Four tips for installing the Diono Radian 3QXT child restraint

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Disclaimer: I am not a certified child passenger safety technician (CPST). If you need help in installing your car seat, contact a certified CPST. Thoughts and opinions found in this blog post are based on my experience during my installation and have not been influenced in any way by Diono or by any of its affiliates.

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Since my son is almost too big for his infant car seat, I took it upon myself to learn how to install his new convertible car seat, the Diono Radian 3QXT. I have chosen this car seat because:

  • It is narrow, allowing three car seats to be placed side-by-side in the back seat. 
  • It is designed to keep babies in rear-facing mode until they are 50 lbs.
  • It can be used until the child requires booster seats (possibly up to 120 lbs.).
  • Additional safety features (like the anti-rebound bar) provide more protection.

installed car seat
The Diono Radian 3QXT installed in the car in rear-facing mode


I installed the car seat in the Mercedes Benz C230 while my son was napping. I thought that would be a quick and easy installation for a first-timer like me, but I was wrong. So here I share some tips that may help parents stumped with any installation steps. Note that I only have installed the car seat in rear-facing mode.

Get someone to help you, if possible.

The Diono Radian 3QXT is so heavy! I could lift it but had difficulty positioning it during installation. Once it was installed using the LATCH strap, I discovered that I needed a second person (my dad) to put weight on the car seat while I tightened the LATCH strap. My dad also helped me in inserting the angle adjuster. Suffice it to say that installation is a two-person operation. Those ladies who were installing Radian car seats in YouTube videos are very strong, I have to say.

Adjust harness straps before seat installation.

I'm so glad that I followed this instruction (found in the user's manual) because it's virtually impossible to do harness strap adjustments with the car seat installed in the car I'm currently driving. The Mercedes Benz C230 is pretty compact that I have to uninstall the car seat before I rethread the harness. Or am I not doing something correctly?

I sat my child on the car seat in the house (before his nap) and checked the harness strap height and the distance of the buckle strap. Once I was confident that the positions were appropriate for my child's size, I waited for him to nap and then I installed the car seat.  

Watch the Diono installation videos before seat installation. 

The assumption is that the user has read the Diono car seat manual and the vehicle manual before attempting an installation. 

(I did both the night before I installed the car seat.)

There are a lot of details that have been left out of the manual. For example, the manual did not mention operating the LATCH system. That information can be found in the video installation guide. The manual did mention that the seat shouldn't move more than one inch from side to side, but I didn't know where to hold the seat along the belt path during testing; the video showed that too. I can't remember seeing instructions on how to rethread the car seat harness straps in the manual. I saw how it's done in a user video (not the official company how-to video). 

The videos that proved useful to me are:

Diono installation videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5D3LgEEHn5Ry2xKpBKQftB4psY2uqhPO

How to adjust the Diono Radian harness strap height: https://youtu.be/PoD1qxlhv8o

Insert the angle adjuster before tightening the LATCH strap.

It is very important to ensure the car seat is securely installed. This is why the car seat is tested for budging after the LATCH strap is tightened. Because of its recline angle, the rear-facing car seat is a space hog, eating up legroom in the front passenger seat. To lessen the angle, I bought an angle adjuster, a square piece of foam that is inserted underneath the car seat until the side closest to the rear-facing base touches it. The angle adjuster reduces the car seat's recline, buying the front-seat passenger some wiggle room to adjust his/her legroom. 

Inserting the angle adjuster under a tightly installed car seat is difficult, so I loosened the LATCH strap a bit before pushing the angle adjuster into the bottom of the car seat. In my case, I definitely needed my dad's help because I didn't have the upper body strength to push. 

Now that the Diono Radian 3QXT is installed, I've requested a virtual car inspection with AAA, the insurance provider. It has child passenger safety technicians who can evaluate the installation and provide tips on how to do it correctly. 

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