Question Britax Advocate CS

I recently bought the Britax Advocate CS for my 15 month old after reading many great reviews on the carseat. We are having a major problem with it. It is very difficult to tighten the straps. It clicks (to tell me it is tight enough) with the first pull (when it is still visibly loose). Trying to tighten it after that is almost impossible. It is so difficult to pull that the whole car moves when my husband tries to tighten it. I have tried tightening the straps without my little guy in the seat, and it seems to tighten much easier... it is almost like the weight of him in the seat is affecting the adjustment. Do we have it installed incorrectly, or is there something wrong with the seat?? Very frustrated and disappointed!! Please help!

Unfortunately this is a common problem with the CS, it doesn't usually work correctly
The harness system is a pull-release-pull-release, it won't tighten with one smooth pull. And yes, what you can do is put your child in the seat, do the chest clip and then before you do the crotch buckle tighten the harness (it will be easier this way)
If you are truly unhappy with the seat can you return it?

The large Britaxes all have that annoying adjuster...it ratchets rather than havin a smooth pull.

OP, I don't know how attached you are to this particular seat, but I would honestly never recommend it to anyone. It's over priced, cramped for a rear facing toddler, has only a 35 pound rear facing limit and has only about 16" top slots meaning it's going to be outgrown a lot faster than other large convertibles.

If you can return it, I'd look at the Graco My Ride, the Safety First Complete Air or any of the Sunshine Kids Radians :thumbsup:

My 17m old is in an advocate rf and has been in it since 15 months. I did not buy it for the CS feature, but it only came that way. I thought I would like it and it would provide peace of mind, but I agree that it clicks too soon. I find if I give it another good tug, when it clicks a second time it is good. But after reading this thread, I am having an almost anxiety attack wondering if I am wrong about that. It seemed that it was definitely continuing to tighten after the first click, but someone said it doesn't work like that. Am I missing something? Thank you.

No, that's fine, and that's what you should do. The PP was trying to explain that the CS feature doesn't work...it's an overpriced fail of a gimmick. Tighten until the harness is tight enough (tested by trying to pinch webbing horizontally at the shoulders) and ignore any 'clicks' regardless of where or whether they occur :thumbsup:

Thank you. That is really bad and dangerous that it clicks too soon. I hadn't realized this was a common problem with it. I actually thought that I might just be a little pickier about having it really tight because I often think that I do go a little overboard with that and sometimes worry I may be making it too tight because I also don't want to hurt my little ones. (Especially when I was taught the two finger rule, something that caused me great unnecessary anxiety because to follow that I absolutely would have to hurt my kids to get it tight enough, assuming it is even humanly possible to get it that tight given my small fingers, but I digress.) If anyone else is ever watching my kids, I will make sure to make a big point of ignoring the click. But what about people who do not know and trust it? I will contact Britax right now to complain about it not working properly and the danger and I can tell the store I bought it from, but is there somewhere more official we can report this failing. That's how things generally get fixed. Many product recalls are issued because consumers speak up and let our agency know that a product is dangerous.

Otherwise, I actually do like the seat - easy install, user friendly (other than CS), rf tether, very cozy, and oh so pretty. I know the pretty part doesn't matter, but if I'm spending $300, I want it to be pretty.

I've been having problems recently trying to tighten the Advocate. When I first installed it, it was fine. I would tighten until the "click" and then give another tug.

Lately, I can't seem to tighten the seat at all unless I loosen the straps and then tighten.

Are you pulling the slack out of the hip area before you try to tighten? That seems to help too.

(FYI - I am not the original poster (I am the one who has been consistently labelling oneself as another unregistered to differentiate and hopefully not be too confusing), but I have had an issue with it too and hoped I could both add info to and get info out of this discussion. Thank you to the techs and others helping with this.)

Good point. I find I have to start by pulling any slack from below first through the buckle so that all the slack is above the buckle. I think they explicitly say that for the CS to work, but I was already doing that instinctively with our other seat. However, even after pulling that extra slack up, it is hard to keep it up there completely and I think I do it again (or check it) before I pull to tighten again. Could that be part of the problem with the CS working properly or clicking too soon? I will have to play with it a little and make sure I am correct about exactly what I do and what happens.

