Despite my bringing along my Scissor Sisters CD (I reasoned grooving to “Take Your Mama” in potential minivans would be a good way to test their appropriateness, why else have all that head space if you’re not going to use it to move?) the opportunity to indulge in trying family vehicles on for size was cut short. The minivan hunt is off.
Paul, while browsing the pictures I posted regarding our sweet little wagon, noticed that we do, in fact, have the LATCH seat attachments he had been sure weren’t in our vehicle. Keep in mind that we have been driving this car with car seats that we have installed and removed and reinstalled again dozens of times for over 3 1/2 years. So this was no ordinary revelation. The only analogy that comes to mind is maybe the thrill a dog gets when he realizes he can lick his own balls… imagine the surprise and joy, mixed with an overwhelming question of how stupid he was not to discover it sooner. And he says that I am turning into an over-intelligent, scatter brained academic.
LATCH and our car have been household obsessions for months. After weeks of talking to the Dealership about installing LATCH, Paul found the service bulletin for the install and decided that it was something he could do. He ordered the bottom latch hooks to install in the seats, but once they came (more than a week ago) felt that having full LATCH in the car was impossible due to how the hooks on the seat backs were built into the seat. Granted, I shouldn’t give him a hard time for not actually checking the seat backs (you know, the ones we see everyday when we load things into the back of the car). The front hooks weren’t there, so I assumed that they weren’t in the back, either. To be fair, I didn’t even know that back hooks were needed until recently. As a general rule, I try to keep my knowledge of car-related details to a minimum. It makes it easier to keep those duties as things that Paul is in charge of maintaining. For that reason, if you ask me what kind of car I drive, I’ll answer: “a white one.”
The bottom line is, the discovery of LATCH gave us the reason we needed to remain inert. I did have the car incredibly detailed (engine, too) so at least something positive happened. And there were two bites of interest in the car. So hopefully when we go to sell it in a few more months it will sell. Because we will be a family with a car that is big enough to hold both luggage AND our double stroller. It’s the American way.
Shokufeh | 08-Jul-07 at 10:53 am | Permalink
I love that you didn’t realize you had LATCH all this time. I was hoping for a similar discovery in my parents’ car last summer, but it was made just before LATCH became the standard. Glad car seats have become that much easier for you guys.
Cold Spaghetti | 09-Jul-07 at 12:53 pm | Permalink
Well, we have the hooks on the backs of the seats. We still have to figure out how to install the base hooks on the seats themselves. Our car was built a month before LATCH became standard, so the model line has the capability (according to the bulletin we found). Paul’s guess is that the guide marks in the metal will be visible so we’ll know where to drill the holes, etc.
If your parents’ car is a 2002, chances are that its in a similar boat. The manufacturers wouldn’t have been able to change the whole platform of the car mid-model year, so the bones have to been there, if not the gear (as in our case). Investigation into VWs service bulletins uncovered the information for us… it took a little legwork since the dealership had never heard of it.
Add this one to the list of things I’d never even think to consider or care about if we were living abroad.