How To Top Tether on a Forward Facing Car Seat. 64% of parents do this wrong!

If your child is in a forward-facing car seat with a harness, it has a top tether anchor. USE IT! ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠
When a car seat is tightly installed, and the top tether anchor is in proper use, it limits a forward-facing car seat from tipping forward by 4-6+ inches. By limiting that movement, you are protecting your child's head from hitting the vehicle seat in front of it, the door or console, or a fellow passenger in a car crash. ⁠A correct and tight installation plus a top tether truly is a life-saving combination! ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠
Comment below and let me know if your top tether is good to go!
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#carseat #carseatsafety #forwardfacing

[@leahsmithtravel]

Thank you for sharing! I didn’t know this when I first turned my daughter forward facing 😭 and I happened to discover it. But I’m so grateful that you’re educating parents to keep their kids safe in the seat!

[@kmath4165]

The amount of times I’ve forgotten to pull it through at the beginning and had to reinstall the whole seat.🙈😂

[@safeintheseat]

That's happened to me too lol

[@timbond1697]

Thanks, straightforward and simple advice. Wasn’t even sure what top tether was but it’s Really important to do it right.

[@safeintheseat]

Glad it was helpful! And now you know!

[@ivanestrada6380]

I had no clue!!! I will need to take care of this before our next car ride. Thanks 😊

[@safeintheseat]

Glad you saw this video then!

[@Chelsea-ju1ex]

Already in use in the correct spot! Watched anyway to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

[@safeintheseat]

Thanks for watching!

[@christawade2080]

So glad I watched this and rechecked things! We just got a 2008 Honda Odyssey a few weeks ago and our daughter who is forward facing is in a third row outboard seat. We have the tether strap routed over the head restraint but I just checked the manual for our van and the head restraint has to be removed when a forward facing car seat or high back booster is installed. We will be fixing that before our next ride! Thanks so much for your helpful content- love it and appreciate it!

[@safeintheseat]

Thanks for watching!

[@laceyharrell3590]

I’m good! I’m so glad I’ve taken these tips and advice for my toddler

[@safeintheseat]

Perfect!

[@rachaelkallick5106]

was trying to figure this out today!! thank you!!!

[@safeintheseat]

Happy to help!

[@ashleywallis1]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@safeintheseat]

Thanks for watching!

[@AIMommyOfficial]

Thank you for sharing! It's very useful.

[@safeintheseat]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@seanperla7445]

Absolutely phenomenal video!

[@safeintheseat]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@margaritaandkids7897]

A million thank yous for this video. ❤

[@safeintheseat]

You are very welcome!

[@fsa157]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[@safeintheseat]

No problem 😊

[@MissKathyG]

In use and in the correct spot ❤ our seat uses the teether for rear and forward facing.

[@safeintheseat]

Perfect!

[@bigchainring1977]

Your child says ty..

[@HeatherBehrman]

Love this! We have a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan and it’s so frustrating that the 3rd row only has one of center tether hook so it’s very hard to fit more than one seat in the back. 😓

[@safeintheseat]

That's a very difficult vehicle for 3rd row use for sure!

[@tashikagregory1720]

Thank you

[@safeintheseat]

You're welcome

[@jdog8362]

I’m nowhere near ready for forward face my son yet (he’s only 2.5 and somewhere around 30-35 pounds, and his seat goes to 50 pounds rear facing. I intend to let him max out the weight limit before switching him) but I’m watching anyway to be prepared for when I do switch him. I have a used vehicle so I don’t have the manual, hopefully I can find it online.

[@safeintheseat]

Thanks for watching! You should be able to find the manual online, most are available.

[@ChristianaKarst-hr6nk]

We have our son forward facing in the third row but the top tether hook is not centered with his seat in the back. It’s more diagonal. It’s a 2019 dodge caravan, I’ve heard it is a common problem with this van. Now we can’t put any other car seats back there because fit only has one tether latch for the entire third row. Any suggestions?

[@amandalynn55]

Thank you! Can you do a video explaining high back booster seats? Mine doesn’t have a latch installation so it always feels flimsy, wiggly, and crooked.

