I have a 99 chevy blazer and was wanting to know if you can change the lap belt in the middle back seat to a shoulder belt.

 

It was never designed to be this way. With no anchor point, you would have to do a lot of work to make this change.

 

How much work is it to get it a shoulder belt?

 

Cutting, welding, etc... Also, a degree in automotive engineering and crash dynamics... (kidding) But you really do have to know what you are doing to make an effective restraint system or you can do more harm than good in a crash.

How much of that type of work can you do? What is the requirement for a shoulder belt?

 

Nice.

My husband is a mechanic and we have friends that weld and cut.

We are expecting baby #3 and the baby will be in the middle. We can use just the lap belt with the infant seat, but im pretty sure we need a shoulder belt for all other car seats. We just paid off the blazer too. This is totally sucky.

 

I think you should be ok with a lap belt. In fact I think it's better than the shoulder belt. I put in my son's car seat with the shoulder belt to hold it, and the dang thing won't tighten good enough!!!

 

Really, we never had problems with the shoulder belt. Try putting your knees in the seat and pull the shoulder belt to see if it will tighten anymore.

I went ahead and checked the car seat guru people and lap belts can be used for all car seats but booster. We will be getting a new car in a few years because we need more room, and being able to use the lap belt will give us that time to save.

 

The lap belt is MUCH better than a combination belt as far as properly retaining a car seat. You do not use the upper portion of the belt at all. I would not go through any of the trouble of installing something that you just do not need.

Heck, for all of the greif that I have gone through with two car seats in the back of my old Bravada, I would have much rather yanked out the shoulder belts and tossed those retarded metal clips in favor of a sinch down style lap belt. I could have done that quite cheap and easy if I had of thought of it. Now my Rainier has the car seat loops where I just use the cinch straps that came with the seats.

Once you get to aforward facing seat, if you still have a need for it to be in the center, you may have to add another tether point on the floor behind the seat in the center for the third strap off of the seat, but that is quite easy. Just make sure that it is strong enough.

 

No matter how tight I pull on the shoulder belt even in the wifes Cavalier it's just not tight enough!!! My solution was to go and get her an 03 Suzuki Aerio (rice burner)with the carseat anchor system. LOL. We were already looking for another car for her cause the 2dr Cavi was just not cutting it. Glad to hear you solved your dilema too.