Twisty Frontier straps?

[Heather98012]

When you guys talk about this, what do you mean? Are you referring to them just getting twisted around & you can flip them back over & buckle? Or are you saying they are getting twisted behind the cover?

I'm kinda annoyed. Today while running errands, one of the buckles for the crotch strap got TWISTED AROUND. The strap is fine, but the stupid buckle was facing backwards. No amount of playing with it in the Trader Joe's parking lot worked, so I had no choice but to twist it around as best I could, click my dd in place & tighten as much as possible (which was not enough, due to the twist). I was freaked & drove like a 90 year old the whole way home.

Is this what you guys are talking about when you mention straps twisting? I love this seat, but I am SO not thrilled with the harness (hugs, buckles sliding WAY down, & now the buckle facing the wrong way). Gggrrrrrr....... :thumbsdown:

[Heather98012]

Ok, so my dh was convinced I was just stupid, but no....he had to work on it for a while, too. There is one little place where the webbing can twist & sure enough, the buckle turned backwards.

It's corrected now, but man, that sucked.

[zactayaus]

I haven't had it happen in my Frontier yet. I have had the same thing happen in my Cargo though (many times), and I could definetely see it happening at some point in my Frontier. The trick is trying to catch it before it totaly flips the other way. Once it has flipped it is a royal PITA to get back facing the other way.

[Heather98012]

Well, of course, when it happened, it was 'cause my dd had fallen asleep & when I was undoing her buckles, she rolled away from me over onto her side in an attempt to get me to leave her alone so she could sleep...LOL. I'm certain she did something at that time to make it happen. I'll just make sure to be diligent when undoing the buckles & hope it doesn't happen again.

[joolsplus3]

Mine was completely twisted in the buckle tongue... But yeah, I think it was just us being over-exuberant when we first got it...I had kids in and out of it and it put it in booster mode and things were just crazy, lol... I hope it doesn't happen again, it's a pain to fix!

[tanyaandallie]

We got ours on Monday and it was twisted when I installed it. It twisted again today. How annoying. Other than that we love the seat! My dd LOVES it!!!

[dhardawa]

When I talk about twisty straps, I don't think about what you're describing at all. I think of the Cosco seats where the harness permanently folds over on itself and kind of crunches down so that it is more like a rope than a harness. There is also no way to fix this because as soon as you get it relatively flat, it just folds or curls back up.

[joolsplus3]

Yeah, they aren't old-cosco-ropy, just more twisty than we are used to (Recaro has the same problem, the quality of the straps is 'supposedly' a higher grade silkier polyester that's not rough textured and solid like a good ol' Marathon... my MA never even considered twisting in the buckle tongue :o)

[dhardawa]

Yeah, they aren't old-cosco-ropy, just more twisty than we are used to (Recaro has the same problem, the quality of the straps is 'supposedly' a higher grade silkier polyester that's not rough textured and solid like a good ol' Marathon... my MA never even considered twisting in the buckle tongue :o)

I remember when the Marathon came out, people complained about the harness being so thick and uncomfortable though and wanting one more like the Roundabout.

[joolsplus3]

Yeah, I remember that too, lol... people do like to complain :rolleyes:

[tanyaandallie]

Agreed. It's not at all twisty in the tradional sense of what we consider twisty. But the the buckle tounge does get turned around. A huge pain, esp for a newly turned 5 year old to figure out as she tried to buckle herself in. She couldn't figure out what was going on with her seat.

[all together ooky]

The first time I installed mine the harness was messed up. One side was longer than the other and the strap was all twisted. So I uninstalled it and found that the bottom anchor for the harness (where the comes out by the hips) wasn't snapped into place. So, I snapped it back into place after untwisting it. That was a PITA. BUT, now I'm reading that the buckle tongues are twisting for people too? Ugh, that was a big reason I didn't like the Triumph Advance. There just isn't a perfect seat, huh?

[Heather98012]

There just isn't a perfect seat, huh?


Testify, sister!

[mamabear]

yes
If I pull up the buckle tongue too quickly, sometimes it "folds over" as I'm pulling it up and over DD's thigh to buckle it. When it folds over, and I'm pulling, the buckle ends up turning around backward.

I can do the buckling carefully enough that I can prevent it now (now that I know that it can happen) but it's still annoying!!

One of the main reason I love Britax is that they DO NOT usually have this issue:thumbsup:

I think that if the webbing were thicker like my MA this may not happen. we'll see if they ever change it.

Other than that, I love this seat!!!!

[Heather98012]

OMG, one of the buckles got turned around AGAIN today! That is twice in 4 days. Seriously, this may be an issue for me. I can't have this constantly happening for the next 3+ years.

