Installing car seat in rental minivan, Help!

[cheerful chickadee]

We're going to WDW next month and have rented a minivan through Alamo (Dodge Caravan). We're bringing DD's Cosco Scenara car seat with us, problem is...we drive a sedan at home and have no experience installing a car seat in a minivan. Do the seats in a minivan have the Latch system? In our car we can only use Latch on the left/right seats, not in the middle seat so we use the center seat with a seat belt installation as the center seat is the safest/most reccomended. Minivans basically only have 2 side seats so I'm assuming we can just use the latch system with an anchor/tether on the top or bottom? Installing using the seat belt isn't a problem, that's how we would do it in our car at home but the Latch is way easier. Is there an anchor either under the seat or behind the seat for a tether?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Our Chrysler has 2 bucket seats, both with Latch and the bench behind them has one Latch set.

Installing the seats in a mini-van is so much easier than in a car because you can get in and stand in front of the seat.

 

[all4fun]

If your dd is rear facing then you would not tether her Scenera car seat. The Tether is the strap at the top of the seat. It is highly recommended to tether a fwd facing seat though, whether installed w/the lower latch anchors or a seat belt. From her pic, she looks like she is little enough to still be r/fing, so I just wanted to clarify that.

This site has some great tips on car seat installation:
http://www.carseatsite.com/installing_your_car_seat.htm
There are "additional links" on the right that include installation videos that you may find helpful as well.

Basically, installing in a mini van shouldn't be much different than in a sedan, but probably a little easier since it's bigger and there is more room to move around. I always found installing ds' seats in my parents Honda Ody much easier than my mid-size suv.

With a fwd facing install in a captains chair, you can also use the trick I have used on plane seats: recline the vehicle seat a little bit, and then buckle/seat belt OR LATCH the car seat in, tighten as much as possible, then put the vehicle seat upright. Make sure the vehicle seat isn't reclined more than two "clicks" or notches. Any more than that probably isn't safe.

hth

 

[DISdreamin']

We own a Honda Ody and every time I have to install a carseat in a sedan/SUV/whatever from the dealership when our car goes in for work, I find it much more difficult than in our minivan. I think you'll find that it is really simple - maybe even easier than you are used to.

 

[laughinplace199]

We use a Cosco Scenera for DS2's travel car seat and we always rent a minivan. I have to say that I find it a bit tricky to install the Scenera RF in the minivan or in any other car, but maybe it's just me.

 

[cheerful chickadee]

thank you for all the replies. My DD is FF now so we do use the top tether. Does a minivan have a tether anchor on the back of the seat or on the floor? We bought the scenara as our travel seat also (we use a Britax Marathon at home) and we've just started playing around with it so we have some knowledge of how to install it when we use it for our trip. Is the scenara tricky to install in general?

 

[all4fun]

It may depend on the vehicle. The problem I've found with rental cars is that they often do not come with vehicle manuals you can refer to, but maybe the rental car office will have one on hand if you can't find a tether anchor. Do you know what make/models of minivans they typically rent out? Maybe someone here has one and can tell you where the anchors are located.

Most people just find installing a scenera rear facing a little tricky. You have to use a pool noodle or rolled towel to get the correct recline angle when rear facing this seat. But forward facing, I always found it to be fairly straightforward and simple, even when using the seat belt. If you're installing fwd facing using Latch, make sure to move the Latch straps to the fwd facing belt path.

hth

 

[zoemurr]

has the tether anchor at the back of the seat. HTH

 

[gtc2103]

My Grand-Caravan has the tether on the back of the seat also.

 

[cheerful chickadee]

thank you thank you! The alamo reservation says Dodge Caravan so I'm assuming (and hoping) that's what we'll get. You all have been such a big help.