On January 27th, the Ansari family received two Britax Regents from the foundation for their children. Many thanks to Maria Sheridan, CPS Technician for her time, expertise and extensive travel in assisting with this installation.
Ms. Sheridan, CPS Tech, talks about the experience:
"I wanted to let you know that I delivered and installed the two Regents for the Ansari family today. Before installing the new seats, I checked the seats for the other two children, including DOM, recalls, and installations. One seat is an Apex 65 for the 4-yr-old and a Radian 80 for the 8-month-old. The Apex was loose so I tightened it and showed the mother how to do so. The Radian 80 is rear-facing and was installed well. However, it was not tethered because the family did not know what to use for a tether anchor point in the vehicle. I told them that they could use the bolt that the Stow-n-Go 2nd-row vehicle seat attaches to, but they could not locate the d-ring while I was there. The mom assured me that she would get one.
Because there is only one tether spot in the 3rd row and it is in the center, I was going to explain to the family that the only way to fit two Regents in their 2005 Town and Country was for the Regents to go in the 2nd-row captains chairs and the other two seats (that don't require tethers) to go in the 3rd row. However, the mother said that she had already spoken to you about the tether issue and consequently moved the other two seats - the Apex and Radian - to the 3rd row before I arrived.
The Regents installed just fine in the 2nd row. I installed the first one and had the mother install the second one. Their minivan has light-weight locking latchplates, and the belts would not keep the seats tight. To help with this issue, we put one twist on the male buckle and this really seemed to fix the problem. Both seats are tethered. The only issue we encountered was the rear-facing Radian behind the Regent on the driver's side. Because the seat shell of the Radian is so tall, it touches the back of the Regent. Once the Radian is tethered, the seat shell will be pulled down towards the floor more and not push on the Regent. I checked the vehicle manual and the only mention it had of vehicle seat positions was that when using LATCH, the third-row seat had to be all the way back. So we moved the captains seat up on the track but still had the issue of the Radian bumping the Regent. But I really think the issue will be helped once the Radian is tethered.
I took some pictures that you're welcome to use if it's okay with the family. I've uploaded them to the following website and you can just download the full-size pictures that you want:
Let me know if you have any questions. And if I can assist you again in the future, please let me know.
Keep up the good work,
Maria Sheridan"
Mrs. Ansari talks about the experince:
"I was writing to let you know that Maria came on Saturday and even though it was freezing out, she was able to install the 2 Regents for my oldest 2 daughters. She also made sure I could do it myself properly. They were installed in our captain's chairs using the short belt path method with the seat belt and also tethered. She also made sure that my other 2 children's seats were properly installed.
My daughters are loving their new seats and I now have the peace of mind that all 4 of my children are safe in their seats. If not for the foundation, we wouldn't have been able to afford them and the girls would still be riding around in their booster seats. I am grateful to the foundation and Maria Sheridan for helping my family."
