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Car Seat Crunches Headrest

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I'm a fairly new owner to a CPO Model S (Feb 2016 build) and loving every minute of it. This forum has been a great resource to me for all things Tesla.

I have a Diono Radian RXT installed in the rear passenger side seat for my 4-year old. It's a one strap anchor and the manual says to put the anchor over the headrest and down to the anchor latch. That's fine and all but when I tighten the anchor and latch belts so that the car seat doesn't move side to side, it really crunches the head rest. I worry about the long term impact on the head rest. The car seat will be in the car for a while so it may damage the head rest permanently. I've removed the car seat once and, after a few days, the head rest looked normal again but the crunching can't be good for it. See attached picture.

I'd rather not buy a new car seat with a two-strap anchor. I tried the anchor on the inside or outside, and it shift the car seat and I'm unable to install it safely with no movement side to side.

Any thoughts? Do others with Diono RXTs have this same issue? Has another been able to loosen the anchor belt a bit as to not damage the head rest but at the same time have the car seat installed securely?

Thanks!
 

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Thanks for the replies. I redid the car seat installation and gave the anchor strap more slack as to not crunch the headrest. There is minimal crunching now and the car seat is still securely in place. Therefore, having the anchor belt super tight is not required as having the latch anchors tight does the job.

It's interesting, if you feel the headrests from the top, there is a gap in the middle so this allows the crunching when the anchor belt it over it.

My oldest is almost in a booster so I plan on going three across in a few months when he's ready. I'll have my two year old twins in Diono Radians on the sides and then my oldest in a booster in the middle. It will be tight but I'm excited to have the ability to take the Tesla with all kids instead of always taking the van.

Thanks again.
 
I had that carseat for my son. It's a great seat! I used it about 6 years and since the lifespan for it is 10 years rather than the usual 5 years, I was able to pass it on to another family.

I had it in a different car though. Most cars you can go under the headrest. It's both good and bad that the Teslas have attached headrests.
And yeah, three across is one of the benefits of that carseat, it's narrow :)

So your kiddo(s) is forward facing with the anchor belt and you're using the LATCH side anchors? I'm just surprised because by the time my son was forward-facing he weighed way too much to continue using the LATCh side anchors and it was time to use the seat belt to secure the carseat to the car. But you said you re-read the instructions and you feel confident. Glad you found a solution.
 
I have had two carseats in the back for over a year with tight top straps. I've removed them a couple times over the last couple of months to have some rattles addressed (I try to leave nothing not factory installed in the car when rattles are being diagnosed) and they headrests went back to normal over the couple of days they had the car. Some small wrinkles were present but nothing too noticeable, especially after using some cleaner/conditioner. I'm assuming that once the car seats are removed for good even those wrinkles will relax. Most importantly, the shape returned to normal.
 
I'm a fairly new owner to a CPO Model S (Feb 2016 build) and loving every minute of it. This forum has been a great resource to me for all things Tesla.

I have a Diono Radian RXT installed in the rear passenger side seat for my 4-year old. It's a one strap anchor and the manual says to put the anchor over the headrest and down to the anchor latch. That's fine and all but when I tighten the anchor and latch belts so that the car seat doesn't move side to side, it really crunches the head rest. I worry about the long term impact on the head rest. The car seat will be in the car for a while so it may damage the head rest permanently. I've removed the car seat once and, after a few days, the head rest looked normal again but the crunching can't be good for it. See attached picture.

I'd rather not buy a new car seat with a two-strap anchor. I tried the anchor on the inside or outside, and it shift the car seat and I'm unable to install it safely with no movement side to side.

Any thoughts? Do others with Diono RXTs have this same issue? Has another been able to loosen the anchor belt a bit as to not damage the head rest but at the same time have the car seat installed securely?

Thanks!
I know this was posted quite a while ago but I just bought a new Model 3 and installed a car seat in the back. I realized after about a week that the compression on the headrest didn’t look too good for the seat. I removed the car seat and sure enough the headrest remained compressed. It was a spitting image of the photo you posted.

my question is, when all was said and done, did the headrest “recover” to its original shape.

thanks!!
 
Yikes! I route my top car seat strap around the side of the headrest, not over the top. Also, I don’t know if it needs to be that tight. As it is there to make sure the seat can’t pitch forward, the main holding force on the car seat is on the lower anchor points.