Annoying car seat problem

I just installed a car seat, using the rear-facing position,
and noticed that the full 45-degree recline is nullified
by the "slope" of the auto's seat. So the baby is stuck
in a car seat that is reclined only 20 degrees.

I have had to solve this problem by unreclining the seat
and perching the base against the vehicle seat back,
then tightening the vehicle belts. Only then do
I get a proper 45-degree angle. This doesn't seem
right. Why does this car seat demand a perfectly
level vehicle seat, and require me to jimmy-rig the
child seat, in order to work properly?

The car seat is Britax Roundabout, the auto a 95 Accord.

BTW, I tried calling the fire department and police
department here in Austin to try to get some
assistance, and unfortunately I just got passed
off from one person to another. The Safe Kids
coordinator never called back. Oh well!

Mark

"M. Tettnanger" wrote in message
om...
I just installed a car seat, using the rear-facing position,
and noticed that the full 45-degree recline is nullified
by the "slope" of the auto's seat. So the baby is stuck
in a car seat that is reclined only 20 degrees.

I have had to solve this problem by unreclining the seat
and perching the base against the vehicle seat back,
then tightening the vehicle belts. Only then do
I get a proper 45-degree angle. This doesn't seem
right. Why does this car seat demand a perfectly
level vehicle seat, and require me to jimmy-rig the
child seat, in order to work properly?

The car seat is Britax Roundabout, the auto a 95 Accord.

There are some carseats with adjustable bases that would compensate for the
slope of the auto's seat. Unfortunately, your carseat is not one of them.
You would need to roll up a towel tightly and place it under the base to
make it work. I never liked that solution myself. There is a wedge you
could buy to put under the base to level it out. I've seen it in a few baby
stores. They are pretty inexpensive.

M. Tettnanger wrote:ing the seat
and perching the base against the vehicle seat back,
then tightening the vehicle belts. Only then do
I get a proper 45-degree angle. This doesn't seem
right. Why does this car seat demand a perfectly
level vehicle seat, and require me to jimmy-rig the
child seat, in order to work properly?

THis is one of the frustrations of the whole car seat thing. It has to do
with the fact that every car has a slightly different angle seat/seat back.
When we bought a new car a few years ago (same model, different year) we
had to buy a new car seat because we could not get the car seat secure for
anything. Grrr.

Anyway, when I went to a carseat check back in Sept. that the local police
organized, they were using those swimming pool noodle things to get
carseats in at the right angle. They said those things work well because
they don't compress easily.

M. Tettnanger wrote:
I just installed a car seat, using the rear-facing position,
and noticed that the full 45-degree recline is nullified
by the "slope" of the auto's seat. So the baby is stuck
in a car seat that is reclined only 20 degrees.

I have had to solve this problem by unreclining the seat
and perching the base against the vehicle seat back,
then tightening the vehicle belts. Only then do
I get a proper 45-degree angle. This doesn't seem
right. Why does this car seat demand a perfectly
level vehicle seat, and require me to jimmy-rig the
child seat, in order to work properly?

The car seat is Britax Roundabout, the auto a 95 Accord.

BTW, I tried calling the fire department and police
department here in Austin to try to get some
assistance, and unfortunately I just got passed
off from one person to another. The Safe Kids
coordinator never called back. Oh well!

I have the same seat (2 of them actually) and the same problem. We have a
rolled up towel on the seat to lift the front end of the seat to allow the
45 degree angle. I've been told that the fire department installers use
cut up pool 'noodles' to do the same thing.

Manda

I hope you get your car seat problem fixed. I know they can be irritating,
as my DH tells me! Fortunately that's his job!

I do urge you to get the seat checked by a professional when you can find
one to do it. I think that is very important. I forget the statistic,
something like 75% of car seats are installed incorrectly? That is a pretty
big risk to take with our little ones!

Good luck!
Sue