Chest Clip breaking on Chaperone?

little_arrows · Sep 23, 2010

We have a chaperone for our 4 month old DD and my brother and SIL brought the same seat for my 3 month old niece on my recommendation-we have always used and loved Britax. Well my niece's chest clip broke!

She has only been in her carseat maybe 25-30 times and it just broke...when my SIL called thre company they said they would send a replacement that was "much sturdier"...I also called the company and asked about it ...I was told they found out the design on the chest clip was such that there is a weak place that can break.

Why dont they have to do a recall and send new chest ckips to everyone then? What if some baby's chest clip breaks for the first time in a bad accident?

joolsplus3 · Sep 23, 2010

Chest clips are precrash positioners, not required by the government testing standard, and only put on seats to ensure that parents make sure to keep the harness snugly on the shoulders. And, most of them break in a crash, or bend a lot, or move way down. It's not a very big deal, that's why Britax is just sending out a new one and not issuing a massive recall. Annoying when they break, though, I hear ya on that!

christineka · Sep 23, 2010

little_arrows said:
Why dont they have to do a recall and send new chest ckips to everyone then? What if some baby's chest clip breaks for the first time in a bad accident?

Chest clips are just intended to be pre-crash positioners. They very likely will break in an accident and that is okay.

Aurezalia · Sep 23, 2010

:yeahthat:
Like PP's said, it's quite likely chest clips will break in an accident anyway. They're pre-crash positioners is all. However, the likeliness of them breaking in an accident in why it's imperative a chest clip is properly positioned over the sternum and not the soft stomach.

little_arrows · Sep 23, 2010

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to tell me this! I feel so much better knowing that-I was seriusly stressing about this!

I had this awful mental image of a clip breaking and some poor baby coming out of the carseat

I hope this isnt (another!) stuped question...if it is just a pre-crash positioner, how bad it it if the clip isnt in the right place? (It always drives me batty to see babies in seats with the chest slip super low...) That IS dangerous, right?

EDit-you answered my question as I was typing-thank you!!

joolsplus3 · Sep 23, 2010

It's probably not too bad if it's in the wrong place and the harness is still otherwise used properly (though it could spread the harness out too far off the shoulders if it's pushed down). It's the floppy loose harnesses that usually accompany the 'belly clip' that give me the worries

Chest Clip breaking on Chaperone?

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