Quote:
Originally Posted by YuicyYumboYack
Thanks for this info. I was never able to find a good explanation as to why I couldn't use them. I have a friend who insists on using the latches in the center even though I told him he shouldn't. Now I can go to him with more concrete evidence.
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What latches were designed for were people who had to frequently move car seats between two cars. While using seatbelt to anchor the chair/base is better, it takes deliberate effort to do so correctly. Many parents who have to move their child between cars frequently may start getting a little lax during re-installation of the seat, or worst, get lazy and don't use the car seat at all for that short trip. So latch was designed to make it easy to install and remove a car seat/base. Since it is mandatory in North America and the similar ISOFix in Europe, car makers made sure that the minimum load capacity was set low enough that they didn't have to do any excessive engineering / reinforcement for it. Seatbelts on the other hand, have been heavily regulated and a key part of safety for decades and cars are designed from the ground up with seatbelts in mind. Its why seatbelts can handle a 300lb adult passenger, but Latch can only handle 70lbs.
So even if you have a latch you can use, if you will not being moving your seat between cars, it is best to use a seatbelt to anchor it than the latch. Absolute safest thing to do is middle seat, seatbelt anchor. Though not the most convenient.