Anyone else have a loosening harness on the Radian?

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
I bought a second Radian last week on the way to Disneyland, (note to self, putting 8 yo DS in booster for such a long trip is a BAD BAD idea). The harness on the darn thing seems tight on Hope when we start out, but a few miles down the road I look in the rear view and see all this slack. I can reach back and grab the adjuster strap and get it a couple inches tighter. Also, the harness is really hard to tighten. Anyone else have the same issue?

Kimberly
 
ADS

Morganthe

New member
Not to question your account at all, but are you positive it was tight to begin with? My dh had the same thing happen to him right after I had installed it in his car about 10 days ago.

He turned around after driving down the block and there was about 2-3 inches of slack on our daughter. She was upset that her harness was loose and almost screaming at him to 'Fix me, DADDY!" :eek: That's why he stopped.

I think the narrow channel had caught up the harness in the backside during installation and prevented him from realizing it was loose until dd had ridden in it. She bent forward or sideways, which pushed the harness forward so it was noticeably loose.

If it happens again, I'll believe it did it all by itself, but right now, I think it wasn't tight enough to begin with.

Anyway, it's a thought. Pull on your harness hard to see what happens & at different angles. If it loosens then, call Good ole' Russ :thumbsup:
 
I also suspect it has to do with the harness getting caught up between the Radian's bottom and the vehicle seat.

You may have a pre-'07 DOM seat, meaning it has a very shallow groove on its bottom for the harness path; SK has since redesigned the seat with a deeper groove underneath to better allow for harness movement. This was a problem for several of us boardmembers here; I was generally unable to tighten the harness adequately enough against my petite preschooler, and it was entirely due to the shallowness of the groove-- that SafeStop portion of the harness was getting stuck above the seat bight and couldn't slide up under the seat when tightening the harness AT ALL.

SK did replace my older DOM seat with a newer one, which works much better in my vehicle. I did find, though, that the older DOM seat works perfectly fine with the harness in the *topmost* slots-- it takes up just enough of the slack to pull the SafeStop underneath the seat (pre-install). I was having trouble with tightening it when I had the harness adjusted to the next-to-top slots (and anything under that, obviously). Once I moved Dd up to the top slots (she was bordering just AT those next-lower slots anyway), everything was groovy... ;)

I would be surprised to find that you actually have one of the newer DOM seats, but if you could check and post it, it would definitely help clear up whether that is the likeliest problem... :thumbsup:
 

ccjones

New member
:yeahthat:

I have three generations of Radians:

DOM 9/05 that has the short harness straps and shallow harness channel
DOM 12/06 that has longer harness straps and shallow harness channel
DOM 5/07 that has longer harness straps and the deeper harness channel

I can tell you that using the SafeStop on the short-strapped Radian (DOM 9/05) w/the shallow harness channel with the harness in the 2nd-from-top slots gives the SafeStop *just* enough room to move when the harness is adjusted without it getting caught/snagged against the Radian seatbottom.

The DOM 12/06 Radian with the longer straps but still has the shallow harness channel, the SafeStop sometimes does get caught up under the Radian seatbottom when I adjust the harness in the 2nd-from-top slots.

The DOM 5/07 Radian that SK sent to me to replace the short-strapped Radian DOES have the deeper harness channel, and this Radian is a breeze to adjust with the harness in the 2nd slots with the SafeStop. The harness channel is deep enough that the SafeStop does not get caught on the Radian seatbottom anywhere.

Also, I had two of the original SafeStops, which did NOT have the nice black sleeve over it. This black sleeve makes the SafeStop flatter, which in turn helps it slide more easily along the back of the seat. If you have a SafeStop that is black and red and kinda looks like a hair scrunchy (sorry, don't know how else to describe it!), then you may want to contact Russ about getting the newer SafeStops with the sleeves.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
Our Radian has a DOM of 05/07 and it loosens too. And it's hard to tighten, although it's gotten easier as I've gotten more used to how it works.
 

chickenman

New member
mine is still hard to tighten, i guess i still dont get how it ratchets but it feels like i have to pull 10 times to get it tight on my daughter where her roundabout is one motion
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
mine is still hard to tighten, i guess i still dont get how it ratchets but it feels like i have to pull 10 times to get it tight on my daughter where her roundabout is one motion

The roundabout is a totally different motion and isn't a ratcheting mechanism. Have you tried putting your dd in a marathon in the car? The Radian is definitely harder to tighten than a MA - just because it seems tighter in the harness adjuster mechanism, but the MA is the same pull-release-repeat process. ;)

