My seat broke today -- How nice are the people at Sunshine Kids? A long sad story.

:crying:

So my seat broke today! YEP broke. Partly my fault - partly Sunshine Kids fault.

I have a 14 pound, just barely 3 month old. I have always had a really hard time getting his harness tight in his Radian. I wanted to use it from birth but couldn't do it because no matter how hard I tried it would NOT tighten enough. (no it isn't an issue with my car the harness doesn't touch the car at all it's a mechanical issue with the seat.)

I finally started using it a little less then a month ago. It was a VERY happy day. I was able to do a 3 across AND get my bigger two boys back into safer seats because there was enough room to install everyone in their "good" seats

My littlest had grown a little so it looked like he was even with the second slots now. I was hoping that if I changed the slots maybe it would be easier to tighten too as it would use more of the slack. I had no problems loosening my harness and changing the height. I did this all while my seat was installed, because it is rear faced I could reach everything a-ok! When I was done I pulled the harness tight again.

A little while later (while it was snowing of course) I went to put everyone in the car but realized that I had made the straps a little too tight - couldn't get his harms in When I went to loosen the car seat it wouldn't budge AT ALL - not even a little tiny bit!!! I tried tugging, ratcheting, swearing at it - LOL but it wouldn't go.

Finally I uninstalled it thinking it might be caught on the vehicle seat - still a no go. I drive a very cramped car and needed to turn the seat over to see what the problem was. MEANWHILE baby is full out SCREAMING! I got the seat out of the car so I could see what was wrong and FELL on the ice. I dropped the seat and cracked the plastic!!! :hitselfonhead:

We did end up making it out - in a borrowed bucket seat...

So now that I have the seat in my house I can not see why it won't tighten - there is a plastic cover on the bottom which blocks my view of the underside of the splitter plate. I can tell why it wouldn't loosen today though - the same plastic cover caught the metal clip that holds the harness. I actually had to force my hand inside and tug it out. SO this isn't going to work for me - every time I change his sweater I can't turn the seat upside down and pull the harness out! AND the boy has LOTS of sweaters to wear. (It's my issue - I can't not use every baby outfit he got at least once or I feel bad for the people who bought it. He got LOTS of sweaters and thin jackets and fleece so he hardly ever wears the same thing two days in a row.)

So I am hoping that just my Radian was a dud. I am hoping that I can use a Radian and not have harness issues - I am also hoping that my Radian is still usable (I doubt it though the whole broken plastic freaks me out!) I have contacted Sunshine Kids - I am really hoping that maybe, maybe please they will send me a new seat (since mine is only a month old!) but because only the harness issue is their fault and I am the one that fell, maybe they won't.

Thanks for reading my vent!

Wow, what a pain! Are you alright?

Where on the plastic is it broken?

A trick to tighten the harness is to reach behind the Radian, grab the harness straps, pull the slack out of them, while pulling up on the harness adjuster on the front. Barring that idea you can put the harness over baby as you normally would, buckle the chest clip, then tighten the harness a bit, then attempt to buckle the crotch buckles. It's trial and error to some degree, but after a few tries you should be able to eyeball how tight the harness needs to be before buckling.

Hope you can get your Radian replaced. It sounds like you need one for your 3 across.

tjham said:

Wow, what a pain! Are you alright?

Where on the plastic is it broken?

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Yes I am fine - Thank you.

The seat broke on the edge of the bottom. It sits right on where it broke.

canadiangie said:

A trick to tighten the harness is to reach behind the Radian, grab the harness straps, pull the slack out of them, while pulling up on the harness adjuster on the front. Barring that idea you can put the harness over baby as you normally would, buckle the chest clip, then tighten the harness a bit, then attempt to buckle the crotch buckles. It's trial and error to some degree, but after a few tries you should be able to eyeball how tight the harness needs to be before buckling.

Hope you can get your Radian replaced. It sounds like you need one for your 3 across.

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Hi -- Yep I have tried all these tricks. I battle with the seat AT Least 6 times a day, every day- they don't help it just tightens so far and the stops and nothing will move it more. Thanks though

Yes I do need a radian - for sanity anyway. I have a Rondo my options are - Generations, Radian, HBB which I prefer OR LBB, Snugride with no base, LBB. OR Random RF seat and Generations in the middle row and Load DS1 through the hatch into the back - he would sit with the stroller, dogs and backpacks -- talk about being "replaced" a baby comes and he becomes luggage.

If you happen to get another Radian and run in to this problem, please PM me so I can put you in contact with somebody from TC. This is a repeated issue with some of the seats - some adjust easily, others are a royal PITA.

