It happened to me...

BrendansMommy · Jun 12, 2011

It happened to me...--UPDATE

I pulled the RF Radian XTSL to move up the harness straps, and the lower anchor strap failed. :thumbsdown:

I checked the install in our 05 Mazda Tribute, and it was rock solid. I always check it (daily) after hearing about the problems with the lower anchor strap. I removed the RF tether strap, and then leaned across the seat to release the lower anchor strap on the opposite side first. You guessed, it the seat almost flipped over it loosened so much and so quickly.

I'm am 100% positive that the tether was not holding it in tight.

My heart is still beating fast after this. Obviously, it's being reinstalled with the seatbelt, and I'll be reporting it to NHTSA and SK. Also, the irrational part of me wants to just check the seat and not use it again, even though I know the problem is the lower anchor strap.

BrendansMommy · Jun 12, 2011

I reported it to NHTSA. I also sent the following email to SKJP. I now need to go back and report the headwing issue to NHSTA.

Today, while in the process of removing my Radian XTSL in order to adjust the harness straps up to the next level, I noticed two major problems, which cause me to doubt the continued safety of this seat.

First, the lower anchor strap spontaneously loosened. As I am a CPST, I check the seat's installation daily. Prior to this incident, the seat was rock solid in the vehicle. I loosened the tether strap, and then, when I reached across the seat to loosen the lower anchor strap, I found that this was unnecessary, because the strap spontaneously loosened in that instant. In fact, it loosened enough for the seat to tip over. I had not yet touched either the lower anchor strap, loosening buttons, or locking device. The locking device was not in or near the beltpath, which would allow it to loosen on its own. Obviously, given the circumstance, I decided to reinstall the seat using the seatbelt.

Then, I noticed the second problem; the headwings lowered to the lowest position on their own. As I said, I uninstalled the seat to move the harness straps up to the next position. After removing the seat from the car, I moved the headwings up to the highest position in order to adjust the harness height. I walked away for approximately 20 minutes to eat lunch with the rest of my family (meaning everyone present with me and I know the seat could not be tampered with). I returned to find that the headwings had lowered on their own to the lowest position. The harness position that is now needed is blocked when the headwings are in the lower position. This is of great concern to me for two reasons: 1) because the harness routes under the headwings when in the necessary harness position, I'm concerned that this introduces additional slack into the harness because the harness must route beneath the headwings and back up over the child's shoulders, and 2) I'm concerned the lower "lip" of the EPS foam that extends below the "structure" of the headwings will break off due to the upward pressure the harness straps on that piece of foam that will occur when the straps are tightened.

I am very disappointed to be experiencing two significant problems in a seat that is less than two years old, especially since I've been otherwise thrilled with this seat and have recommended it to many people.

With these two issues, I cannot be sure that this seat is safe enough to provide adequate protection in an accident, since both the tightness of the seat in the vehicle and the tightness of the child in the seat have been compromised.

For your reference, the seat was installed rear-facing in a 2005 Mazda Tribute outboard passenger position and was manufactured 12/09.

Thank you,

Dr. Laurie XXXXX, CPST

Stelvis · Jun 12, 2011

I'm sorry this happened to you. It's scary, isn't it? I think your email was very good.

Please let us know SKJP's response, it will be interesting to see how their customer service may have evolved in the last couple of months. They will probably send you a new strap with the little wire thingy in it, which is supposed to keep that from happening. The modified strap didn't change the performance in my vehicle (see new video in my signature). After the modified strap didn't work, they basically told me it wasn't their problem since my seat was out of warranty (manufactured 1/09), and that my case was closed.

cookie123 · Jun 12, 2011

It installs nicely center with the seatbelt.

Well we have the original RN.

lovemybabies924 · Jun 12, 2011

My headwings r hard to move so I have the opposite issue! But your email is good!

Sent from my iPod touch, sorry for any auto-correct typos!

BrendansMommy · Jun 12, 2011

Moving it to different spot isn't an option. Really the more I think about it, the more concerned I am about the headwings. The way the harness routes under the headwings and then back up over the shoulders worries me. It introduces a good inch of extra slack into it.

BrendansMommy · Jun 15, 2011

Email from Susan at SK. They will replace the LATCH strap, but I need to provide proof of purchase. I bought it 15-16 months ago. I don't even remember where I bought it!

And for the headwings, they said I need to tighten the bolts. I'll try it. That seems to be an implicit statement that the headwings should not block the harness strap hole. I'm interpreting that as an acknowledgement that it is a safety issue from SK, considering I explained in detail my safety concerns about the headwings.

jourdysmom · Jun 15, 2011

2) I'm concerned the lower "lip" of the EPS foam that extends below the "structure" of the headwings will break off due to the upward pressure the harness straps on that piece of foam that will occur when the straps are tightened.

