# Child car seat problems in Quest 04



## richards1052 (Nov 17, 2004)

Anyone own a Quest? I just bought one today because I'm expecting twins. I just tried to install the child car seat in the 2nd row bucket seats & it just won't tighten. I looked & noticed that all or part of the problem is that the base of the child seat has a flat contour, while the bucket seat has a rounded contour towards the back. That leaves a gap that prevents the child seat & the bucket seat from comng into tight contact, which prevents the belt from tightening.

Can anyone who's succeeded in installing child car seats that work properly in this vehicle tell me what the secret is? I've tried this with both an old model car seat & one that's about 3-4 yrs. old & neither will work.

Could there be some tether strap or some such that will tighten the fit so the seat won't wriggle?


----------



## Binger (Aug 29, 2002)

I'm not sure but you may want to check with your sales man/parts dept at the dealership. They may know whats up.


----------



## richards1052 (Nov 17, 2004)

Binger said:


> I'm not sure but you may want to check with your sales man/parts dept at the dealership. They may know whats up.


Hey, I already did that (don't you think that'd be the first thing I'd do?). They still haven't gotten back to me.

I just don't understand why a Nissan dealership selling mini vans doesn't know everything there is to know about child safety seats. Why do they think people buy these mini vans--because they're so sporty (actually they sort of are...)? Anyway, the dealer doesn't yet appear to have an answer which is why I hoped a quest owner here could enlighten me.


----------



## jezzagroove (Nov 8, 2004)

I have a 10 month old daughter and have installed her car seat in the passenger-side second row bucket seat. Are you using the LATCH system to install your seat? I found using those brackets made the installation go extremely smooth. Our seats are the leather ones, so I used a grip surface like you'd use to line a cabinet or drawer to keep the carseat from damaging the surface. The angle of the carseat is adjustable (it's a rear or front facing adjustment) and my daughter seems very comfortable when it's nice and secure. The seat I installed was the Britax Marathon


----------



## Gimp (Jun 9, 2002)

richards1052 said:


> I just don't understand why a Nissan dealership selling mini vans doesn't know everything there is to know about child safety seats. Why do they think people buy these mini vans--because they're so sporty (actually they sort of are...)?


Don't mean to be a dick, but that's not their job. Their job is to SELL you the car.

Take your car seat and Van to youre local Police Station or Fire Dept. They should have someone on staff there that can make sure it's installed properly. Although, I'd call first.


----------



## richards1052 (Nov 17, 2004)

jezzagroove said:


> I have a 10 month old daughter and have installed her car seat in the passenger-side second row bucket seat. Are you using the LATCH system to install your seat? I found using those brackets made the installation go extremely smooth. Our seats are the leather ones, so I used a grip surface like you'd use to line a cabinet or drawer to keep the carseat from damaging the surface. The angle of the carseat is adjustable (it's a rear or front facing adjustment) and my daughter seems very comfortable when it's nice and secure. The seat I installed was the Britax Marathon


Thanks for the tip. I took the (also Britax) car seat along with one of two infant seats we'll be installing soon when our twins arrive--to the Nissan dealer. A guy from the service dept. helped me figure out how to use a latch or tether (not sure what's the right term) for the child seat which attaches a strap from the child seat onto a metal latch at the back of the mini van's bucket seat.

We also attached the (Evenflo) infant seat using a double latch attaching to the back of the other bucket seat. That attached pretty snugly too & we did it just the way the infant seat instructions say. But I'm concerned that this system only anchors one side of the infant seat to the car leaving the other side completely untethered or unanchored. Not sure if the baby's weight will hold this portion down once it's snugly inside it. I'll probably call Evenflo just to make sure I'm right.

To the fellow who said of the dealer: "that's not their job"...man, I couldn't disagree with you more. Parents are buying these mini vans to haul infants & children. You can be damn sure that the dealer should know how to secure these passengers safely. In fact, the Quest contains metal anchors that anchor a car seat to the mini van seat itself. Since this is hardware they install on their own cars, that's another reason they should know how to do this.

And the proof is in the pudding in that a service rep actually helped me figure all this out. Though I have to say that neither the manager nor the sales rep who sold me the car had much of a clue about any of this. I was the one who had to suss out who could help me.


----------



## Blank (Aug 21, 2003)

the metal anchors are on all new cars sold in the us i believe, starting in 03, 04, i sold cars, quests are about 1-3% of a dealers volume, i had no idea and still don't know how to install any car seat... remember there are about 7000 different brands out there, each one is different...


----------



## Binger (Aug 29, 2002)

richards1052 said:


> Hey, I already did that (don't you think that'd be the first thing I'd do?).


Well you didn't say that you did so thats why I sugested it.


----------



## richards1052 (Nov 17, 2004)

37 stickies said:


> the metal anchors are on all new cars sold in the us i believe, starting in 03, 04, i sold cars, quests are about 1-3% of a dealers volume, i had no idea and still don't know how to install any car seat... remember there are about 7000 different brands out there, each one is different...