I called Britax. The person asked that I first go through the troubleshoting steps outlined in the manual and then if it still is not working properly, she wants me to call back and she said they would want to replace the seat. But I don't really want that because I don't think it would make a difference and otherwise, I am perfectly happy with our seat.

Hi Everyone,

I am the original poster... it took me a while to comment, as I was having trouble finding the thread.
Anyway, I am really surprised by the number of us who have had this problem... and it definitely is a problem.
I was looking at a review of this car seat which included a demo of tightening the straps/harness... the guy had no trouble doing it in one or two smooth tugs AND he continued talking as he did it... something myself or my husband are not able to do! I did notice that he pulled down on the strap when tightening, but if I recall correctly, the seat was forward facing, mine is rear facing. The manual does specify to pull straight, not up or sideways. We find it difficult to do this, as the back of the actual seat of the car is in the way.
I have not contacted Britax YET, but I will!! I do like the response that one of the other posters got from Britax about replacing it... good customer service...However, you are right, if that's just the way it works, then what good is replacing it going to do.

Just to clarify, the problem(s) we are having is: that it clicks with the first pull, even though it doesn't even look like it has tightened; it is super difficult to pull (I have to use all of my body weight... good core workout though!); there is still a lot of slack when it says it is tight. The only way we can get it "okay" is to tighten it as much as we can before putting his arms through. (I am really picky about how tight it is... two finger rule all the way!!) I don't understand why it is so much easier (physically) to tighten when my little guy is not in it.
I will contact Britax to see what they can do for me. I don't think taking it back is an option as we have had it for a couple of months and I did not keep the box!!! (Have the receipt though!) Really disappointing after spending all that money. Just trying to keep my little guy safe.
Anyway, thanks for your responses. Please let me know if you know something that I don't. I will keep you posted on the outcome.

I was wondering if I have my harness too much below her shoulders and perhaps that is making it harder to tighten. Mine does tighten (unlike the original poster), but I have noticed it is considerably harder to do than our ff seat and am not sure why. I am still getting used to these continuously adjustable harness slots and knowing where exactly to put them. Does anyone have a trick to knowing the best place to position them for a rf toddler. (Or ff since my older child sometimes rides in a blvd?)

Thank you !!!

Another Unregistered said:

I was wondering if I have my harness too much below her shoulders and perhaps that is making it harder to tighten. Mine does tighten (unlike the original poster), but I have noticed it is considerably harder to do than our ff seat and am not sure why. I am still getting used to these continuously adjustable harness slots and knowing where exactly to put them. Does anyone have a trick to knowing the best place to position them for a rf toddler. (Or ff since my older child sometimes rides in a blvd?)

Thank you !!!

Click to expand...

Does the manual give any guidance as to where the shoulder straps should be? If not, and if the shoulder height is infinitely adjustable I'd have the straps *at* the shoulders for RF. FF you can also have the straps at the shoulders in an infinitely adjustable seat, or put them slightly above if you don't want to be checking constantly for growth.

As far as I can tell, it is infinitely adjustable. There is a knob you turn that moves the head wing/harness piece up and down as you turn it. The manual does not give a lot of guidance for the harness slot position rf. It does state the harness straps should be "at or slightly below" the shoulders. For ff, it specifies that the line drawn between the harness slot and the child's shoulders to determine relative position must be parallel to the ground. However, it does not specify anything for rf that I could find. I thought I read something about this on another thread, but I have not been able to find it so I am sorry if this was already covered. I am unclear whether it has to be at or below the shoulder when a line is drawn parallel to the ground or when a line is drawn perpendicular to the seat so that the line would angle down because of the reclined seat. Does that make sense? Your suggestion to have it at the shoulder does sound like the ideal if I understand things correctly, but I just want to make sure that my having it at does not accidentally end up as above because i draw the imaginary line incorrectly. Thank you. This is a huge help.

It is infinitely adjustable. The straps do not need to be below her shoulders. *At* her shoulders is the correct position for an infinitely adjustable harness.

Thank you so much for all your help. I just have one last thing I am unclear about. To determine at what point the harness is at the shoulders, do I draw the lin from shoulder to harness slot parallel to the ground (as one would for ff) or perpendicular to the rf seat (as one would to determine shell height). I would call them, but I don't think their customer service reps would know more than in the mnual and it isn't there. I just want to make sure I have it right. Thank you!