I'd have to see a picture, but from the sounds of it I'm guessing the seat isn't usable. And SK stance as of late when it comes to Canadian warranty related issues has been to not be willing to do anything until a CRST has taken a look at the seat to determine who is at fault - the seat or the parent. (Backfired on them though, TC is now involved in regards to an issue that was brought to me.)

It's actually a pretty common problem.

I'm not sure *why* this works, but the easiest solution to a finnicky harness adjuster is to get baby in the seat, arrange the straps over his shoulders with the buckle tongues between the legs and the chest clip at the right location. Pull the crotch buckle up to the buckle tongues and eyeball how tight the harness needs to be. Then tighten the harness before buckling the seat in

Then force the tongues into the buckle. It should be fairly simply because the harness is all ready lying in the correct position.

Our Radians (I have 2) are very difficult to adjust the harness on - you are NOT alone !

Hey Trudy - you want to come look at my seats ? Somehow I doubt they'll take the word of a CRST who is also the parent.

I basically do what Maedze suggested...just adjust it to fit the first time. Sometimes Leah will be wearing a heavier sweater one day and we need to loosen the harness a bit to get it buckled. Instead of actually loosening it, I just hold the adjuster open while she buckles (ok, never mind, this plan clearly involves needing 3 hands ), then it's easier to buckle because it's just a smidgen looser, then I give it a quick tug to tighten it again. But we never actually loosen it by tugging the shoulder straps out, just hold the adjuster open while buckling.

snowbird25ca said:

If you happen to get another Radian and run in to this problem, please PM me so I can put you in contact with somebody from TC. This is a repeated issue with some of the seats - some adjust easily, others are a royal PITA.

I'd have to see a picture, but from the sounds of it I'm guessing the seat isn't usable. And SK stance as of late when it comes to Canadian warranty related issues has been to not be willing to do anything until a CRST has taken a look at the seat to determine who is at fault - the seat or the parent. (Backfired on them though, TC is now involved in regards to an issue that was brought to me.)

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Hi - Thanks for letting me know about possibly needing a CRST to look at it. I played with it A LOT last night and it seems like if I don't pull both straps EXACTLY evenly when I loosen the seat it gets stuck and won't come out of the plastic cover on the bottom. Every time I loosened it, it got stuck to some degree - once it got totally hung up and I had to fish it out again just like it did when I had to take it out of the car. It isn't practical or even really possible for me to be able to make sure that I (and everyone else who ever uses the seat) is able to pull it exactly evenly - my car stucks you have to stradle one seat while standing bent over in the car to get the baby in so you are totally at an angle. I have never had a problem in the 7+ years that I have been using car seats though so I know it is just an issue with this seat AND one that will eventually be outgrown because as soon as he is bigger the plate that holds the straps will not be pulled under the seat that much.

joolsplus3 said:

I basically do what Maedze suggested...just adjust it to fit the first time. Sometimes Leah will be wearing a heavier sweater one day and we need to loosen the harness a bit to get it buckled. Instead of actually loosening it, I just hold the adjuster open while she buckles (ok, never mind, this plan clearly involves needing 3 hands ), then it's easier to buckle because it's just a smidgen looser, then I give it a quick tug to tighten it again. But we never actually loosen it by tugging the shoulder straps out, just hold the adjuster open while buckling.

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Oh the things I could do if only I had another hand
So I really seem to have two issues with this seat - 1 it won't tighten and 2 when it does tighten it won't loosen again. This becomes a REAL issue for me because my little one is only 12 weeks old. He is cloth diapered and if we are going out for longer he wears a MUCH fluffier bum. Also depending on what clothes he is wearing he either wears a jacket, a fleece suit, OR no outwear at all if his clothes are puffy (in this instance I think that there is too much bulk already so I cover him really well with blankets so that I am not causing a dangerous situation with too puffy clothes.) Because he is so tiny anyway it does make a pretty big difference if he is wearing lighter clothes enough that the straps are dangerously loose and really need to be snugged up. Having a car seat that I can't adjust sort of defeats the purpose of even having a car seat, on the days that I can't get the seat to work at all I have to change his clothes or choose to not use my seat. It makes getting out of the house rather fun. I am hoping that I would be able to get another seat that doesn't have this problem. OR that maybe Sunshine Kids would be willing to work with me - (I don't know a coupon or something.) so that I can replace his seat because besides the harness issue I now also have a cracked car seat so it is totally not usable.

I am not a Canadian but have owned many Radians and have the same problem with RFing. Its gets better the bigger the baby gets (I think because the metal part doesn't go as far in the plastic hole to get caught) Its never happened FFing though its still not the easiest seat to adjust.

