[200q20v] child seat

[linust at mindspring.com]

maxesales at home.com wrote:
> Listers,
>
>Has anyone had a problem of installing a child seat in a 200. Mine 
>is an Avant (should not make a difference) and the seat will not 
>stay securely strapped in. It moves from side to side. Any 
>suggestions ?

Thoughts:

1.  Put a knee (and much of your weight) into the seat (or detachable base, on some infant seats) as you cinch down the lap belt (center) or adjust the locking clip.  This should be the key.  Since this can really deform your seat, line your seat with a bath towel.  

2.  If you've got just 1 kid, use the center position--the lap-belt there locks (at least on the sedans--are the avants any different?) so you don't need to use a locking clip.  (Britax makes car seats with a built in locking clip for use with OEM 3-point lap-shoulder belts--very slick, and very easy to cinch the car seat into place).  Obviously, this doesn't work well when you get to 2 kids (and you need to keep them apart abit)

3.  As several have noted, make sure the angle is right.  just beware that the rolled up towel, if not tight enough, gives the seat even more room to wiggle.

4.  I believe all new car seats are now available (required?) with a tether strap--that helps control forward motion of the upper portion of the seat, and to a lesser extent, the side to side motion.  That does, though require special anchor points in the car, standard on new cars, but requires retrofitting on our older cars (but doesn't the Avant already have tether anchor points in the floor?)

5.  If you still can't get it to work, take the seat back (or junk it) and get a different one.  We've successfully used an Evenflo infant carrier (with and without base), a Century 1500 (reversible infant to toddler seat from about 3 yrs ago, still in use today for #2) and the Britax Freeway (forward facing toddler seat only, about 2 yrs old and our favorite, but also $$$.  Britax also makes a reversible version of this called the Roundabout so it can be used for infants--no I don't work for these folks, just like the product).  

--Linus