Subaru Forester: 3 child seats

Seat in wife's Nissan for our granddaughter relies just on seat belt attachment. Never had three people in Forester and belts look screwy but maybe you can work something out or buy a Tribeca ;) Frank

''LATCH Child Seat System: (Lower Anchors and Tether for CHildren): consists of lower child seat anchors at the base of the rear seats and a tether attachment in the rear. This allows a child seat to be firmly and securely anchored at the base and top to minimize movement. Requires a newer seat (2002?) with the appropriate attaching straps. Check your child seat for specifics.

The tether holds the child seat upright and prevents it from tipping forward. The headrest in the photo could be removed Required on all vehicles and child safety seats manufactured on or after September 1, 2002. Cars, minivans, and light trucks will be required to have anchor points between the vehicle's seat cushion and the seat back in at least two rear seating positions, and a top tether anchor (with the exception of convertibles). Child safety seats will have a lower set of attachments that fasten to the vehicle anchors. Most forward-facing child afety seats will also have a top strap (tether) that attaches to the top anchor in the vehicle. Together they make up the LATCH system.

Why? LATCH bars avoid seat belt incompatibility from different types of seat belt retractors, different belt anchor locations (too far forward), plus differing vehicle belt routings that people found confusing.

Where are the anchors: The anchor bars are in the crease of the rear seats. By law, the vehicle LATCH bar spacing is standardized at

How many seats? Very few vehicles could fit three LATCH positions across a back seat. It was decided that at least two are needed in back seats but vehicle manufacturers can optionally add more if they fit. In limited cases, it's possible to use the inboard LATCH bars to put a seat in the center position, but for this to be safe, this method must be specifically allowed by the child restraint manufacturer for that model restraint. There are limits as to how wide and narrow is safe for use by a child seat. Use the vehicle seat belts in the center rear unless the child restraint model instructions specifically say the center inboard bars are ok.

Retrofit? Yes, there may be a kit, contact your seat manufacturer to see if they make a retrofit kit for your child seat. Do not use a kit from another company, the design of the system and angles of attachment could be different enough to cause crash loads that would break the system. Don't mix parts from different manufacturers no matter how similar they might look. ''