Avoiding Leather Seat Damage w/ car seat

Todd Burch said:

I'll have a car sear in the back of my S (two in a few months...yikes!) and I tend to cinch the seat to the car so it's nice and secure. This puts pressure on the seat and would probably either damage or permanently stretch the leather seats as the base of the car seat presses into the leather.

I'm planning on putting something under the base to distribute the load and eliminate potential for any damage.

My latest thought is to wrap a square of thin plywood in a towel and place it under the car seat base. Does anyone have any better ideas?

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In my wife's car - X5 - we used a car seat protector http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Lionheart-Stage-Seatsaver-Black/dp/B000083GHY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1356242856&sr=8-4&keywords=Car+seat+protector and after a year u can't tell the car seat has even been there - just removed the seat last week so I know for sure. I like this one because you can set the back to a different height to ensure the top of the seat doesn't hit the back and ruin that portion of the leather

I have seat protectors under both kids seats in my SUV. Not only does it prevent the car seats making permanent marks in the leather, but also collects lots of sticky things that would have damaged the leather. Kids=everything gets sticky.

Didn't know this existed, thanks! Got a half year to find something like that here before my MS will be delivered

@todd - thx. fixed the link (i think)

Nice!
Our Saab has these marks from the kids' seats - i am getting a couple of these right now!


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Tapatalkin' from iTalatut.

I have one of these as well. Got it when we had our first child. I stopped using it after a month or so.

We went to a 'family fair' at a hospital on our area. They had lots of things related to safety, including the fire department checking on car seat installs. So we volunteered have ours checked out. I was happy to do so since I think I did a great job of cinching ours in.

One of the firemen checked it out and saw we had the protector. He cautioned me that those really decrease the effectiveness of the car seat. He said that no matter how tight you cinch the seat in, in a collision, they tend to allow the seat to slide. Now I can't say for sure how true that is, but he seemed to have a hint of gravity in his voice about it. (He also cautioned against other accessories like the mirrors on headrest so you can see the baby in a rear facing car seat. Since those can become projectiles in a collision also.)

What he did recommend, and what I do now, is to use is shelf liner paper (e.g. Contact paper) like the one in this link: Amazon.com: Duck 1100731 Non-Adhesive Select Easy Shelf Liner, Jumbo Roll, 12-Inch Wide, 20-Square-Feet, Taupe: Kitchen Dining

He offered that it won't do quite the same level of leather protection as the protector would, but that it would help soften the sharp edges of the car seat's base. I had some at home and tried it. And I can tell you it really is much stickier. As good a job as I did with the protector, it still could be moved if I really used force. But with the shelf liner under it, it really didn't move.

Now this also won't do the job of 'catching sticky stuff' and it won't distribute the wait like the protector would. But I've been using the shelf liner under my car seat since as it does seem safer with a bit of protection.

I guess you could try putting a sheet of shelf liner under/over the protector, that might add some stickiness. I never thought of that til just now.

Anyways, I just wanted to share my comments on the protector and what I do in my car as an alternative.

I've used a two part protector but I've found this one piece is bigger and works better:
www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=538157

Todd Burch said:

Not denying your story at all, but I don't believe that fireman for a minute. I pride myself on having a very good understanding of physics...and if using the LATCH belts (or frankly even a regular seat belt) to hold the car seat, that sounds like complete balogna (or baloney, depending on your persuasion). The seat belt takes the force in an impact. Anyone relying on friction between the car seat base and the seat itself to help slow the car even a smidge in a collision is asking for trouble .

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He was clear that you still need to strap it in as tightly as possible, not relying on friction only. His point was as tight as possible with protector was less effective than as tight as possible with the shelf liner.

The diono car seat protector is a good option.

Amazon

Been using them in our cars and they dont block the buckles or the latch system.

Todd Burch said:

If the latch belts are properly cinched--and there's some pressure against the seats, it's not going to slide side-to-side even if mounted on a platter of butter! (Mmm, there's a tasty idea...). But these are made of foam it looks, so they aren't that slippery.

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a baby on a platter of butter? your name wouldn't be Donner would it? Oh, baby SEAT...

Uploaded some pics I snapped this afternoon into a SkyDrive gallery here for those who are curious to see these three items used in a Model S:

• Diono RadianRXT Convertible Car Seat
• Diono Radian Angle Adjuster
• Diono Grip It Car Seat Gripper

gmontem said:

Uploaded some pics I snapped this afternoon into a SkyDrive gallery here for those who are curious to see these three items used in a Model S:

• Diono RadianRXT Convertible Car Seat
• Diono Radian Angle Adjuster
• Diono Grip It Car Seat Gripper

Click to expand...

thanks for the pics. i currently have a britax roundabout and a graco snugride for the new one but was looking at getting the diono since i heard it's usable as a booster and won't need another seat ever. also like that it has a cupholder since the s doesn't have any rear cupholders.