Infant car seat for 99 Legacy Outback

[Manuel Freitas]

We're expecting our first born and just purchased a Graco SnugRide.
When I tried to install it the seatbelt buckles get in the way. When I
tighten it up, the buckles are just where the belt should wrap around
the top of the base and therefore, come loose very easily.

Before I go to the nearest police station looking for help I figured
I'd ask here if other Subaru owners have had the same problem. I did a
google search and did find a few old posts about this problem but no
real solutions.

Has anyone else had this problem? How did you solve this problem?
Also, I much rather have the infant seat in the middle because this is
our only vehicle - yes we live in America - and when grandma and
grandpa come to visit we need to fit 4 adults in the car.

- Manny.

 

[Bobby]

Our car seat fit fine into our 02 OBW when using the base without a problem.
That little carrier just clicked in and out with no problem when there was
only one little one to contend with. If your having a hard time, make sure
the seat it leveled properly. Most manufactures put some time of indicator
for you to check and see if it's adjusted properly. Our manufacturer
recommended that we use rolled up towels in order to get the correct
height/position. I don't see any reason why 2 rolled towels couldn't move
your buckle down a 1/4 inch.

Congrats on the little one! Having them in the middle is not only safer,
but lots easier. Wait until you have #2. Getting that carrier through the
doorframe with a base right there on a side seat isn't easy!

--

| We're expecting our first born and just purchased a Graco SnugRide.
| When I tried to install it the seatbelt buckles get in the way. When I
| tighten it up, the buckles are just where the belt should wrap around
| the top of the base and therefore, come loose very easily.
|
| Before I go to the nearest police station looking for help I figured
| I'd ask here if other Subaru owners have had the same problem. I did a
| google search and did find a few old posts about this problem but no
| real solutions.
|
| Has anyone else had this problem? How did you solve this problem?
| Also, I much rather have the infant seat in the middle because this is
| our only vehicle - yes we live in America - and when grandma and
| grandpa come to visit we need to fit 4 adults in the car.
|
| - Manny.

 

[jimuntch]

Some of the fire fighters that I work with install child safety seats as a
community service (like your police probably do too). They had to go to a
forty hour training class to get certified. One of the things that we
supply is a section of foam rubber, which is a piece of a swimming pool
"noodle", that we get at Walmart. Child safety seat installation is a lot
more complicated then when I had my two girls in seats, ten years or so ago!
Good luck...jim

 

[steve ball]

We're expecting our first born and just purchased a Graco SnugRide.
When I tried to install it the seatbelt buckles get in the way. When I
tighten it up, the buckles are just where the belt should wrap around
the top of the base and therefore, come loose very easily.

Before I go to the nearest police station looking for help I figured
I'd ask here if other Subaru owners have had the same problem. I did a
google search and did find a few old posts about this problem but no
real solutions.

Has anyone else had this problem? How did you solve this problem?
Also, I much rather have the infant seat in the middle because this is
our only vehicle - yes we live in America - and when grandma and
grandpa come to visit we need to fit 4 adults in the car.

- Manny.

We had a similar problem with a Graco infant seat in my wife's car. If
the seat belt buckle is on a web strap, and the strap is too long, you
can twist the buckle up to 3 times to move the buckle closer to the fold
in the seat. This moved the buckle to the side of the seat and worked for
us. We never could use the base unit, we had to use the seat belt
threaded through the infant seat directly.

The local children's hospital here in Seattle has infant seat checks one
a month. We went to one and it was very informative. That's where we
learned the twist technique.

The middle seat is the safest spot for the infant seat.

Steve

 

[Guest]

I had the same issue with my '98 Outback but installed it behind the
drivers seat. Hope some other posters can help you.

 

[lee]

I had the same issue with my '98 Outback but installed it behind the
drivers seat. Hope some other posters can help you.

Try twisting the belt a few times before you click it in -- that took care
of a similar problem I had in another car.

 

[Nicolas Dore]

Had a similar problem with my 2000 (last year without Latch attachments...
grr...) and the solution was to use a rolled-up pillow to lift the base
(i.e. the part closest to the back rest) of the seat so that the buckles
would not be up to the openings on the side of the seat. The pillow also
stabilizes the base.

Also, I installed the seat with the belt going only once in the seat going
from the roof to the buckle to the small buckle. Otherwise, using it as
indicated, the side where the belt was coming in for the bottom of it's "L"
would get lifted, which was annoying.

Just as a note, do your car's belts have the "lock-if-pulled-all-the-way"
feature? Very useful when setting the seat in...

Hope this helps.

Nicolas

 

[Brian Fox]

I may misunderstand the problem Manny, but I just tightened the belt
to the guessimated size without even considering the car seat. I then
muscled the seat into the center and buckled. IIRC, I climbed in the
car seat on one knee, flattened it into the seat, buckled the seat with
much foul language, then released the compressed seat. It took a few
trial and error attempts, but left the seat very stable.

The middle is supposedly the best spot for a kid.

BTW, it seems the entire car seat industry needs to be collectively
bonked on top of the head. The instruction manuals are horrible.
The booster seats are a joke (seem far more dangerous than nothing
at all), all of the flailing cables, belts, and latches are mind
numbing. LATCH is a good improvement. I'm baffled why it took
so many decades to figure THAT out.

ANYWAY, good luck and congratulations.

replace with "rohan" to reply.