Saturday, November 7, 2009

Get With It GM

About a week ago I decided it was time to purchase Lillie's new car seat to replace her infant carrier. I don't take her out in that thing much anymore, and when I do I nearly give myself a hernia...so it was time. Now, being that I hate switching car seats back and forth I have a car seat for each car. So I needed to buy 2 car seats, and instead of buying 2 new ones for Lillie. I decided to buy the kids new car seats for my car, and put the old ones in my husband's pick-up. I set my sights on the Britax Marathon, because it has such good ratings for both safety and user friendly features. My sister assured me that they take only minutes to install. "How wonderful would that be?" I thought to myself.



So yesterday afternoon I set out to install those puppies in my car. All excited that this should only take a few minutes, and my children would be forever safe and secure. I put my daughters in, rear-facing on the passengers side, and moved around to the driver's side to put in my son's. Little did I know that the people that design car LATCH systems like to play "Russian Roulette" with the placement of the anchors. They put anchors in the passenger's side, and the center, but not in the driver's side. Why? Why not just put them in every seat to give people flexibility? My Toyota had them in every seat, AND it had removable headrests, another awesome feature for car seat installation.

I just sat there considering my options. I could either A) put my kids right next to each other, but I couldn't even consider that one without breaking out into maniacal laughter. I mean really? Put my kids in poking distance of each other? I'd never have a peaceful drive again! B) put my son in the 3rd row, but then I would have to climb back there to buckle him in, give him snacks on long drives, wipe his nose, etc. And finally, C) install the car seat with the lap/shoulder belt, which makes you feel like you love one kid less. Guess which one I picked?

You got it GM! I chose to love my 3 year old, first-born son, less than his baby sister. I hope you're happy with yourself. It's totally understandable. I mean those little metal loops probably cost an arm and a leg. Oh, and then you'd have to hire someone to install the extra set, so that's an annual salary of $80,000, which would raise the price of the Denali to $100,000. Ya, you're right, we don't need those loops. It's better if my son flies out of the car, because he only has a flimsy lap belt holding him in.

We cool GM! You gotz the justifikashun heer.

4 comments:

Amanda said...

My car has one on each side but not in the middle. WTF. If we ever have an extra person with us I guess they just have to ride on the roof. I HATE IT!!

Grandma said...

IDK about the Latch System, but trying to get sweet little LillieAnna buckled into that contraption was quite the challenge for GrandMom. I do physical work, so I am no wimp, muscle-wise, but snapping that thingy into the what'sit was about all I could do... bringing back memories of when Aunt Spike (aka Pokie) was a baby and the car caught on fire and there was GreatGrandMom trying to get the baby out of the car.... "Get out of my way!!!" Also, I was pleased to learn that one of the dazzling features of this new car seat is that it is virtually impossible to twist the straps... guess what! I managed to do that on the very first try! I always was precocious that way...LOL!

Kristina V said...

My toyota van's third row also has a pass. side latch, middle, but not the diverside. I guess they figure that there is no way someone would have that many kids.

Anonymous said...

I totally wonder how they decide what works in a car and doesn't. Obviously not real people.