I've been doing some research on how to protect the leather seats that my kids car seats are on. I've read mixed views, with some saying that using the rubber shelf lining is safe and protects the leather. Others saying that it can create a 'false' safe, others saying it doesn't protect, others saying that it can melt in the heat. I'm not worried about the false safety as DH tightens them so much it's insane, but am concerned about the melting. Having said that we have tinted windows, and am willing to replace it when needed. If I don't use this, what else can I use? The mats are unsafe, and I've heard mixed views also about using a thin towel. If anyone has visited a car seat 'professional' recently, I would appreciate any knowledge that you would share.
Although I want to minimize the damage to my car, I am not willing to sacrifice safety.
Also, has anyone used car seats on leather and been able to have them bounce back to previous condition?
thank you!
We have leather and so far so good. I don't see why you couldn't use towels...I used to put towels under their seats but haven't done it in this car yet. It was fine then...
We have had our vehicle for 7 years and there is no damage to our leather seats from carseats. We have never had an issue with anything melting and our seats have always been buckled very tight.
Good luck!
Edit* Haha! I was so confused about the "melting" part that I went back and read your post and realized that the melting issue is not applicable in our case. I need to clarify, we have used no protective measures for our leather seats. :)
We went through 2 kids, and 2 car seats, across the back of our backseat. My husband always put a towel under the carseats, and we never had any trouble with the seats looking nice, especially when we no longer used the car seats. We just made sure that (1) the kids did not eat food in the car, so it didn't spill on the seats (2) we took out the seats regularly, and vacuumed the leather seats, and washed the carseats, and used leather protector on the seats, and then put a clean towel down. Hope this helps.
When we had our son's seat installed the only thing the woman would use was the shelf liner. It was under his infant seat from March until December (on top of our leather seats) and I never had it melt. Our seats look totally fine after moving his seat from the middle to the passenger side, so I guess it did the job.
Back in the day.. Our daughter is now 21..
But when we used the car seat on leather, we purchased a seat cover that was thick and then a special seat mat that was a plastic thing.. It worked great and did not leave grooves. The seat was very secure. And did not worry about food and drinks spilling.
The seats looked brand new when we sold it.
When we had a free, local seat check, they used the shelf liner under ours. It never melted. The seat was fine when we removed it.
Never hurts to go to a free, local safety check. Call your local police dept.
(p.s. NEVER use towels or anything like that. That would be compromising safety!)
We use the shelf liners, and no issues with melting (car is black, with slightly tinted windows (factory standard).
I think the seats will "bounce" back once the carseats are gone.
I've never heard that the mats are unsafe and have used them with our carseats for years. I don't see how they could be unsafe - are they supposed to be more slippery than the leather (they're not)? Are they supposed to interfere with tightening the seat (our latch is much tighter than anyone who uses a seatbelt to install the seat)?
At any rate, our leather has kept it's shape and condition. I think the most important factor is cleanliness. We rarely allow food or drink in the car, and we clean up spills or smears as soon as they happen.