Do I contact Britax & ask them about it? What do I even say? I mean, how do you complain about something that is simply a PITA? But my fear is, that if they don't hear about problems from consumers, they won't change it. And these straps HAVE to be changed to something less slippery.

Thoughts on the issue?!?!

[essnce629]

I would contact Britax regarding the problem and would encourage everyone else to do the same thing. I plan on contacting them as soon as I get my correct Frontier. The strap already twisted once when trying my son out in the pink Frontier that Albee Baby shipped me and both straps twisted in the 3 minutes I played with the display Frontier at The Right Start store. They really need to provide some thicker replacement straps because I don't want to deal with twisty straps for the next several YEARS as well. And the Frontier is for my boyfriend's car and I know for sure that he will NOT deal with them either!

[Heather98012]

I was up super late (1 am PST) last night & I plan on calling Britax when I feel a little more wide awake. I don't want to stumble over my words, ya know?!

But seriously....it happened 2 times in my car & almost happened 1 time in dh's (we each have a Frontier now)....he stopped it 'cause he saw it starting to flip, but you can't ALWAYS be that on top of it with a squirmy toddler. And again.....all 3 of these incidents were within a 4 day time frame. UGH!

I'll let you know what I find out. If they replace the straps so this doesn't keep happening....man, I'd be in heaven.

If anyone else has had these problems (as Latia stated) would you call Britax as well? They can't fix a problem it they don't know it exists, ya know?

[Heather98012]

Ok, I just got off the phone with Tracy from Britax CS. I explained what happened to her & she hadn't heard of it. I was put on hold while she discussed it with someone else & they informed me that it should be "relatively easy" to just flip the buckle tongue back around. I chuckled & told her that conceptually, it should be, but that in reality, it wasn't easy as both my dh & I had a hard time fixing it.

I asked if there were any plans to come out with a new harness to use & she said no, not at this time. I told her I kinda expected that, because it was so new, which was why I was calling; they needed to hear consumer feedback to make improvements.

She was super nice & said she would pass the info along to the appropriate people. I didn't get the answer I was hoping for, but then again, I didn't really expect to...not yet, at least. So, if you have experienced this as well, I'd recommend you call to let Britax know. If they hear about it enough, perhaps we'll see some new harness options come along. I'd be doing cartwheels if that were the case!!

[joolsplus3]

Ugh. I'll call when it happens to me again.

[mamabear]

I'm calling too...........

[Unregistered]

I'll call aswell. In the parking lot of the grocery store, i had to take my seat out, undo the harness completely because BOTH sides TWISTED, and there was no way in H E double Toothpicks I was driving with my DS like that.

Wendy
Mommy to Joey (2, FF, Frontier) and Scotty-or-Lexi (Due Oct 24)

[Unregistered]

I'm a Britax lover and had to have a Frontier. I've definitely been disappointed with the straps on it as compared to the straps on my Regent, Boulevard, and Roundabout. So, assuming the straps are the same, and I know they do have the same 80lb weight limit, would it be insane to order replacement Regent straps from Britax and put them on my Frontier? I'm not a CPS tech, so I don't know if this is a big no no or not. Probably. But it seems like such a good fix! Thanks!
Sarah

[Jeanum]

I doubt Britax would okay replacing the harness on a Frontier with a Regent harness, and I would not recommend doing so unless Britax expressly approved it. Now if Britax were to develop a replacement harness for the Frontier that was closer to the strap thickness used on other Britax seats and less prone to twisting, that would be a welcome improvement. :)

[joolsplus3]

No, don't use a different seat's harness...and Britax claims the FR and Regent have the same 'tier' of harness (same quality/thickness), so it's unlikely to be an improvement anyway.:thumbsdown:

[snowbird25ca]

No, don't use a different seat's harness...and Britax claims the FR and Regent have the same 'tier' of harness (same quality/thickness), so it's unlikely to be an improvement anyway.:thumbsdown:

And based on my limited experience with the straps twisting, it's not that the webbing is super thin - some of the twisting is happening because of the depth from where the hip strap is at the top of the shell, and where it is anchored underneath - the strap I untwisted had twisted inside and I don't think a thicker strap would make much difference there. Somebody I know has observed that it's the harness clip dropping down from the shell of the seat that is allowing the twisting to happen.

[Judi]

An I the only one that has not had this problem?



:: Knocks of wood ::

[emars002]

An I the only one that has not had this problem?



:: Knocks of wood ::

i haven't yet but we have only used it twice - I am knocking on wood with you