Recaro Young Sport short harness issue?

UPDATED WITH PICS IN POST 8


I have no clue if this is a common problem as no one on here really has one Searching didn't do me much good

I've never had a problem with a harness in a seat before. My kid is teeny tiny. They are all long enough

However when I put on her Columbia fleece yesterday and she was a little "bigger" and went to loosen the straps of her young sport I realized they didn't loosen very far (I usually never loosen or tighten much). When I tried to tighten the harness there was like 1 inch of harness hanging out. The harness was tight with the jacket. I guess I never noticed if it was short or not before cause I never adjusted it, but I know it wasn't 1 ". There's really nothing left to pull

She is no where near 40 lbs and is average height but has a short torso(maybe 13-13.5" or so, she fits in all 40 lb seats forward facing other than the CS) . She's got 1" to go before even moving up to the next "slots".

Is there even gonna be any harness left? I don't even see how there will be if I move the straps up. Won't there be less? You can't loosen or tighten the harness at all (no its not caught, it really is that short)

I tried younger DD in it yesterday who is fairly small for her age and it was still very short for her

But I remember a pic of I think firemoms 5 year old in the seat and she was wayyyyy bigger than my tiny kid and she seemed to have enough harness

I'm stumped

That is strange I haven't had any issues like that. Yes, my 4y/o used the YS w/o a problem. Have you tried taking the seat out and playing with it? Maybe its getting caught on something?
In this pic you can see how there is plenty of harness length left, and she was on the top slot.
When my dh gets home I'll go out and check out my YS and see if I would have the same problem.

I'm gonna try moving the harness up one too. I'll double check everything is good and not caught when I try that. Your daughter is MUCH bigger than mine so something has to be not right. Maybe its weird like when you get to the end of one harness "slot" and run out of harness you magically gain some when you move it up? I think the GN had that happen. I hope so. I am NOT giving up my YS. I refuse!


ETA: Did they change anything on the seats recently? How old was the one in your pic? It will be interesting to see if your new one is the same as your old. Maybe a different harness or something. Mines an 09. If they are the same though, I'm stumped!

I didn't notice any differences between my older one & my new one. I know what you mean, I LOVE my YS and could never seperate from it. Even as a booster its just fantastic

I have never played with one. However my only thought would be the harness is getting caught somehow on something.

This used to be a pretty common complaint, somehow people just dealt with that super short harness adjuster strap. Not sure if it's longer now or what. I hope it IS caught on something, knowing how unlikely Recaro is to do something sensible like send you a longer strap (spotty customer service is a big problem for them...)

Well, since my RYS is in the living room after a deep clean and detail I thought I'd see how DD fits. She's over the weight limit at 45+#. I'm not sure on her exact height, but she's over 43" and 6 yrs old. She still has lots of height in the harness, and this is the straps all the way loose, but they could be tightened up a bit more. I also put the headrest/harness on the tallest setting. You should have lots more harness. Mine is manuf. 8/4/05.

BTW, not an easy seat to clean and I've had it 3 yrs and haven't washed it. Not normal for me. Anyway, big PITA, but it looks nice now!

Pics finally after surviving the piggy flu

Evelyn is 4y2m, 40" with a 13" torso and 30.5 lbs-31 lbs. She is on the top harness position with about 2- 2 1/2" before reaching that so not even close to outgrowing it

Harness properly tightened with a thin Columbia fleece.


Growing room until reaching top slots. About 2 1/2"



Tight harness


And the whole amount of harness adjuster left. She can't grow much more or I can't loosen it! The harness is as tight as it can go on her. She is not big by any means




I've called and email and emailed pictures. I am always told the same thing. If she runs out of harness room, the seat is outgrown, which I understand. But this seat shouldn't be outgrown with a tiny 30 lb child. Even at 24 lbs she only had 3-4 inches of adjuster strap left

So I give up. She'll go into the TFP FFing when she outgrows the seat until Recaro's new HWH seat comes out or she gets boostered. And yes, even though their CS sucks, I will still buy Recaro seats cause it's all I like and the only seats that work well for her *sigh*

That is just so weird!

I still think you should try a belligerant paper letter with your pictures and comparison pics to another Young Sport before giving up entirely!