{"id":133,"date":"2006-01-15T00:21:50","date_gmt":"2006-01-14T15:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-01-15\/133"},"modified":"2006-01-15T00:21:50","modified_gmt":"2006-01-14T15:21:50","slug":"shame-on-audi-for-not-having-latch-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-01-15\/133","title":{"rendered":"Shame on Audi for not having LATCH points"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p>\n\nAnyone who's dealt much with infant seats and child car seats knows of the\nvarious ways to attach the seat to the car. <span class='nobr'>The best way<\/span> is via\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n.latch { font-size: 85% }\n<\/style>\n<span\nclass=\"latch\">LATCH<\/span> anchor points (<span class=\"latch\">LATCH<\/span>\nis the contrived acronym for &#8220;<b>L<\/b>ower <b>A<\/b>nchors and\n<b>T<\/b>ethers for <b>CH<\/b>ildren&#8221;), which became mandatory on all new\ncars sold in the US since Sep 2002, although most new cars had them years\nbefore that.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nIn other parts of the world, these anchor points are called <span\nclass=\"latch\"><a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.iso.org\/iso\/en\/prods-services\/popstds\/isofix.html\">ISOFIX<\/a><\/span>,\nand they've been around for quite some time. For example, <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.audi.co.jp\/news\/news\/Japan\/99101201.html\">an article at\nAudi Japan<\/a> from 1999 states that the <span class=\"latch\">ISOFIX<\/span>\nanchor points are standard across their entire line of cars.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nThus, it was to my great surprise that we test drove two different 2006\nAudis today and found that not only did neither have the anchor points, but\nthe sales guy had no idea what <span class='nobr'>I was<\/span> talking about.\n\n<\/p>\n   \n<p>\n\nFumie is going to get her Japanese driver's license, so we're thinking of <span class='nobr'>a\nsecond<\/span> car -- something <span class='nobr'>a bit<\/span> more mature than the soccer-mom <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2005-04-01\/1\">Toyota Sienta<\/a> we've had for\nthe last two years (which, by the way, has the <span class=\"latch\">LATCH<\/span> anchors). Today we\nchecked out the <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.audi.co.jp\/models\/a3\/sportback\/sportback.html\">Audi A3\nSportback<\/a> and the <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.audi.co.jp\/models\/a4\/ext_360_avant.html\">Audi A4 Avant\n(wagon)<\/a>. They weren't bad, but were surprisingly unthrilling.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nMy biggest disappointment was that cruise control is not even available on\nthe A3. <span class='nobr'>It's available<\/span> on the A4 as part of <span class='nobr'>a Bose<\/span> stereo upgrade (which\nseems strange).\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nBut the oddest thing was the lack of <span class=\"latch\">LATCH<\/span> \/\n<span class=\"latch\">ISOFIX<\/span> anchor points. <span class='nobr'>Not only that<\/span>, but the\nA3's rear three-point belts weren't even the locking type. Normally, if you\npull <span class='nobr'>a belt<\/span> slowly it gives. This allows you to adjust it. <span class='nobr'>If you pull<\/span> it\nquickly (as if in an accident), it locks. This keeps you safe. This is all\nfine for people, but the &#8220;it gives&#8221; bit is not appropriate for\nanchoring <span class='nobr'>a car<\/span> seat. So, modern (in the last 15-20 years?) seat belts have\n<span class='nobr'>a feature<\/span> whereby if you pull it <b>all the way out<\/b>, it gets into <span class='nobr'>a\nlocked<\/span> mode whereby it can tighten but can not loosen until it's unbuckled.\nThis allows you to securely anchor <span class='nobr'>a car<\/span> seat, and until <span\nclass=\"latch\">LATCH<\/span> came along was the best way.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nAnyway, back to today, the A3's rear belts didn't have that &#8220;tighten\nonly&#8221; feature. These antiquated belts are the worst type for <span class='nobr'>a car<\/span>\nseat, and can't even be used by some car seats. Luckily, our seat (<a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.britaxusa.com\/products.cfm?action=ShowProduct&amp;pro_id=7C71C785-4FBA-422D-83DC419B3D5B8213\">Britax\nMarathon<\/a>) has <span class='nobr'>a special<\/span> feature such that it can be sued with these\nlame belts.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nBut shame on you Audi. Just shame on you.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Anyone who's dealt much with infant seats and child car seats knows of the various ways to attach the seat to the car. The best way is via LATCH anchor points (LATCH is the contrived acronym for \"<b>L<\/b>ower <b>A<\/b>nchors and <b>T<\/b>ethers for <b>CH<\/b>ildren\"), which became mandatory on all new cars sold in the US since Sep 2002, although most new cars had them years before that. <\/p><p> In other parts of the world, these anchor points are called ISOFIX, and they've been around for quite some time. For example, an article at Audi Japan from 1999 states that the [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}