby seat up and up. A real pain in the ass! Bought our TL in August, put the seat in using the latches and it never moves. Our son is now 8 months old and we just moved him into a convertible seat, a Britax Boulevard, these seats are super strong, super safe, and are of better quality than most others. If I knew then what I know now I would have returned our Graco infant seat for a Britax. Here is good site to check out and buy car seats. www.elitecarseats.com

 

I have an 11-month old daughter. When she was born, I did install a newborn car seat in my TL. The car seat came with a base, and I installed the base in the middle of the rear seat, attaching it to the two lower LATCH anchors. I put a folded towel under the car seat to protect the leather. This setup worked perfectly for me, and it was very easy to put the newborn carrier in and out of the middle seat, even with the baby sleeping in it. I kept the base permamently attached there for the first 7 months or so. By the time my daughter turned 7 months, she was too tall for the newborn car seat, so we got a Britax "convertable" seat for her (it can be set up to be either rear-facing, or front-facing). The Britax does not have a base (of course), but it has LATCH anchors, which I use all the time. The LATCH system feels a lot more secure than using the seat belt. My wife's car does not have LATCH, so we use the seat belt in her car. The LATCH is setup definitely easier and feels a lot sturdier. We used the Britax seat in rear-facing position from 7 months to 11 months, and just recently started to put it in the front-facing position (still in the rear seat, of course). Having a big seat such as Britax in rear-facing position in the back makes it very hard for someone to squeeze into the front seat, as the front passenger seat has to be moved practically all the way forward.

Just my 2 cents. I hope this helps. BTW, if your family's genes are not set up to produce a tall baby, getting something a bit smaller than the Britax may make more sense, so it depends on your particular situation. In my case, I had little choice, but I'm quite happy with the Britax, which is very solid and very easy to clean and to wash.

 

Just installed a base in my quad cab truck and it's solid using the lapbelt. I expect baby to ride around in it more than the TL due to the ease of getting the seat in and out of it. I will try out the latch system first on the TL based off your advice to see how it fits. I do also plan to have both vehicles inspected by local police/fire to insure I do have them set up the best way possible.

The Britax car seats are something I'm going to look at when I need to replace my current one. This particular Graco seat is a safe one, but granted some of the ones I've seen I would not put a baby in. Britax seems like all models are safe and well respected. I'll bookmark those links for future use for sure. Thanks for the tips...

 

A little "professional" advice from a firefighter....

USE THE LATCH SYSTEM!!!!

ok so here you go. The Latch system was designed to better hold the child seat in case of an accident. It true the lap belt or shoulder belt feels sturdy as I felt it did also. If you are in a "perfect" accident it should be fine, but if you get hit in the side the lap belt and shoulder belt will not keep the car seat where its supoosed to be. Granted the shoulder belt did it fine for years but its just not as good as the Latch system. I use towels under our carseats in both the Acura and our truck. I put them under and behind the child seat to protect the, it has an added benifit of raising the seat a bit so our son can see out better. I actually put my knee into the seat and push down on it while to ensure it is perfectly tight. I install seats for friends and family and anyone else that needs a little help. Please use all the safety precations built into the seat. If your car or the seat is not designed for it make the best of what you have, but if your equipped with safety precations why would you not use them?

By the way, one of the reasons I hear people not wanting to use the system is they feel it may make marks in their seats. My seats are important but my son is more important. Also to me the latch system is not much more time consuming to install and unistall although it does take a bit longer, definitely worth the 30 seconds....

 

Bro...use the LATCH system...please. As much as I fought it, I've got two seats in the back of my 06: a baby bucket w/ base and a regular seat for the 2-year-old. Besides the safety issue, which is a no-brainer, if you don't drive the kid most of the time, the LATCH system makes it much easier to move the base in and out of the car easily.

As for protecting the seats, I store the bucket base in the trunk most of the time since my wife does most of the kid-toting in her Accord. I also bought Prince Lionheart seat protectors for both seats, with black towels underneath and behind to level out the seats and further protect the leather. The base of the Prince Lionheart protector has a lip to catch any crumbs or spills—as if they're allowed to eat or drink in Daddy's car—and a flap that folds over the front of the seat to protect it from the backs of their sneakers. The back of it fits the bigger seats well, but you have to adjust it as you tighten the LATCH belts to make sure you have the seat fully protected.

One other thing: about every two months, I take both seats out of my car for at least a week to let the leather reform. Whether this actually helps or not is anyone's guess, but it makes me feel better.

Good luck with the baby!

 

Another big vote for LATCH. A lot of folks a lot smarter than I have designed this to be better than seat belts and have done the testing to prove it. I had a LATCH seat in my TL for the better part of a year. On removal, the seat cover retained the marks for a while, but they eventually eased out.

