Cosco alpha omega elite

[Unregistered]

Is it possible that my son has outgrown the height of his carseat or has the back piece that moves up and down come off of it's tracks. My son just turned 3 and he is about 38 lbs. and 38" tall. I hate the thought of already moving him to the shoulder belt/booster seat position because I like the safety of the 5-point harness. Anyone else have a problem with the cosco alpha omega back piece coming off?

[scatterbunny]

What headrest/harness setting do you have it on? Slide it all the way down, then move it up. It should only have four harness positions. It CAN move up one more, a fifth position, but that position is only for booster mode, not for use with the harness.

So if your son's shoulders are over the harness slots in the fourth headrest setting, he is too tall for the seat, yes, it is outgrown.

My daughter got too tall for her 3-in-1 at 37.5-38 inches tall and just 35 pounds, at only 2.5 years old. Moving to a booster before age 4 is much too risky. Kids that age don't understand the need to sit still the whole car ride. Smaller, younger kids are just much, much safer in a five point harness.

Even if he weren't outgrowing it by height, he's very close to the harnessed weight limit of 40 pounds. I'd start looking for another harnessed seat, one with a higher harnessed weight limit.

What vehicle do you drive (year, make and model), and what is your budget?

[mommycat]

I would have to double-check at home, but I believe there are only 4 headrest positions, including the bottom one? So the 4th position is the booster-only one. Please verify this.

[scatterbunny]

Hmm, I don't have ours anymore but I could swear there are four usable sets of harness slots. :confused:

[mommycat]

I will be checking when I get home! :P

[snowbird25ca]

I would have to double-check at home, but I believe there are only 4 headrest positions, including the bottom one? So the 4th position is the booster-only one. Please verify this.

The 3-in 1's with 2006 DOM that I was working with yesterday had 4 slots - 3 usable. Seems to me that was how our Alpha Omega was too?

But the common car seat measurements page shows 4 heights, so I'm not sure unless they included the height of the booster only setting?

eta: This is a quote from the dorel site:

• 4 position padded headrest adjusts with harness – never needs re-threading!

So to me it sounds like 4 positions - and we know the top one isn't usable with the interior harness, so I think it's only 3?

[mominabigtruck]

I'm pretty sure its only three because if it was 4 the top slot would have to be higher then it is because the bottom one isn't that low.

[mominabigtruck]

Check out the side picture of the changing AOE http://www.coscojuvenile.com/product.asp?productID=562
It shows where the slots are without padding in the booster mode, I don't think there's four usable slots below that.

[scatterbunny]

10.5 12.3 13.5 15

Those are the 4 harness heights of the Alpha Omega Elite. 15 inches is NOT booster mode; that is the highest harness setting.

[scatterbunny]

This is so strange, then! :confused: I know the AO (not Elite, so mine would have the same measurements as listed on carseatdata.org for the Eddie Bauer 3-in-1) that I had with Hayley had 4 positions. I know I never used it in the highest position, and that she outgrew it with about a 14.5 inch torso. :confused:

[mominabigtruck]

That's weird that the middle sets of slots are so close together:confused: That's the only way the 4 sets of slots would make sense is if they are spaced really close.

[scatterbunny]

Yes, that was one of the things I loved about it when we used it--the straps never were way above her shoulders. :p Of course, back then I didn't know there were other features more important than that. :rolleyes:

[mominabigtruck]

Yeah, I loved it for all my mom's babysitting kids because it was super easy for her to adjust and installed great in her caravan. And Dallas made until 4 in there just because he's so short torsoed. I do agree though that the original poster needs to be looking for another seat.

[mommycat]

I checked mine here at home and it does look like there are 5 slots - the very bottom, 3 in between, and the top lablelled for booster only. (So I guess I had another few months in this seat :o But I really wanted my other seats, so I guess that's ok...)
I will try to take a pic of the back sometime, can't right now.

[scatterbunny]

Thank goodness! I was beginning to think I was going crazy! :p