Updated My Ride/Nautilus info straight from a Graco CPSTI

As some of you may recall, I was having serious issues installing the My Ride FF in my vehicle. After emailing Graco U.S.A. and Elfe Canada, I received conflicting information.

I was told:

1. the FF feet *must* fully contact the vehicle seat by Graco U.S.A.
2. the FF feet could be raised off the vehicle seat if the install was otherwise tight by Elfe
3. the front of the My Ride could *not* overhang the vehicle seat by both Graco U.S.A. and Elfe

With Elfe's information, I could get the seat installed acceptable to them. The front of the My Ride completely on my seat and the feet raised, less than an inch of movement.

With Graco U.S.A.'s information, I could *not* get the seat installed properly as the only way the feet can touch my vehicle seat is by having the front of the My Ride hang off the vehicle seat.

I was not satisified with the contradictory answers so I went up the chain and was emailing with someone higher up the chain than a CSR. I was initially told they would investigate and get back to me. A year later and a few more unanswered emails and I had not heard back. I emailed once more today for one last shot at getting an answer and Carol from Graco U.S.A. called me. She is a tech and instructor and does many checks in Florida.

I now have the skinny on the My Ride installation and a piece of Nautilus information.

1. Graco is now going with the 80/20 rule for the My Ride AND the Nautilus in HARNESSED MODE ONLY - this means that 20% of the base can hang off the front of the vehicle seat, 80% must contact the vehicle seat
2. the feet of the My Ride do NOT have to touch the vehicle seat as long as the seat is installed tight and has less than 1 inch of movement

So, this now means that I have TWO ways to acceptable install the My Ride in my vehicle. With the feet fully touching the seat is WAY reclined so not acceptable for my child, and to be honest, it's too reclined even with the feet raised off the seat, but it's less reclined this way.

Elfe Canada was correct and that my installation with the feet raised and tight WAS acceptable. At the time, they may also have been correct about the no overhang rule as it sounded to me like this may be a somewhat recent change. I seem to recall there may eventually changes to the manual to state this, but don't quote me on that. I was too busy clarifying *multiple* times that the feet could be off the seat.

I also followed up with an email that had a pic of my install with the feet raised and I verified that it was okay, along with verifying the 80/20 for both the My Ride and the Nautilus in *harnessed mode only*.

Hope this helps someone else. It would have saved me spending $500 on new seats if they would have got back to me sooner than a year later. *sigh*

glad you finally recieved an answer. That's useful information, especially on the nautilus.

Wait, what? Seriously? 80/20 on the harnessed Nautilus? That's a seriously huge change if that's true.

Qarin said:

Wait, what? Seriously? 80/20 on the harnessed Nautilus? That's a seriously huge change if that's true.

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She did state it in writing. I think the 80/20 may be for all of heir seats, but don't quote me on that as I only confirmed the MR and Nauti. She said it was to be in line with what's taught at the CPST course.

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Carol is the main one who represents Graco at lifesavers and she is a person who will not tell you anything unless she knows for a fact the info is correct. I am pleased with this change.

That is awesome!

That's awesome news! It definitely lines up with what makes sense to me.

TechnoGranola said:

She did state it in writing. I think the 80/20 may be for all of heir seats, but don't quote me on that as I only confirmed the MR and Nauti. She said it was to be in line with what's taught at the CPST course.

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The Cargo doesn't allow 80/20. I wouldn't believe this if it hadn't been Carol that said it. I'm still leary of it with the Nauti though. Hmmm. I wonder if they are allowing it for the Argos.

NannyMom said:

The Cargo doesn't allow 80/20. I wouldn't believe this if it hadn't been Carol that said it. I'm still leary of it with the Nauti though. Hmmm. I wonder if they are allowing it for the Argos.

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What I'm saying is the Cargo might *now*. But someone would have to confirm that with Carol as I was too busy repeatedly clarifying for the My Ride to care about other seats. LOL

Personally, I'm fine with believing it for the harnesses Nauti since the Canadian manual only states the "fully on the seat" thing in the booster section anyway.

