Trouble with True Fit Harness

new2009 · Jun 6, 2012

I'm so frustrated with the True Fit harness straps. I have so much trouble tightening them. I pull on the harness adjuster chord but as hard as I or my husband pulls, there's still a lot of slack left on the harness straps. My husband then has to pull on some chord in the back of the car seat and that helps a bit but I still can't get the harness tighter sometimes. At best, there is still some slack between the straps and my baby's body.

I have other car seats and there is usually no problem tightening the harness.

Any advice please? TIA

And it is rear facing.

mommycat · Jun 6, 2012

Hi, I get the vibe that your baby is rear facing? Also, that both straps are loose and not just one side? (one side looser than the other would be die to the continuous harness and is fixed by pulling up on the hip strap on the tighter side to even the sides out)

I haven't really used our TF for RF much and also have the older model where the adjuster got really buried in the seat back. But I usually have better luck with rf seats when I use my thumb to push back towards the seat back while holding the strap taut with the other hand. Also have used the trick where I pull down on the shoulder strap in the back of the seat to introduce slack at the adjuster, but depending on the strap height this can be tricky.

I think the biggest thing that might help is if you try to remember that the TF has a ratcheting type of adjuster (IIRC) which works much better with a series of short small pulls, in a tug-tug-tug, which incrementally tightens and locks the adjuster rather than one long pull. Try that and see if it works better.

jess71903 · Jun 6, 2012

I've found with the True Fit that you have to pull up at to chest clip to get slack out of the hip area first, then tighten. I also think it's fairly easy to over-tighten the True Fit, so make sure you're not doing that. You shouldn't be able to pinch a horizontal fold in the harness at the collar bone. You shouldn't check anywhere else. If it meets that criteria, then you don't need to tighten any more.

What your husband is doing is exactly what I do to get that last little bit of slack out. I buckle, pull up/out on the chest clip, then grab behind and pull down on the shoulder straps while pulling the adjuster strap.

I only do it occasionally, though, especially in the summer. I don't tighten/loosen every time. It's too easy just to use the continuous harness to my advantage. I could pull up on one side, and get that arm in, then pull up on the other side, get the other in, then even up and buckle.

snowbird25ca · Jun 6, 2012

One other thing, the TF really isn't ratcheting like the Radian or old style Marathon seats were. The majority of it should be a smooth pull - then make sure it's snug at the hips and tighten the rest out.

If it's not tightening that easily I would check that the routing of everything is correct and that there's no food or debris in the harness adjuster mechanism.

amelia222 · Jun 6, 2012

The truefit can be hard to tighten when it is rearfacing because the adjuster strap seems to need to be pulled down rather than out or up to tighten smoothly. The easiest way is to not loosen/tighten every time.

mommycat · Jun 7, 2012

snowbird25ca said:
One other thing, the TF really isn't ratcheting like the Radian or old style Marathon seats were. The majority of it should be a smooth pull - then make sure it's snug at the hips and tighten the rest out.

Thank you for correcting that, I guess I didn't recall correctly. I don't loosen and tighten this seat every time either except very small adjustments because I didn't like how it operated (using FF) and just take advantage of the continuous harness like PP, so I guess I must not even have remembered how it works now. I don't loosen/adjust any of our ratcheting seats (Radian, Marathon) and was just lumping them all together? Sorry about the confusion.

Outdoorfolks · Jun 8, 2012

Another quick tip I have is to leave the lockoffs closed, but unbuckle the belt. You can then some what turn the seat and reach the adjuster a little better. When finished adjusting replace and buckle the seat. This worked for me as I could not for the life of me pull the adjuster upward to get the slack out after DH had installed it.

sparkyd · Jun 9, 2012

Outdoorfolks said:
Another quick tip I have is to leave the lockoffs closed, but unbuckle the belt. You can then some what turn the seat and reach the adjuster a little better. When finished adjusting replace and buckle the seat. This worked for me as I could not for the life of me pull the adjuster upward to get the slack out after DH had installed it.

I would strongly advise against this. You shouldn't be uninstalling the seat on a regular basis to deal with the harness. If it is as easy to do as you describe, the seat may not be installed tightly enough to begin with. I can't imagine doing this with my seat with a child in it, and I wonder whether the seat would be reclined enough doing it this way as well. Maybe I'm misunderstanding and you just had to do it once with no child in the seat, but it wasn't clear.

The harness on the True Fit can be a pain when RF (more for loosening than for tightening, usually) but you shouldn't even need to loosen or tighten it very often. As already described, pulling down on the harness at the back to tighten then pulling the adjuster at the front should work quite easily. Like Trudy (snowbird25) said, if this doesn't work easily, you should likely uninstall and look everything over to make sure nothing is wrong.

Emi's Mommy · Jun 9, 2012

I wouldn't loosen the harness to take baby out and then tighten it again to out baby back in. Adjust the harness to fit your child and then leave it. Then because the TF has a continuous harness, just take one shoulder out at a time, loosening the side your are working with. I find it far easier as the harness adjuster is so buried when the seat is rfing.

Misty-Bug · Jun 9, 2012

if the adjustment is that tricky I would also recommend not readjusting. I don't readjust my seat (radian). And that way too you will know if baby's clothes are too thick.
and I also advise against uninstalling the seat to tighten the harness. It makes no sense and what if you forget to buckle it back up. Too many variables for things that could go wrong.

also I am wondering about your angle. It may also be hard because the adjuster is up against the seat back and you can't pull just right. just a thought I had

Trouble with True Fit Harness

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