Also, take the effort to have a police inspection done. If you have the seat in right, you have the satisfaction of an expert approving your work.

 

get one of these when they turn into a cheerio muncher

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330052675677

 

I use a Graco seat base and infant carrier for my baby. It works nicely but my little guy is now seven months old and his feet are about to stick out of the end of the carrier....will have to look at that Britax.

Oh yes, one more vote for LATCH, it's a solid hookup rather than using a seat belt.

 

Thanks for all the great advice. I will hook up the baby seat with the latch system and will take a look at the Britax car seat for the next size up when the Graco is out grown.

 

To protect the leather, I would suggest using a left-over piece of house carpet - about the size of a normal carpet sample you see in a store. Put the finished side on the leather and the car seat on the rougher backing side. I found that this greatly reduced the dimples caused by the car seat. Our old Suburu Outback still has dimples from before I learned this trick and the Pilot we have has no dimples after using this trick. Perhaps the carpet and the lionking thing would give you lots of protection.

Best of luck! When the kids grow older, you may wind up hating Radio Disney (XM 115) and have even more fun issues with the features of the TL. I'm constantly battling the sneaker smudges all over the door seals? in my Parchment interior.

 

Yet another vote (I mean DEMAND) that you use the latch system. Once those latches are set-up correctly and are the proper tightness, there is really no comparison between them and typical shoulder harnesses; you'll soon find that out if you haven't already.

As far as seat protection, I went a little bit "high end" and got myself some Eddie Bauer protectors that work fantastically, as well as look good considering that they're for use with car seats. The exact model I got can be seen here: http://www.amazon.com/Eddie-Bauer-Ca.../dp/B000COW82C, and that is about the price I paid. It's nice because it's black, which matches my interior, and it also has these lips of fabric that extend down the front of the seat (so as to avoid shoes marking up the leather when your kids are toddler sized), as well up the seat back. All around, I couldn't be happier with this seat protector.

 

NEW testing is out you might want to read. LATCH system failing.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/b...7_seats_ov.htm

There are some problems with the LATCH. That there will be hearing next month on it.

 

I had to come up with a solution to protect my backseats from two child seats. I do not have exactly the same kind of seat you will be using because I have a 2 and 4 year old and these seats are different then ones used for newborns. Regardless, the same principle still applies to protect children and seats.

I looked around and couldn’t find any good products that are designed for this purpose and I didn’t just want to use a blanket and/or towels because child seats have hard sharp corners that cut into your interior. In my other car (wife’s Jeep Grand Cherokee), we did the simple blanket method and it isn’t that robust and doesn’t look that great either.

I originally bought two Prince Lionheart seat savers from Baby’s R Us because they looked the strongest and most aesthetically pleasing. Due to it having two pieces attached with Velcro and having a seat backing that doesn’t go up high enough, it did not provide the protection I was looking for.

Thinking out-of-the-box, I came up with what I consider a robust and elegant system for protecting the seats. I bought these faux-leather floor rugs that look exactly like leather and are very thick and stitched nicely. They blend in with the black leather interior pretty nicely. I have a single rug on each seat doubled-over because it was too large to use as is. This way the entire area around the child seats is covered.

With my two year old’s forward facing child seat, I am just using this rug scheme in combination with a seat belt and hooked the rear-harness to the hook that is behind the headrest. Oh yeah, I removed both rear seat headrests and put those in storage for a few years. The four year old’s seat is more of like a booster seat/bucket seat type setup and he is secured with a normal seatbelt over the shoulders. On this side, I have used both the leather floor rug on the bottom and the Prince Lionheart on top of that (the Prince Lionheart fit under the booster seat and not under the forward facing seat very well). When I have a chance I might take some pictures and post them. I was surprisingly happy with this setup. It actually looks great and is functional…

Oh one more thing, I bought these leather floor rugs at a store we have in Michigan called Big Lots (McFrugals is in the west) where they get overstocked miscellaneous stuff from other retailers and sell at bargain prices. I am pretty sure that the faux leather rugs I got where actually Bed Bath and Beyond or some other major brand. I think the normal retail on them was $40 / each and I think I paid $20 / each.

 

^ That sounds like a pretty elaborate setup, and something I'd try myself if I wasn't already happy with what I got. Did you see the Eddie Bauer seat protectors they have at Target (and I think they have them at some Babies R Us stores, too)? They're black and pretty slick-looking. I have a four year-old and four month-old, so I'm in a similar boat as you in that I have two different types of car seats. Of course, when the kids aren't in the car, the carseats (and the protectors) go in the trunk! :-)