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That's pretty awesome! I have had issues with recommending this seat because of the uncertainties wrt FF installs, so this clears up a lot of that anxiety. It still is a super-reclined seat when FF, but at least it's not technically incompatible any more. (And this means I may end up keeping it longer than I expected if the FF install makes me comfortable for DS2.)

The 80/20 rule thing for the Nautilus was sort of slipped a while ago in a webinar. I think the rep said "The Nautilus must be 100% on the seat with no overhang in booster mode." Afterwards a bunch of us were talking about it, saying "Did you hear what I heard?"

TechnoGranola said:

Personally, I'm fine with believing it for the harnesses Nauti since the Canadian manual only states the "fully on the seat" thing in the booster section anyway.

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That's what I've always thought... since there's no where else in the manual that says anything about 80%, or 100%, then the reps were just giving the only info they could find, too, which said 100%, in the booster section.

thanks for the update....good to know about the 80/20.

I'm the kind of person that prefers to hear it straight from the horse's mouth So I emailed Carol, and she told me the same thing.

Carol,
I've heard it has recently been stated that the My Ride and Nautilus (in harness mode) now follow the 80/20 rule for allowed overhang. And also that the "feet" at the back of the forward facing My Ride don't need to be fully on the vehicle seat if it is an otherwise good install. Can you verify this new information for me? Will the Argos also follow the 80/20 rule in harness mode?

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When the Nautilus is harnessed with a tight installation the 80/20 rule stands this is to stay in line with the curriculum teaching. You will note in the instruction book that when used as a belt positioning booster the entire seat bottom of the Nautilus must be in contact with the vehicle seat.

You must have a tight installation for the MyRide 65 - if you have contact with the vehicle back to the car seat and the bottom of the front of the MyRide 65 you must have a tight installation. Some vehicles have very customized seats so as you know you have to work with each vehicle seat as they come through a car seat check. We must have a tight installation - the one inch rule is a must.

Argos is not out yet - so no information at this time.

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So you didn't believe me huh?

Anyway, I reread my original replies from Elfe yesterday and they said that he MR had to be pressed against the back of the seat. Then I read your reply from Carol confirming that. Well the MR does NOT contact the back of my vehicle seat, with feet raised except at the very, very top. There is a gap the entire way down.

This irks me because last year I was told Graco would test the install in my vehicle and they never did. In the last year, Carol has purchased the SAME vehicle I have, yet apparently never tried the MR in it.

I still don't feel comfortable with my FF install and will not use it FF.

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Techno, are you able to raise this with Carol again? I would like to be completely clear on this. I can see a number of vehicles having a gap issue, I think our truck was one of them. That's frustrating. Do they mean full contact on the whole back, or is some amount of gap at the bottom at least acceptable? Please and thank you...

mommycat said:

Techno, are you able to raise this with Carol again? I would like to be completely clear on this. I can see a number of vehicles having a gap issue, I think our truck was one of them. That's frustrating. Do they mean full contact on the whole back, or is some amount of gap at the bottom at least acceptable? Please and thank you...

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Yes. I am going to email her my pics showing the gap and ask about it. In her defense, we didn't discuss the rear gap I had during our conversation.

She did say yesterday that as of today she is away for a weeks vacation so I don't expect I'll hear from her for a week minimum.

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I looked at my install pics again and now I think there may *not* be a gap at the back when installing with the feet raised off the seat. It appears it is *only* when I have the feet fully on the vehicle seat that there is a large gap at the back and cannot make it touch.

So, I want to make sure I am asking the correct question to Carol. Thus, I am going to need to install the MR FF again to verify if there is a gap at the back with the feet raised.

I am actually going to politely ask her if she can take some time to try the install in her MDX and get me pics of what she considers to be an acceptable install.

No matter, we need to know when a gap at the back is acceptable and when it is not, so I'll clarify my install and ask about the gap in general. (if the gap isn't acceptable ever, then my install with the feet on the seat will never be acceptable even though hanging off the front of the seat is now allowed)

Feel free to use any pictures from my post in your old thread. The truck pictures definitely show a case where there always seems to be a gap at the back.

Hey Techno, have you heard anything back wrt the gap-along-the-seatback issue?