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Has any MDX owner put a Britax Roundabout child seat into their MDX, in the rear-facing position (for infants)? Or a Fisher-Price Safe Embrace II seat?
If you have, did it fit well and without problems? Which seating position did you use? Did you use the Britax's rear tether? I would be very appreciative, thank you!
Our 5-month old is developing quite rapidly and he's almost outgrown the 29" height limitation on his infant seat (a Century Avanta SE, which we're happy with and have gotten to fit well, albeit with some slight rub on the back of the driver's seat when it's raised high enough). I'm very interested in the Britax but have heard complaints about setting it up rear-facing in some vehicles. I'll definitely buy it from a place that'll let me try it and return it.
By the way, an excellent web site that has information on which car seat fits well into your vehicle is at:
http://www.carseatdata.org
Unfortunately, there's little MDX data at the present time.
Thanks again! |
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| I had my youngest son's Britax carseat facing rearward in our 93 Grand Cherokee (soon to be replaced with a GG Tour Navi;))till last month when my son got big/heavier enough to face forward. The Britax doesn't allow you to recline it far enough in a rear facing position as it sits a bit too upright. That being said, we've had the seat since we took him home from the hospital and have had no problems. Face forward is great, and he seems to fall asleep a bit faster as the seat can be reclined much more in this position. Will be able to tell you mid next month when I get my MDX to put the seat in. |
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Thank you for the reply. Yes, I have read quite a few complaints about the Britax in the rear-facing position. The recline problem you describe is the biggest one, and is why I'm a bit concerned.
I guess I'll buy the seat from a dealer I can easily test it with, and/or return it, if it doesn't work out. That issue aside, it's still possibly the safest convertible seat on the market.
Thanks again. |
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I am currently using the Britax roundabout in the center position of our MDX. However, we are in the "forward" facing mode w/that one. I have one of those pullout Century things for our infant in the driver's side rear seat. Both positions work fine for their respective seats. Honestly, I do not know where you'd strap the tether in the rearfacing mode on the Britax, since there is no good anchor for the tether strap while rear facing (perhaps if you order a base model, the passenger side seat rail would work). Mine is a touring model and the power seats don't have much clearance to try and strap anything to them.
Overall, the MDX seatbelts take a bit of time to really anchor down the car seats. I like zero movement in my carseats (obviously), and it takes a lot of yanking and coaxing of the shoulder strap to fully retract to get a top notch fit. But after about 15 minutes of yanking, you can get it. Plus, you can actually get two seats next to each other in the 80 side of the 80/20 split rear seat, and still open the 20 to get to the third row. That to me, is the icing for my MDX, |
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I have the Britax Roundabout for my 11 month old (best car seat ever, from what I hear!). I am still searching for our MDX, but now am a bit concerned about how the Britax fits in it. Right now, it's in my Pathfinder. I did have the same problem with it not reclining back enough -- my son's head would slump forward when he fell asleep. The store recommended placing a rolled up towel underneath the front side, to get it into a better reclined position. This worked very well. We had to crank and pull the tether down to really get it so that the carseat wouldn't budge anywhere. He is still in the rear facing mode, and will probably stay this way until he gets too tall to fit comfortably. There's still a bit of legroom in between the backseat and the front of his carseat. Someone posted saying there isn't a good place to anchor the tether?? Yikes, what to do then?? I am looking for the touring model, so yeah, it wouldn't work for me to mount it to the passenger side seat rail either (which is how we mount it in the Pathfinder). Any other ideas?? It's good to know though that you can still get into the third row with two carseats in (don't need two carseats just yet, but gotta plan for the future!).
----
Still searching for a Black/Ebony Touring w/ Navi...
None (at MSRP and no forced accessories) in the Bay Area
Resorting to flying down to So. Cal |
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| It sounds to me that by the time your MDX arrives, your child will be 1 year old, the requisite aget to turn your seat forward facing. In those instances, the MDX is just fine w/the Roundabout. So, at this point, do not fret, you'll be fine! Needless to say, in the forward facing mode, there are 5 rear teather anchors! |
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... for your comments. We bought a Britax Roundabout this weekend and I'm going to try to install it this week. I want to call up Britax one last time and make sure their new version of the seat, the Britax Advantage, doesn't have something I absolutely need (I need the seat soon and unfortunately the Advantage is slow to work its way through the retail chain).
I'll post back my experience with installing the seat rear-facing. I went through the manual yesterday and fiddled with the seat and its tether. I'm pretty confident I can install the seat in the second row, rear-facing, and use use the rear tether to anchor it to the seat frame bar under the second row seat. The bar seems pretty strong and quite close to the seat. That should resolve the issue, as Roundabouts tend to really need the rear tether to use the rear-facing position properly.
