Grand kids in back seat

[Ride Slow]

What have you done to protect the leather when you have the kids in back in the safety seats? I have just been using a large beach towel, tucked in at the top, and spread out under the safety seat.

[jjs]

Originally Posted by Ride Slow

What have you done to protect the leather when you have the kids in back in the safety seats? I have just been using a large beach towel, tucked in at the top, and spread out under the safety seat.

Perhaps use the trunk?

[DTOWN300C]

Originally Posted by Ride Slow

What have you done to protect the leather when you have the kids in back in the safety seats? I have just been using a large beach towel, tucked in at the top, and spread out under the safety seat.

Ive been doing the same thing using a big beach towel

[II kings 9:20]

Bath towel for me. I hope you guys are using the nearly impossible to reach LATCH system. Tha nelts are totally inadequate, they can not be locked something I could do on my 92 Buick. The rears are the old style pendulum system, they won't catch no natter how hard or fast you yank them, pathetic American design.

[marlinspike]

Damn, are they the pendulum style even on the SRT? I wish there was more MB to Chrysler part sharing. MB was using the kind that reel into the pillar and lock when you yank since the 60's as an option, and since the 80's they've had sensors that will slightly reel the belt in and lock it before there is force exerted on it.

[HEMEEE]

RS, here is my post on this from another thread/same topic:

Originally Posted by HEMEEE

Mikes, I haven't had my newest grandbaby in the car yet, but here's my plan to prevent damage and not have a car full of towels... I'm picky about that.

I have a scrap of high-density foam that will be placed on the seat (you can purchase a piece at a craft or upholstery supply shop inexpensively) and I'm ordering a flokati rug in matching gray that will go down the back of the seat and over the top of the foam, cushioning all the leather surfaces. Someone asked before when I posted this idea, what a flokati rug is... it's a thick rug that is usually white and appears to be long sheepskin type fur, but they are actually 100% wool and washable.

II kings, thanks for the safety note about the latch! Because it's a relatively new feature/issue, I'm afraid there are a lot of people that overlook this fact, having not read the manual or used the latches in the past.

[II kings 9:20]

Yeah Marlin, with the Chryco boys if the govt. does not require it, you get the minimum. My 1970 300SEL 6.3 had rear shoulder belts (a late 80s item for the domestics) and child locks on the rear doors! Even GM and Ford got rid of the pendulums, the HHR my dad rented I checked the rears and it is the inertia type furthermore if you pull them all the way out they retract to a locked position, great for booster seats, not so with the 300.

A major problem with pendulums up front on all domestics until just a few years ago is they depend on deceleration to work. My Buick would lock if decelerating but not if you yanked on it. A friend of mine was in an89 Crown Vic sitting at a light, a wreck occurs in front of him and sends a car slamming into his front, his belt allowed him to smack the windshield. It never locked simnce there was no deceleration to swing the pendulum forward. A piss poor idiotic design only the domestics could come up with.

[II kings 9:20]

Originally Posted by HEMEEE

RS, here is my post on this from another thread/same topic: http://www.300cforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=73715&postcount=17

II kings, thanks for the safety note about the latch! Because it's a relatively new feature/issue, I'm afraid there are a lot of people that overlook this fact, having not read the manual or used the latches in the past.

Yes Hemeee, don't forget the top tether too, extremely important, also cinch everything down very tightly. I do give DC credit for providing 3 latch and tethers, not required by law to have three. The Ford 500, Navigator, DeVille even in 2000 all have 3, the few cars that can hold 3 car seats.

[jjs]

Originally Posted by II kings 9:20

Yeah Marlin, with the Chryco boys if the govt. does not require it, you get the minimum. My 1970 300SEL 6.3 had rear shoulder belts (a late 80s item for the domestics) and child locks on the rear doors! Even GM and Ford got rid of the pendulums, the HHR my dad rented I checked the rears and it is the inertia type furthermore if you pull them all the way out they retract to a locked position, great for booster seats, not so with the 300.

A major problem with pendulums up front on all domestics until just a few years ago is they depend on deceleration to work. My Buick would lock if decelerating but not if you yanked on it. A friend of mine was in an89 Crown Vic sitting at a light, a wreck occurs in front of him and sends a car slamming into his front, his belt allowed him to smack the windshield. It never locked simnce there was no deceleration to swing the pendulum forward. A piss poor idiotic design only the domestics could come up with.

Not sure how this sounds like a pendulum to me...

SEAT BELT TENSIONER
DESCRIPTION
Seat Belt Tensioners supplement the dual front air-bags.
The seat belt tensioners are integral to the front
seat belt retractors (2), which are secured to the inner
B-pillar (1) on the right and left sides of the vehicle.
The retractor is concealed beneath the lower B-pillar
trim. The seat belt tensioner consists primarily of a
sprocket/pinion, a steel tube, a cast metal housing,
numerous steel balls, a stamped metal ball trap, a tor-sion
bar, a small pyrotechnically activated gas gener-ator,
and a short pigtail wire. All of these components
are located on one side of the retractor spool on the
outside of the retractor housing except for the torsion
bar, which serves as the spindle upon which the
retractor spool rides. The seat belt tensioners are con-trolled
by the Occupant Restraint Controller (ORC)
and are connected to the vehicle electrical system
through the body wire harness (3).
The seat belt tensioners cannot be repaired and, if
faulty or damaged, the entire front seat belt and
retractor unit must be replaced. If the front airbags
have been deployed, the seat belt tensioners have also been deployed. The seat belt tensioners are not intended
for reuse and must be replaced following any front airbag deployment. A growling or grinding sound while attempting
to operate the seat belt retractor is a sure indication that the seat belt tensioner has been deployed and requires
replacement. Refer to the proper Body Diagnostic Procedures manual for diagnosis and testing.
OPERATION
The seat belt tensioners are deployed in conjunction with the front airbags by a signal generated by the Occupant
Restraint Controller (ORC) through the driver or passenger seat belt tensioner line 1 and line 2 (or squib) circuits.
When the ORC sends the proper electrical signal to the tensioners, the electrical energy generates enough heat to
initiate a small pyrotechnic gas generator. The gas generator is installed in one end of a steel tube that contains
numerous steel balls. As the gas expands, it pushes the steel balls through the tube into a cast metal housing,
where a ball guide directs the balls into engagement with the teeth of a sprocket that is geared to one end of the
retractor spool. As the balls drive past the sprocket, the sprocket turns and drives the seat belt retractor spool caus-ing
the slack to be removed from the front seat belts. The ball trap captures the balls as they leave the sprocket and
are expelled from the housing.
Removing excess slack from the front seat belts not only keeps the occupants properly positioned for an airbag
deployment following a frontal impact of the vehicle, but also helps to reduce injuries that the occupant might expe-rience
in these situations as a result of harmful contact with the steering wheel, steering column, instrument panel
and/or windshield. Also, the seat belt tensioner torsion bar that the retractor spool rides upon is designed to deform
in order to control the loading being applied to the occupants by the seat belts during a frontal impact, further reduc-ing
the potential for occupant injuries.
The ORC monitors the condition of the seat belt tensioners through circuit resistance, and will illuminate the airbag
indicator in the instrument cluster and store a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) for any fault that is detected. For
proper diagnosis of the seat belt tensioners, a scan tool is required and the appropriate body diagnostic information.

(per 2005 LX service manual)

[marlinspike]

JJS, those are for the fronts.