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned. Can you do: baseless Snugride, FFing Radian and HBB or Generations or LBB?

Lots of sympathy coming your way. I once dropped the radian folded on my foot. It probably would have broke if not for my foot. The kids learned some new words.

arly1983 said:

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned. Can you do: baseless Snugride, FFing Radian and HBB or Generations or LBB?

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I tried to use my Radian, Snugride, HBB at first but for some reason the Radian doesn't fit DS #2 -- the straps were out as far as they would go and he was totally smooshed he could barely breathe - so we swapped it out for the generations and DS #3 left the snugride and went it the Radian. I was actually wondering if I got a "Short strapped" one but mine is a 2008 and I think the strap problem was an earlier issue.

I talked to the people at Sunshine Kids today - I emailed but they didn't reply - didn't get it for some reason. They were really actually very nice and are going to see if there is anything they can do to help me.

I started a thread in the Canadian forum but have only had one response If my Radian is not usable and they are not able to replace it what other seats are narrow? I do love the Radian but it is awfully tall and although I have no problem driving my DH can't use my car anymore even as a passenger because he doesn't fit!

I think I read the Radian is 14 inches, Generations is 19 and Cosco HBB is 16 (?) - If I swap out the radian for a bit bigger seat is there another HWH that is smaller then the generations (radian won't work because he doesn't fit.) OR are there HBB or even LBB (DS #1 is 7 and we have side curtain and side airbags) that are narrower. AND what is a narrow but shorter RF seat???

Sorry SOOO many questions.

I think I read the Radian is 14 inches, Generations is 19 and Cosco HBB is 16 (?) - If I swap out the radian for a bit bigger seat is there another HWH that is smaller then the generations (radian won't work because he doesn't fit.) OR are there HBB or even LBB (DS #1 is 7 and we have side curtain and side airbags) that are narrower. AND what is a narrow but shorter RF seat???

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Um....if you are talking about shoulder harness heights, technically, the Radian is supposed to be a little taller than the Generations. Any Cosco HBB will be shorter, except for the Apex (which is about the same as the Generations, but much wider). I don't think there is anything else narrower than the Radian or the Generations, but something else may puzzle better. Forgive me, b/c I don't know what seats are available in Canada...but maybe another seat w/a low profile like the Safety First Complete Air would work (for rear or forward facing). Some people have been successful getting the Graco Nautilus to fit in a 3-across.

GL!

henrietta

henrietta said:

Um....if you are talking about shoulder harness heights, technically, the Radian is supposed to be a little taller than the Generations.
henrietta

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Oops sorry I should have explained better - I mean the width of the seat. My DS #1 is in a HBB but is on the short side so he is fine, DS #2 is again VERY tiny - he could be boostered if need be though, DS#3 is only 12 weeks and I am not really worried about him outgrowing the seat in height because none of my kids have managed to get anywhere near in height or weight before we had to replace the seat.
THANKS

How close are you to a BRU?

I think that pretty much any seat is going to take up less room rf'ing than the radian.

You could give the My Ride a try - the way it sits maybe it would overlap the generations enough that you would be able to puzzle well. Though the generations has armrests that are up higher, so I guess it probably wouldn't... The complete Air wouldn't fit the baby in all likelihood as the bottom harness height is around 10.5" or so. Unfortunately for narrow seats that fit a newborn the radian is about all there is - though the scenera might be worth a try? I think it's a horrible value for the Canadian market, but it's fairly narrow and will fit your youngest now.

(Sorry I somehow missed your thread in the CDN forum, though if it wasn't highlighted as having new posts when I looked I probably didn't pay much attention. Sometimes the new posts thing works better than others I think.)

i bought three radian XTs. tried all of them in RR HSE, Cadi Escalade, Jeep Cherokee, MB e55...none of the seats in any of the cars whether its FF or RF are easy to tighten. Thats an understatement...i weigh 205 and can barely get the haness tight using all the tricks. My wife, not a shot. Biggest pieces of crap ever. Threw them in the garbage. wish i was kidding, but im not.

If you want to rescue them, if you meet with a tech (some of us weigh under 200# but are still pretty good at installing seats) they can get your seats in and teach you how to.

chickabiddy said:

If you want to rescue them, if you meet with a tech (some of us weigh under 200# but are still pretty good at installing seats) they can get your seats in and teach you how to.

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thnx but i had the local police department here in westchester county try also...didnt help. if there are other techs i shld see, id love to give it a shot with the seat i have left.

Post a new thread asking for techs in your area who know Radians.