Child seat in back of Quad Cab

[PLohr]

Hello,
Is anyone else using forward facing child seats in the back of a Quad Cab which need the center tether attachment (see Illustration 1 below, tether is circled in blue)? Our 2003 Ram 3500 has a place at the top of the back seat for attaching something but no attachment point at the bottom, where it should be (Photo 1 below shows the attachment point in question). There is no point in attaching the car seat's center tether to the attachment point shown in Photo 1 because it is too close to the car seat (the tether is a minimum of approximately 6" long, so the tether can't be tightened). I don't know what the attachment point is intended for in Photo 1 since I haven't been able to make it work for the center tether. We don't have this problem in our 2000 Honda Accord, our 2008 GMC Yukon XL or my parents' Jeep Grand Cherokee. Am I missing something?

Thank you for any help.

Illustration 1:

Photo 1:

Here's a link to a child seat thread which could be useful to others:
https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/child-seats-in-rear-of-qc.92639/

 

[Timd32]

See this pdf.

When your all set up you can have it inspected by a certified person, I had our done at the Police Station. Made an appt. to have my set up checked out.

 

[PLohr]

Thank you...that PDF sure helps.

Our truck does not have headrests. The instructions say to route the tether strap under the headrest, which makes sense. But no headrests...??? I will look through the PDF again in case I missed something.

 

[CBari]

I know this won't help much, but I had both an 03 and 04 the 03 didn't have head rest and the 04 did. We kept car seat in both I remember one was a little different than the other. I ended up having a friend who was a deputy help me and it seems like we just used the belt in the 03. Key to getting belt tight is pull it all the way out so it will lock as it goes back. Also kneel in the seat while tightening it as that makes it tighter when you remove your weight from it.

 

[Wayne M.]

I used both rear and front facing seats and boosters in my 04 quad. I always used the seat belt provisions and not the tether. I do recall having it checked out and I got a thumbs up. It was quite a while ago, but I imagine things haven’t changed much.

 

[jgillott]

If you are using the center seating location for your child seat, simply route the top tether through the center nylon loop and then run it over to one of the metal mounting loops at an outboard seating position behind the headrest. I have it mounted that way in mine and it gives you plenty of length to tighten that tether.

I can get you pics tomorrow in the daylight if you need them.

 

[AnonEd]

More car-seat general than the OP's question: I had a pal who tested cars and looked into child/booster seats, noting that between the center seat's lack of cushioning relative the outboard ones, how some people cinch down the child seat as tight as they possibly can with the seatbelt, and the lack of padding in child seats, who or whatever was in the child seat got a lot more impact and pounding than anything next to it (it was a fairly sophisticated Rube Goldberg device with multi-axis load sensors, measuring at something like 60-100 Hz). I never needed to verify his work, but tried it out riding in back with one hand on my seat and one in the child seat, and easily magnitudes greater impact in the child seat. If you can use the lower anchors, or the seatbelt without torquing it like a load strap, the occupant will get a much better ride.

 

[DaveScott]

I have a 2003 quad cab. I have had forward facing seats in it with all of my grand kids. (the youngest is a senior in high school) I have had all three seats in once when I took he, his sister and his cousin for a camping trip in our trailer. As I remember the main thing was getting the chair hooked to the ring in the middle of each seat. I use the ring (it is actually square) today for the harness for my Lab. I don't remember it being necessary to hook to anything else. The seat belts in the rear do have cinching latch plates in addition to the clip. Cinching latch plates are no longer required in the back seat because of the clip system, but the 2003 has it.

 

[Blakers]

The seat has been in my 03 truck so long I forget the details. I think it uses the latches, but not sure whether it needs the tether straps. It's on the driver's side.

 

[PLohr]

Thank you, jgillott. That is exactly what I was missing or not seeing. It is amazing how I went so long not understanding this, then one day, bam, there it is.