harness strap question

MotherWhimsey

New member
harness strap question (update post 13)

My son has several tubes/lines coming out of him and because of that and abdominal pain we had to switch to a car harness. Right now we have a loaner from the hospital until we get ours. We've been having a problem with the straps into both the chest buckles and the leg straps being very easy to loosen. I don't see how they wouldn't just pull all the way loose in a crash. Is this how they are supposed to work? Would putting a safety pin through the strap to keep it tightened properly damage the strap (especially since this one is a loaner)?
 
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DaniannieB

Ambassador - CPS Technician
What kind of harness does your son have? If you feel the buckles are adjusting too easily, you should ask the hospital about a different loaner and/or contact the manufacturer of the restraint with your concerns.

Safety pins are NOT a good idea. Not only may the compromise the integrity of the harness straps, but they wouldn't hold in a crash, anyway.
 

Pixels

New member
If you don't know the name of the vest, posting pictures of it (with or without your son) may let someone identify it. Also, experienced eyes might be able to spot any obvious errors, such as if the adjustment strap isn't routed properly or something.

Do you have the instruction manual?
 

MotherWhimsey

New member
This should show you how easy it is to loosen. We didn't do the leg straps, but they're just as easy to loosen. He's 3 and 36ish lbs...

1.jpg


2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


5.jpg


And because he says you need to know that he's not supposed to sit up in his harness, here he is laying down.

layingdown.jpg
 

MotherWhimsey

New member
And i am pretty sure this is the company. It's got the same logo, but I couldn't find this vest on there anywhere. Maybe they had this problem before and stopped using this style.
 

TerisBoys

Well-known member
If he rides lying down, it's likely this one - EZ-On modified vest


I'd first see if you can find a Date of Manufacture on it - they're only good for 5 years. Then see if the hospital has a different one and/or call EZ-On about the issues you're having.
 

jess71903

Ambassador
It looks to me like he's tilting the latchplate to loosen it, which is what you are supposed to do to loosen it. When it lies flat against him and you just pull the strap without tipping the latchplate, does it still slip?
 

MotherWhimsey

New member
If he rides lying down, it's likely this one - EZ-On modified vest


I'd first see if you can find a Date of Manufacture on it - they're only good for 5 years. Then see if the hospital has a different one and/or call EZ-On about the issues you're having.

Yes, that is it! he has to be laying down. His gut is failing and it hurts a lot and the pressure from a 5 pt harness was just too much on top of the discomfort from the straps hitting his port and ostomies. So we needed something where he wouldn't be in sitting position, wouldn't have his tubes pulled on, and wouldn't put any pressure on his gut. We went to the car seat clinic at our local children's hospital and they tried a ton of different things, SNs car seats, a vest that they use sitting up, and nothing else worked. So it was kind of a quality of life thing, there just wasn't any other option.

They didn't get ours in yet (it's been like 6 or 8 weeks now!) so we're borrowing one from another children's hospital. So I think I will call our car seat lady tomorrow and if she can't help I'll call the hospital we're borrowing it from (that hospital is 3 hours away, so I can't just hop in and show them).

It really is loose even if you just pull hard on it. Not as loose, but still not firm at all. What would you put on top of it to keep him from messing with it? He messes with anything that he can reach. We keep the belt that straps the harness in locked and stuck together with one of those metal clips because he'll fiddle with it if we don't.

I don't want to have to put him in anything that hurts so much, but I also don't want him to be too loose and go flying out. I want to do this as safely as possible.
 

mommycat

Well-known member
In the link that Teri provided, it shows how to back-thread the crotch strap webbing (fig. 5c) - is yours done that way? That I believe should "lock" those straps into position once you have adjuster them.

You might not be able to do this because of his issues/lines, or maybe it is but the vest is riding up without the crotch straps done up, but the instructions do say to adjust it so that the vest is over the pelvic bone; of course the pictures don't seem to show that. How confusing. Don't know if that would help with the positioning at all, in any case.

The chest buckles do look like they might have a hard time staying aligned at the correct angle, maybe because he is so small and the strap curves away from the buckle so quickly. It might be a good idea to contact EZ-On as I am sure they would have lots of experience and might have suggestions. I thought they made back-closing vests as well? He's pretty young, but would telling him that if he keeps messing with the buckles he will have to go back in to a regular carseat help any?
 

Pixels

New member
Are the shoulder straps routed properly and backthreaded? They don't seem to look like I think they should after reading the manual.

The usual suggestion to keep small hands off the buckles is to use a shirt. Put the shirt on the child, fasten the harness, then button or zip the shirt over the harness. With this vest, you need acces to the side to thread the vehicle seatbelt through. If you are handy with needle and thread, you can cut access holes and stitch them up so they don't rip.

Another option is to put the scratchy side of Velcro, but you probably can't do that on the loaner vest.
 

MotherWhimsey

New member
Are the shoulder straps routed properly and backthreaded? They don't seem to look like I think they should after reading the manual.

yes they are. see how the black rings at the front look like a C shape instead of a square? That means they're threaded back through. If you look at the second picture, you can kinda see the strap underneath the excess. So what you see on his shoulders is that re-threaded strap, the part on his shoulders is much more snug than that.
 

Pixels

New member
Okay, I see it now. It's done a bit differently than I was seeing in my head. Of course, if I had looked more closely at the picture on the cover of the manual, I would see that it matches your pictures. :doh:
 

MotherWhimsey

New member
Just in case anyone else ever has this problem, I wanted to post an update.

We had the harness inspected in the car by the seating specialist. She said we had everything on correctly and saw him loosen the belts. I showed her how you can pull them loose without lifting them if you pull gently. She said that the way the buckle works is with quick pressure. So if you jerk on the belt, it does catch. So the problem is not the belt, but keeping him from messing with them once they're on. I think I might sew some kind of cover for the front belt area that I can velcro down at the bottom so he can't get to the buckles.
 

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