One web site that I highly recommend is:
http://www.carseatdata.org
It has user input on installations of various model car seats into various vehicles in various orientations and seating positions. Unfortunately, there's only one entry in there for the MDX right now (by yours truly). |
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I installed the Britax Roundabout in our MDX this weekend, rear-facing. It took a bit of work, but the setup seems quite secure. I put it in the middle of the second row, which is probably the safest position (away from side impacts). And, in rear-facing mode, the center position is possibly the only position to install the seat rear-facing -- it actually sticks out a bit between the two front seats. Front-facing would have no problem, of course.
The first key to installation was putting some rolled-up towels underneath the front base of the seat (towards the seat cushion). The MDX's second row is at a bit of an angle so the Britax's seat back wouldn't be close to a 45-degree position. And, frankly, the Britax is a bit too upright for rear-facing infants, so some extra tilt is needed.
Using the ceiling-anchored lap/shoulder belt, I ran the belt through the rear-facing slots. Then after securing the belt, I pulled out all the slack in the belt and let the locking retractor pull it back in. Then a whole bunch of pulling to get the seat as tight as possible.
The second key was the use of extra rolled-up towel layers under the left-base of the child seat. Partly because of the pull of the shoulder belt, and partly because the MDX's center seating position is a bit off center (because of the 60-40 split), the padding needed to tilt the seat somewhat.
I used the Britax "VersaTether" to anchor the seat to the frame rod running just below the front of the second row seat. The hook's retaining clip found that rod to be too thick, so I used the (now included) D-ring connector strap to make the connection.
There is a bit of rub between the side of the child seat and the upper side of the driver's seat. This is because of the seat's sheer size and the fact that the seat is slightly off-center. It makes some noise when driving but we can deal with it (will use some vinyl cleaner on it ... I assume the side piece is vinyl?).
Nevertheless, we're quite happy with this setup, both the MDX and the Britax Roundabout. The latter was expensive for a carseat, but it has features that none of the competition has. Incidentally, Britax is releasing a new version of the Roundabout called "Advantage," which has infinitely adjustable harness and headrest positions (no threading). http://www.childseat.com is Britax's web site.
My thanks to those who have provided feedback. I'm sure I'll post another series of messages when we have to turn our son around into the forward-facing position! |
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Thanks for posting that install description -- we're about to get the Roundabout or maybe the Advantage (depending on the seat patterns my wife likes, of course). This will be most helpful.
A bit concerned about the contact w/the driver's seat. BTW, I believe the side IS vinyl. Maybe could put some sort of "rub strip" between the Britax and the driver's seat to avoid stretching/tearing? |
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The rub between the rear-facing seat and the driver's seat will depend on where the driver's seat is positioned. It can be alleviated somewhat by pushing the child seat over to the center, where there's some movement space. I think it'll tend to drift back, though.
The side of the Britax is also covered by its fabric, and that may help friction against the rubber. I suppose the idea of putting something akin to a "rub strip" would work. Maybe even putting a washcloth between the small contact area would be good enough.
I was hoping the Advantage would release sooner, as it seems to be a Roundabout with the simple addition of the infinitely adjustable harness and headrest. But despite the fact that the Britax site says it's "now shipping to retailers," every retailer I called say they're a ways away from having it, and our son has outgrown his infant seat so we couldn't wait any longer (before hitting six months; I'm hoping for a pro basketball player or baseball player ...).
The Roundabout is a great seat. There was some concern because of a recall, and Consumer Reports' test results with it. But after doing enough research, I think most every maker goes through recalls, and CR's testing wasn't very realistic. Its main drawback is its heady price ($199) but I think it's worth it. A lot of Internet sites will sell it with free shipping and no tax. Every once in a while Babies'R'Us (Toys'R'Us doesn't sell it, at least in this area) will come out with a 20% off coupon that applies even to the seat. |
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quote:
Originally posted by cr
Overall, the MDX seatbelts take a bit of time to really anchor down the car seats. I like zero movement in my carseats (obviously), and it takes a lot of yanking and coaxing of the shoulder strap to fully retract to get a top notch fit. But after about 15 minutes of yanking, you can get it. Plus, you can actually get two seats next to each other in the 80 side of the 80/20 split rear seat, and still open the 20 to get to the third row. That to me, is the icing for my MDX,
We have a Century child seat in the middle for our 2 year old and a Graco booster seat on the left of the 2nd row for our 4 year old. The right side can still fold forward for access to the 3rd row which I leave up as the foot wells hold grocery bags and such much better than the flat cargo floor with the 3rd row down. And there's plenty of room for an adult in the 2nd row even with 2 carseats. I had my wife (petite) sit on the child seats as I tightened the seatbelts with the metal clip that came with the child seats. There is absolutely no movement in the seats. In fact, I need to put my weight onto the seats to unlatch the seatbelt since it's so snug. The anchor goes over the seatback and clips into the D rings on the back of the 2nd row. I did notice that the 3rd row can't go up and down easily as it gets caught on the anchor over the back. One other problem is that my kids fight more as they sit so close to each other. In our other cars, the seats are next to the doors, so they can't reach each other. Well, I can always crank the Bose and drown out the noise back there! ;) |
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I posted earlier on how we also installed the Britax Roundabout rear facing. We did it the same way, using the frame rod running just below the front of the second row seat to tether it. We ran into the same problem where the ceiling-anchored lap/shoulder belt was pulling up the carseat on one side. We resolved this problem by using the metal clip (for non-locking seatbelts) that came with our infant carrier, to move the shoulder belt out of the way (right where the lock-offs are--basically, clipping the shoulder belt and lap belt together at that point). I guess using an extra towel on the left side would work nicely too, since there'll be that extra padding to protect the leather seat!
