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, Thu, 18 Dec 2003 11:17:07
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Hey Ken,
congratulations. You will appreciate your 9-5 wagon even more with a baby in it. I am glad to have my (now 13 months) son in a safe, socially resposible vehicle in the days that most people drive a land yacht ignorantly thinking size will protect their children better.
You will want to contact SAAB and order the D-Ring Anchor for when your car seat switches to forward facing (this is at 1 year old). SAAB will mail it to you and your dealer can install it for you.
Better convertible car seats (IE Britax) will come with an anchor that loops around one of the front seats so you can use the top tether in rear facing mode. Only convertible car seats will utilize the top tether, I was not able to find an infant seat with a top tether.
You don't need the strap, in fact the wagon can't use it if you look at the arm rest since it doesn't have the center pass through door like the sedan. The cool thing about the wagon is that it has a pendulum on the rear arm rest just like seat belts do. When you are breaking hard (or wrecking) the pendulum locks into a gear that prevents the armrest from coming forward. If you want to test it out, lean the back seat forward 45 degrees and try to open the armrest; it won't budge. Momentum from a wreck will lock the arm rest in the same fashion. I had to make a lot of calls to figure that one out. (SAAB sent me the damned strap also - I was about to start cutting stuff to affix the strap.)
I looked into this a little over a year myself, I will try to check the boards again soon to see if you have any other questions. In the infant car seats it seemed not many crash tests have been done; but the Graco Snugride XL with 5 point restraints did well in one test. You will find once you get to the convertible seats that Britax is consistanly the safest. They use the same foam as bicycle and motorcycle helmets throughout the seat to help absorb impacts. I have a Britax Roundabout in my 9-3, and a Britax Marathon in my 9-5 wagon. The Roundabout was too big to fit in the 9-3 in rear facing mode, otherwise I would have bought 2 Marathons. Britax should be coming out with a new model, the Wizard by the time you will be shopping for one (around 6-8 months). You can save 20% plus on the price of the seats ordering them online VS baby stores - which amounts to a lot when you are buying 2 $250 car seats.
Congrats again,
Matt
posted by 24.1.4...
, Thu, 18 Dec 2003 11:17:07
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