Saturday, November 27, 2010

More adventures in retrofitting tether anchors

I posted in August about trying to get tether anchors retrofitted in my mother's 1999 Ford Escort Wagon. It originally began in April. There are still no tether anchors in my Mom's car. We went for our 3rd appointment last week. I found 1 of the holes in the ceiling, where the center tether anchors is supposed to be installed. That's all I needed really, just 1. We went to the dealership, only to find out they would NOT install the anchors correctly for us. Ford told them the ceiling isn't string enough. Yet my LATCH Manual (in which the authors spoke with engineers from all manufacturers), and the vehicle owner's manual say they belong in the ceiling. I have pictures from someone else that had her installed, in the ceiling. They still refused to do it, so I simply had them take them off the floor, since I know that's not where they belong.

I stuck 1 into the hole I found in the ceiling, and tightened it just enough so it doesn't fall out. All I need to do is find out from Ford how many pounds of torque are needed. I've called Ford Corporate, and left a message. I've also emailed one of the authors of the LATCH Manual, and she will check with her Ford contact.

So, I started in April, thinking we'd have plenty of time to get them installed before Sofi could ride forward facing, after she turned 4 in September. It's now Novemeber, and Sofi continues to ride rear facing in my Mom's car.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah. I've had the same experience. For some reason, certain car seats are just incompatible in some cars.

crystalbielenberg said...

How do you find out if your car can be retrofitted?