I looked at the Advantage on the Britax website... wish it came out earlier! We already invested $400 on our two Roundabouts. |
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You know, I hadn't thought about your solution to the pulling of the shoulder belt! So from what I'm reading, after both the lap and shoulder belt comes through the slot, and past the lockoff, you just clip the belts together with a locking clip, which basically makes it one belt, and thus some of the upward pull is counterbalanced by the downward pull of the lap belt?
I'd imagine some of the challenge is getting everything tight enough, but it sounds very doable.
This may be a better solution than using extra towels to raise one side of the base (I need towels anyway because of the seat angle). I guess it's back to the backseat this weekend to experiment!
Thanks again! |
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The "improved" version of the Roundabout now seems to be coming into the retail chain. BabyUniverse.com now seems to be selling it, at:
http://www.babyuniverse.com/pro.asp...id=178&secid=15
Seems like it's $30 above the Roundabout. As far as I can tell, its primary distinction is that it has a headrest (not the kind with padding on the sides of the head, though) that slides up and down along with the top of the harness when an adjustment knob is turned. So there's no slots to thread the harness through; the points are infinitely adjustable.
It would have been nice to "get the latest thing" but we were a few weeks just behind the availability. I'd spoken to one retailer who expressed frustration at Britax. Apparently the Advantage had been demo'ed to them almost two years ago but has been very slow to make its way into the U.S. market.
I think that people who haven't bought a Roundabout may as well pay the extra 15% to get the Advantage. However, if the only real upgrade is the adjustable harness, current Roundabout owners shouldn't sweat it. It's mainly a convenience feature and not as critical a safety feature, so long as you have the harness threaded the right way. That is, rear-facing, at or below the child's shoulders, and, when front facing, at or above the child's shoulders. |
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Wondering if anyone in the know has any knowledge whether it's OK to install the rear-facing Britax Advantage w/tether as shown in this gallery pic I posted.
Instead of attaching the tether to the bar under the seat, I pulled it all the way around, underneath, and used the anchorpoint on the rear of the MDX seat.
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| I think that anchorage is fine, so long as the hook is secured well and there are no third-row passengers who may kick at the strap. I suppose it becomes nit-picky when it comes to whether or not an extended strap is better than an extended strap plus the D-ring connector. Either way, I think that is a fine install. |
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Thanks, William. Did your strap reach that far? On the Advantage it reached without any extensions. We've never used the third seats, and the anchorage point is just a couple of inches from the bottom, and the straps are tight, so I don't think 3rd row passengers kicking it should be a problem.
"The Wife" is going to get it checked by a car seat tech this morning. I'll report back. Thanks again...
Update: Checked OK by the carseat tech. |
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Worm, great idea! I didn't even think of installing the tether that way. We have the Roundabout (front facing now), and the strap is really long... I'm sure it would reach with no problem either. Both methods (this way or using the frame rod) would be very secure.
quote:
Originally posted by wmquan
You know, I hadn't thought about your solution to the pulling of the shoulder belt! So from what I'm reading, after both the lap and shoulder belt comes through the slot, and past the lockoff, you just clip the belts together with a locking clip, which basically makes it one belt, and thus some of the upward pull is counterbalanced by the downward pull of the lap belt?
I'd imagine some of the challenge is getting everything tight enough, but it sounds very doable.
This may be a better solution than using extra towels to raise one side of the base (I need towels anyway because of the seat angle). I guess it's back to the backseat this weekend to experiment!
Thanks again!
Sorry wmquan, I guess I missed this post before... yes, clipping the belts together with the locking clip sort of counterbalances the upward/downward pull. Worked really well for us. Only needed to do this when the carseat was in the rearfacing postion. |
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Good idea - I can't believe that I didn't think of this. I had mine anchored to the bar underneath the second row. I just redid it and it works well.
Thanks!
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