Chicco NextFit Seat Belt Install: Forward Facing Edition

The question was asked, how do you tighten down a NextFit seat belt install, specifically a forward facing install on leather seats? I don't have leather seats, but I did just install a rear facing NextFit on leather sits this past weekend, and it took a bit more maneuvering than my regular tricks. So, with that memory still relatively fresh in my mind, I took to my Odyssey with my camera phone and did the best I could to capture a forward facing install.

I must emphasize, I did this video on my camera phone. By myself. No one around to help. The sound is bad, the narrator (me) is long winded because there was no script and no planning, and there's just a few spots where it's painfully obvious that it takes two hands to install a seat. If there's enough demand for a better video, I may try again with a better camera, better microphone, and a dedicated cameraman. In the meantime, hopefully this will work well enough.

Further tips for a forward facing seat belt install:

• Always attach the top tether when you install the NextFit forward facing, whether you use the lower anchor install or the seat belt install.
• You'll have to open up the top tether compartment, detach the tether from the seat's storage hook, and close the compartment before you begin the install.
• Make sure you read the vehicle's manual (car seat section) to find out how to attach the top tether, and that you can in fact attach a top tether in that seating location. In some vehicles it is required to attach the top tether (fully loosened) before installing the seat, and then tighten the top tether, other vehicles allow you install the seat and THEN attach the top tether.
• If there is not a top tether anchor dedicated to that seating position, you'll have to install the NextFit in another seating position.
• You might try removing the seat's headrest, if your vehicle allows it, if the headrest is pushing against the car seat. That might allow you to compress the NextFit just that critical bit more to get rid of movement.
• <I'll be adding to this list if/when more tips come my way. I'm always learning more about the NextFit, so I'd like to leave this list expandable in the future :) >

Link: https://youtu.be/EJj1Zp0zyHk

The views, instructions, and opinions in this blog are solely my own. I am not a CPST, I am not affiliated with CSFTL, nor am I a Chicco representative. No money was made from this article, and though I strive for accuracy in all things, any errors are my own.