Happened to me

:thumbsdown:

Stelvis · Jun 15, 2011

BrendansMommy said:
Email from Susan at SK. They will replace the LATCH strap, but I need to provide proof of purchase. I bought it 15-16 months ago. I don't even remember where I bought it!

And for the headwings, they said I need to tighten the bolts. I'll try it. That seems to be an implicit statement that the headwings should not block the harness strap hole. I'm interpreting that as an acknowledgement that it is a safety issue from SK, considering I explained in detail my safety concerns about the headwings.

Wow, so now they're not even sending out replacement LATCH straps if you don't have POP? Fail.

emthecountrycat · Jun 15, 2011

I was in a car accident and when I went to uninstall my xtsl the LATCH was undone! I told SKJP and sent them the latch but they never said anything.:thumbsdown: i will NOT being using one again!

Stelvis · Jun 16, 2011

emthecountrycat said:
I was in a car accident and when I went to uninstall my xtsl the LATCH was undone! I told SKJP and sent them the latch but they never said anything.:thumbsdown: i will NOT being using one again!

You filed a NHTSA report, right?

BrendansMommy · Jun 16, 2011

jourdysmom said:
Happened to me :thumbsdown:

It seems to me that SK telling me to tighten the headrest and not leave it that way is an implicit acknowledgement that this is a problem.

What did you do? Did they offer to replace it?

BrendansMommy · Jun 16, 2011

Stelvis said:
Wow, so now they're not even sending out replacement LATCH straps if you don't have POP? Fail.

For the life of me, I can't find a POP. I think I'm screwed. I'm going to eamil them again and see what they say.

Brigala · Jun 16, 2011

The head rest on my XTSL kept doing that, and after emailing back and forth with SK, they ended up sending me a new head rest along with instructions for how to replace it. Once I got the new head rest to compare, I could see that my old one was defective. It's not that it was actually lowering to a lower position (in my case) it's that I was having to pull it up past the top position to expose the top slots of the seat because there was excess EPS foam extending down past the shell of the head rest. So what I thought was the top position was, in fact, above the top position and when it clicked back into place the excess foam pushed down on the straps and caused a problem for the child sitting in the seat.

Now, if anything, I have to struggle to force the head rest back down into a lower position. Maybe I have the bolts too tight?

Brigala · Jun 16, 2011

2) I'm concerned the lower "lip" of the EPS foam that extends below the "structure" of the headwings will break off due to the upward pressure the harness straps on that piece of foam that will occur when the straps are tightened.

I missed this post. There isn't supposed to be a lower lip of EPS foam. Mine had that, too. The new one they sent me didn't. I actually did break off a small chunk of the foam when removing the straps from the top harness position, because the seam snagged on the protruding foam.

I can't imagine any reason why you couldn't just take a box knife and cut that excess foam off, since it's not supposed to be there, but SK should send you a new head rest, I think.

Now I wish I'd taken a picture of my defective head rest next to the new one before I threw the old one away. But if it's important, I'd be happy to disassemble my Radian and post photos of the non-defective one for comparison. I may not follow this thread closely so PM me if you want a picture. And give me a day or two.

BrendansMommy · Jun 17, 2011

I found my receipt (in a manner of speaking). Woo hoo!!! :2thumbsup:

BrendansMommy · Jun 17, 2011

Brigala said:
The head rest on my XTSL kept doing that, and after emailing back and forth with SK, they ended up sending me a new head rest along with instructions for how to replace it. Once I got the new head rest to compare, I could see that my old one was defective. It's not that it was actually lowering to a lower position (in my case) it's that I was having to pull it up past the top position to expose the top slots of the seat because there was excess EPS foam extending down past the shell of the head rest. So what I thought was the top position was, in fact, above the top position and when it clicked back into place the excess foam pushed down on the straps and caused a problem for the child sitting in the seat.

Now, if anything, I have to struggle to force the head rest back down into a lower position. Maybe I have the bolts too tight?

See, I'm actually using the 2nd to top slot, and it's actually sliding down much lower than that. While I was concerned about the foam, my bigger concern has been about slack in the harness.

If the headwings are loose enough to slide down on their own, then crash forces will certaibnly be able to move them. So, if the harness routing under the headwings and back over big boy's shoulders, and the headwings move up, that's ~inch of harness slack.

Brigala · Jun 17, 2011

It sounds to me like you have TWO problems, then. One with a loose head rest, and one with extra foam. Does that sound like it might be what you're dealing with?

Karen · Jun 17, 2011

Did they give you instructions on how to tighten them?

BrendansMommy · Jun 18, 2011

No instructions on how to tighten them.

It happened to me...

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