Is it the carseat or is it the installer?

Question

We bought a car seat and went out to install the base in our car. our cars are 7 and 9 years old and dont have a latch system in the seats. so we installed the seatbelt across the base as the directions stated and that went well. our question is, is the side of the base facing the driver's seat suppose to move/go up and down? what i mean is i can grab it and lift it off the seat although the side buckled down does stay secure. is this normal for all car seats?

Answer 1

I do not think it should move that much but your local fire department will be more than happy to show you how to install it correctly for safety reasons

Answer 2

All car seats will move a little.  It may no be tight enough.  Put your knee on the base to add wieght and compress the seat padding, and then cinch the belt down.  Its only being held in by the back, so there will be a little up and down movement.  As long as the belt is nice and tight your fine.  The weight of the kids and the seat will keep it in place.

Answer 3

Get the seat belt as tight as you can, then unbuckle it. Holding onto the seat belt tightly, let it retract 1/2" to 1" and rebuckle.

Use the car seat for leverage. Lay across the seat and rotate your weight toward the buckle as you insert the latchplate into the buckle.

If the latchplate (male end) is at an odd angle as it goes into the car seat belt path, it is acceptable to twist the seat belt buckle (female end) up to 3 complete turns. With each twist, however, you are losing strength and integrity in the seat belt, so it is recommended to twist just until you can get the latchplate to lie flat.

If your lap-only belt won't stay tight, you can flip the latchplate upside down and then buckle it.

Grasp the seat belt as close to the latchplate as you can to pull it tight.

Put one hand on the edge of the car seat closest to the buckle. With the other hand, grasp the seat belt as close to the latchplate as you comfortably can and pull tight.