LATCH RETROFIT PROJECT



What is LATCH and why would I want it on my car?  LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren.  It is an continuation of the program to make children's car seats safer.  It is estimated that 80% of kids riding in safety seats are at risk because the seats are not buckled in correctly.  LATCH is required on most child safety seats and vehicles manufactured after September 1, 2002.

Simply speaking, the LATCH system consists of anchor points built into a vechile and a belt/teather that is used to secure a child's safety seat instead of using the belt buckle.  Why is it so difficult to lock a safety seat in?  It's hard to describe, but I have inspected seat installations and I would say that 8 in 10 seats being improperly installed sounds about right.

If you would like more infomation on the LATCH program, visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's LATCH page.

When I asked my dealer's Parts Department about it, they referred me to a body shop, saying that they don't do retrofits.  All I wanted to know was what the part number was.  I've seen the brackets in the newer Impalas, but short of removing the seat, I didn't know what was involved in installing them in an older Impala.  And I am pretty sure the dealer would frown on me taking apart one of their cars.

I just got my hands on a 2003 base model so guess what I did when I got home...

	This is what the bracket looks like once the seat is removed.  It looks like a metal bracket with the mounting points welded to it.
	This is a close up of the center mounting points.  The two dots on the seat back indicate where the points are since they are not readily visible when the seat cushion is installed.
	This is a close up of the driver's side bracket.  You can see that it is not a complex device.  The same indicator dot can be seen above the bracket.

This looks like a simple bolt-in installation, but I need my car to make a comparison.  I also need the part number.  There were three numbers embossed into the bracket: C2281M, 88898225, and 8898226.


Matt did some research and the GM "experts" tell him that the part numbers I provided are for a Lumina only.  Pretty funny since I got the numbers right off the part.  I have not gotten around to taking my car apart yet so I'll keep you posted.