I have had three different car seat brands in various cars I've owned. I don't know how many brands or models are out there (you've exagerrated wildly perhaps for effect), but the principles of how they operate are remarkably similar, at least in my experience.

If you were a Nissan salesperson selling a Quest to a parent who told you they planned to install a child & two infant car seats in it & you couldn't tell them how to anchor their car seat to a vehicle you sell, then I don't think you'd be doing a very good job for your customer or the dealer. If a sales dept. rep could tell me how to do it why shouldn't a sales person? If you want to sell cars to parents with young families you should know something about this. I'm not saying you should be the world's expert, just that you should know basic principles.


----------



## Blank (Aug 21, 2003)

umm would you like a salesman with basic principalsto install your seat for you? shouldn't you as a consumer and buyer of the car seat be damn sure you know exactly how to install it? if it were the safety of my kids, you bet your all id know how to install it. possibly the service rep had experience with that brand of seat, or possibly he had no idae what he was doing and now your kids are riding around in an unsafe setup... i dont know how to intall remote starts in cars either, and a bunch of people put those in them, salesman (and women) know the product the ya re selling, and usually the comeditors, thats it, you cant expect them to be experts on everything knowledgeable... like it was said above, go to a local police/fire staiton, they will tell you if the seat is installed correctly. Ans ive seen almost every brand of safty seat(i detail cars) they attach in a wide variety of ways.


----------



## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Well,
I wouldn't go in the showroom, nor talk to a salesman. I'd talk to a service tech, particularly one with kids, since he'd know even if he isn't a Quest expert.

Seth


----------



## richards1052 (Nov 17, 2004)

sethwas said:


> Well,
> I wouldn't go in the showroom, nor talk to a salesman. I'd talk to a service tech, particularly one with kids, since he'd know even if he isn't a Quest expert.
> 
> Seth


You're right. It was the service tech who finally got the car seat installed properly. The salesfolk hadn't a clue.

I do have a new beef with the folks who designed the Quest. They installed only one set of car seat anchors in the back row of the car. If you have 3 children that means you have to place one in the back row & 1 child in ea. of the bucket seats. For a family w. 3 children it's much more useful to have 2 children in the back row & 1 in the middle. Makes it much easier to move around the car & tend to the kids. But with only a single anchor in the back seat you can't do that (unless of course you use the lap belts, but I tried them & my infant car seats wobble like crazy when I connect them via the lap/shoulder harness).


----------



## MaxQuest (Sep 11, 2004)

richards1052 said:


> You're right. It was the service tech who finally got the car seat installed properly. The salesfolk hadn't a clue.
> 
> I do have a new beef with the folks who designed the Quest. They installed only one set of car seat anchors in the back row of the car. If you have 3 children that means you have to place one in the back row & 1 child in ea. of the bucket seats. For a family w. 3 children it's much more useful to have 2 children in the back row & 1 in the middle. Makes it much easier to move around the car & tend to the kids. But with only a single anchor in the back seat you can't do that (unless of course you use the lap belts, but I tried them & my infant car seats wobble like crazy when I connect them via the lap/shoulder harness).


I put a seat in the back on the driver's side. This car seat ony has one teather strap. I ran it over the back to the one anchor in the middle that you are talking about. Then I used the lap belt to hold the seat in place. The seat belts lock if you pull them all the way out and then tighten the belt. The belt will not loosen until it has been full retracted.

I have an infant seat in the second row. This seat has two straps, which is great, because there are two anchors on the second row seats. I also use the lap belt on that one. I put one of the swimming noddles to keep it from sliding around. 

Another hint is to use your weight to get the belts as tight as possible.

If you can not install it correctly, then you should stop by you local Police dept. They should be able to help you.


----------



## racingfury (Oct 7, 2004)

shouldn't you know how to put in your own child seats?


----------



## richards1052 (Nov 17, 2004)

racingfury said:


> shouldn't you know how to put in your own child seats?


I just bought these & never installed them before. I've also never installed car seats in a car using an anchor system. The new seat uses a different locking/securing mechanism than the one I have that's older. Why would you presume that I'd know how to install car seats which I've never had any experience with?


----------



## racingfury (Oct 7, 2004)

richards1052 said:


> I just bought these & never installed them before. I've also never installed car seats in a car using an anchor system. The new seat uses a different locking/securing mechanism than the one I have that's older. Why would you presume that I'd know how to install car seats which I've never had any experience with?



why would you presume that a salesman would??? you insist he should know cause he sells them, but shouldn't you know because, oh I don't know, your the one with the kids???


----------



## Gimp (Jun 9, 2002)

racingfury said:


> why would you presume that a salesman would??? you insist he should know cause he sells them, but shouldn't you know because, oh I don't know, your the one with the kids???


This thread is really going downhill, fast. Enough of the back and forth bitching and moaning. Thread closed.


----------