[@safeintheseat]

Great suggestion! Lower anchors on boosters are just there to hold the booster onto the seat and keep it from becoming a projectile when the child is not riding in it. When using boosters without lower anchors, you just need to center it each time and make sure the child buckles it into the seat when you drop them off at school or wherever so that it doesn't become a projectile in a crash.

[@jenniferwaller5661]

Thank you! Never knew this. Whoops. 😮

[@safeintheseat]

Now you do!

[@stefedwards3213]

Thank you so much for your really helpful and clear video 🙂 My car seat does not have a top tether strap!! Is it possible to buy one and add it?

[@safeintheseat]

If it is a seat that forward faces it’s required to have one!

[@denisehall808]

Do you know of any after marker theater brackets you can add to a vehicle? I have a 2023 Highlander with the 3rd row and it only has 1 teacher spot and I would like to add one. Thanks for your help

[@safeintheseat]

It's not possible to add more than the vehicle was made with. Many 3rd rows only have one. You may have to move kids around to make sure everyone who needs one has one

[@megandegregory5910]

What about a pick up truck like a ford f150? They usually have leather loops on the top of the seats.

[@safeintheseat]

It's just a different kind of routing. Look in your manual to see how to route the top tether through the loops.

[@cardenhorses2015]

Can you do a video about 3 across with situations it does and doesn't work in?

[@safeintheseat]

That's so hard to do. It's really much easier to do a consult with us or meet with a CPST in person and try out seats. Each vehicle is so, so different, and sometimes only very specific seats will work depending on how difficult the vehicle is. shop.safeintheseat.com/products/virtual-consult-help-me-choose-a-car-seat

[@audatkins]

In the video, I see that the harness booster is strapped to the car with the seat belt and the top chest belt is out and behind the harness booster. I had threaded the top chest belt back through the harness booster to continue to tighten it down. Should the top chest belt not feed back through the harness booster?

[@safeintheseat]

I don't understand what you mean by top chest belt. Maybe you would like to do a 1:1 consult? It's a video chat, so we can help make sure everything looks correct for you. shop.safeintheseat.com/products/virtual-consult-car-seat-confidence-boost

[@bethanydettmer2657]

In seatbelt high back booster mode, do those typically need the top tether strapped too? I would think so, but am about to switch car seats and am trying to decide how quickly these will be able to go in and out of the vehicle.

[@safeintheseat]

Most high back boosters don't have top tethers (only if it's part of a 3-in-1/all-in-1 seat). If you are using an all-in-1 seat, some don't allow the top tether anyway. High back boosters only need the seat belt

[@user-vt5lj9mk7t]

I need help. I changed my child’s car seat to forward facing recently. I am using the UAS anchor system and the tether strap as well. The install is tight and won’t move side to side. But when my child is in the car seat. To tighten the 5 point harness, the strap you have to pull upward. When you do that, that lifts the car seat upward to the car ceiling which moves the car seat out of place

[@safeintheseat]

When you check installation tightness, check side to side and front to back for no more than 1" of movement. If it's moving out of place when you tighten the harness, then it's probably not tight enough. It's hard to say what's going on without more details, but there are sometimes incompatibility issues when forward-facing. If the manufacturer of your car seat has free video chat assistance, you can try that. If not, we do have consults available: shop.safeintheseat.com/products/virtual-consult-car-seat-confidence-boost

[@kimberlysymonds7517]

Top tethers are required by law for all FF seats in Canada

[@safeintheseat]

Indeed they are!

[@meganbjarnason5181]

Can you shed some light on pick up trucks with the top tether? Is it correct that you feed the top tether strap through the loops and hook it to the middle one?

[@safeintheseat]

That's how must trucks have you route the top tether, but always double check your vehicle's manual

[@kaitlinbrooks8952]

What do you do when you have older cars that don’t have the top tether anchors?

[@safeintheseat]

You rear face the child in a seat with 50 pound/49" limits and then move them into a high back booster. Most kids can get to at least 5 rear-facing with those limits.

