Marathon buckles

[MelllieMa]

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Hi everyone,
I installed two new MAs this week for moms that had been shopping around for a while. Turns out both of these children can easily unbuckle them! (they are not related and do not know one another) One mother called me and asked me to see her seat again and had her DD show me how she unbuckled herself. This girl is little (petite, maybe 36") and 2 1/2. She simply strokes upward on the buckle with her middle finger (similar to the ASL sign for 'happy' if you know it) and the buckle releases. Has anyone else here experienced this loose buckle phenomenon? I was shocked at how easily it released with such little force!
Oh, and I did tell the moms that this is a behavioral issue, too, and gave some coaching on how to stop the behavior. But, for the one child at least, it seems to happen accidentally as she is playing or dancing in her seat, and it doesn't appear that she's doing it intentionally, so behavioral guidance won't help anything.

[UlrikeDG]

I'm taking Roman to get a hair cut in about 4 minutes (cramming food down my throat right now). I'll check both my MAs while I'm out and post back to you. That sounds like a potential defect.

[UlrikeDG]

I tried both Marathons, and I was unable to unlatch either of them by stroking upward on the red button. Eva (4) also tried to unbuckle herself using her fingers (Roman uses his thumbs), and was unable to do so.

Federal regulations do list standards for how much force should be necessary to undo the latch on a child seat. If her buckle requires very little force to unlatch, it is likely that she got a defective one. She should contact Britax (1-888-4-BRITAX) to receive a replacement, and report it to NHTSA.

[joolsplus3]

I have read of a couple of these being VERY easy to open. Britax replaced them free and fast.

[River]

i too have two marathons and have never had an 'easy' time unbuckeling them - i really have to push with my thumb to get them to release!

now every once in a while, a teeny piece of my son's clothing will get in the buckle between the inserting clip and the stationary clip - in between the black parts, not the silver piece and that will actually make the buckle appear 'engaged' but it's not!

i know using the belly pad would prevent the above, but sometimes it's just to aggrevating to fish it from under their bottoms - lol!

i too would say this is a defect - in an accident, something could easily touch or stress this and cause it to unlatch!