[@Freed0703]

Hi,.I have the Diono 3R Radian seats in a 2023 toyota sienna limited and the top seems very loose (moving back and forth alot) so when I use the top tether, I have to tighten it really tight but it crumples up my leather seats quite a bit. I don't like how it crumples my leather seats but if I don't do this then my baby seat remains loose.

[@safeintheseat]

There is nothing holding the top from moving side to side. You only check for movement where the seat belt is going through the seat. Check in this place to make sure that the seat does not move more than 1" side to side or front to back. This seat has a lot of problems with that front to back movement, so do make sure to check it.

[@Freed0703]

@safeintheseat So I shouldn't over tighten the top tether I guess? I am a fairly strong person, and I have pulled super hard on that thing, using your technique from the inside of the seat. Can you do a video on the diono please?

[@MichaelaRayer-se2tx]

I have 3 under 3 with a sequoia that has bucket seats. There’s two tethers on the bucket seats and one on the middle seat in the third row… what would I do if I needed a fourth tether?!

[@safeintheseat]

You will need to make sure that you never need 4 top tethers at the same time. This may mean keeping a kid rear-facing for longer than you had planned to do so. Since there are seats that rear face to 50#/49", it is possible to max out rear-facing and then have the child move straight into a high back booster as long as they were able to fit rear-facing until 5-6 years of age.

[@chelseak-ly1fk]

Any tips for cars with fixed headrests (2017 Camry)? Do I just put it over the headrest? The manual wasn’t clear.

[@safeintheseat]

It just goes over the headrest

[@rachaelkallick5106]

@@safeintheseat literally had this exact question! thank you!!!

[@amandabeaudoin6693]

What should we do for our older car that has no tether anchor? We have a 1973 Ford Bronco we like to take out on occasion. There is no anchor point in this vehicle. Any suggestions?

[@safeintheseat]

We highly recommend rear-facing until 5-6 and going straight into a high back booster.

[@amandabeaudoin6693]

@@safeintheseat What if rear facing is not an option for this vehicle?

[@jesswuensch]

trying to install a new seat and the tether strap doesn’t fit through the headrest and the headrest isn’t removable 😭 are we screwed and need to get a new seat??

[@safeintheseat]

Before doing that, I would contact the car seat manufacturer and see if they have any tips.

[@caglargenc1316]

Hi, when I attaches top tether in correct way with tighten. I think it defects the original car seat. On the top part of the regular seat, there is cavity happened and never go. Is it normal?

[@safeintheseat]

I don't understand what you mean?

[@komisarchik]

Why can't it go over the headrest? are we concerned it's going to slide to the side even when it's tight?

[@safeintheseat]

In some vehicles, it can. The vehicle owner's manual will tell you how to route it

[@joshalvarez298]

To use the ceiling top tether does the child have to be in the middle?

[@safeintheseat]

Each top tether anchor is designated for one seating position. There are very few exceptions to that rule, and I don't know of any vehicles with a ceiling tether that is not for the center position only.

[@elizabethrose6853]

What if your vehicle doesn’t have enough for the amount of kids you have? I have four five and under in a Toyota Siena.

[@safeintheseat]

You will need to have some more of the kids rear-facing then so that they do not need the top tether. I believe the Sienna has 4 top tether anchors, so it should not be a problem for you.

[@RyanDGreen1984]

Ok wow so don’t use both the anchors and the seatbelt for the bottom? Anchors no longer seem to reach now that I’ve turned it forward.

[@safeintheseat]

You don't use both the lower anchors and the seat belt to install the seat. If you want to use the lower anchors to install, you need to do 2 things. 1. Check what the lower anchor limit for your seat is and make sure your child is under that limit. 2. Move the lower anchors from the rear-facing belt path to the forward-facing belt path (this is why they are too short, they are not in the right place).

[@StephanieHones]

But do it in a vehicle that doesn’t have a trunk or third row - like a pick up

[@safeintheseat]

We have a video for trucks here: kzbin.infohZkahhDrEtY