I've never had my radian loosen - although I've heard of it happening if the safe stop gets caught up just as some of the pp's have described. I do find mine harder to tighten, but it was also in the middle position and I'm having a hard time tightening the MA in the middle too just because it's hard to reach. (Decided to put ds in the Radian and leave dd in her MA.) I've also heard that the Radian gets easier to tighten after the seat has been used some. I can't say for sure on that one though because ours isn't being used regularly yet.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Both of my Radians were manufacturered in 07. The first one, )the grey and black pattern) in feb, and the new one (Princess) in may. I am not using the safe stop as dd is nearly 60 lbs now. I am sure I tightened it enough, even though it is insanely hard to tighten. I pull all the slack up out of the lap portion so that none is stuck in those teeny tiny buckles ( new ones on order) and pull from the front seat of the car while bracing my knee against the driver's seat. I am especially careful to tighten the harness super snug because i have chosen to remove the chest clip. ( I have been assured by Russ that this will not affect the performance of the seat as long as the harness is tight) THis happened several times during our 15 hour drive to and from Disney. She would be tight, I would look back in the rear view and she wouldn't be tight. I would stop, tighten it again, and 20 min later she would be loose again. at one point , as an experiment, I took it out of the car, put her in it, marked the adjuster strap with a pencil, and had her wiggle around for a good ten min. The adjuster didn't seem to be slipping, but the harness was definately loosening on her in some way. It was almost like she was sinking into the seat. Do you think it is possible that the EPS foam under her butt is compressing with her weight? I know that I didn't leave any hidden slack because I had the seat out of the car where I could look at it from all sides. And really, the adjuster is WAY WAY hard to adjust. I can't adjust it from the door of the car at all, even with no child in it. The only way to do it is from the front seat. The older Radian is a bit difficult to adjust, but certainly no harder than my MA with the over the top threaded adjuster. I am going to call Russ about it . I'll post back what I find out.



Kimberly
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
It sounds to me like you might have a defective seat. I think calling Russ is a good idea.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
Let me know what you find out, because I am having a similar problem with the harness loosening and being insanely hard to tighten.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
DOM is May 2007. It is a Princess as well.

Hmm, interesting. I was able to talk to one of the reps, whose only advice was to take theseat back where I got it from. Ahh no! I'm not in any way driving 200 miles to return a seat that SK should have manufacturered correctly in the first place. Still waiting for the rep to get back to me.

Kimberly
 

LuvMyGirls

New member
I have a May '07 Princess too. It is hard to tighten the harness, but it has never loosened. I don't loosen and tighten the harness each time I put her in anymore. I have it adjusted tightly on her and am able to slip her arms in and out one at a time without loosening it.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
I have a May '07 Princess too. It is hard to tighten the harness, but it has never loosened. I don't loosen and tighten the harness each time I put her in anymore. I have it adjusted tightly on her and am able to slip her arms in and out one at a time without loosening it.

We do this too--I never loosen it, but I have to tighten it quite frequently :confused:
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Ok, so they still hadn't called back this morning, so I called again. I talked to the same rep, (at this point focusing on the difficulty tightening the harness) who again repeated that I would have to take the seat back to the store. I asked to speak to her manager. The manager comes to the phone and has the nerve to try to tell me that SK is under no obligation to replace the seat for ME because I am not their customer, the STORE is. I started getting pushy at this point and asked her point blank if she was saying that SK was refusing to stand by their product. She replied that of course they stand by their product, but why should SK eat the cost of shipping the seat when I can just take it back to the store. Then she asked me what I thought would happen if they replaced a seat every time somebody called to tell them they had one that wasn't working right. Me getting spippy again, I said that if they where getting that many phone calls then someone needed to take a serious look at their quality control department. Then I asked to speak to her manager. She tried to tell me that I didn't need her manager, that I needed to talk to a tech and learn how to use the seat properly. I replied that I am a tech, I know quite well how to use a car seat, and in addition I have another Radian that does not have the same problem. Finally she puts me through to her manager's voice mail. I leave a quite polite message telling her that I have a defective seat, and the reps I have talked are not apparently not authorized to help me. I leave my number and let her know that if I am not available when she calls to please talk to (my mother) as she is fully aware of the situation.

I am not home when the lady calls back, so she talks to my mom. She is quite polite, but tells my mom that the reason they would like us to take the seat back to the store is so that experienced people can look at the seat to deturmine if it is defective. My mom tells her that she understands why this would be the case with the average parent, but that we are not average parents. Mom explains that she has been a tech for close to 5 years, and her daughter (me) has been a tech for 9. She also lets the lady know that I contracted with Evenflo for a couple of years inspecting and repairing seats that had been recalled. ( I did, but I never would have thought to mention it. MY MOM IS SO SMART!) The lady said OH, I guess you guys really do have a defective seat, I'll sent you a new seat, and a call tag for the old one by the end of the day.

Yeah for my mom!!!!!

Kimberly
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Yay, mom! I'd just email Russ...he's always happy to send out free seats (I bet this person has been given the job of stopping that bleeding he's doing the company :whistle:)
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Yay, mom! I'd just email Russ...he's always happy to send out free seats (I bet this person has been given the job of stopping that bleeding he's doing the company :whistle:)

Russ is on vacation until after the 1st, or I would have just talked to him in the first place. But believe me , when he gets back I will be calling to tell im about the whole fiasco.

Kimberly
 

gmvh

New member
I think most of my post is moot (other than the possible faulty mechanism causing loosening) but I've figured out how to ratchet it. My grouchy mood was taking over... The joy of new car seats.


So what's the concensus on this? Faulty mechanism on the 5/07 seats or just a learning curve? I now understand that this seat tightens differently than my Roundabouts but I'm sitting here with the boxes and packing materials wondering if I should send them back and opt for Comos. Grr...

And, how exactly does one tighten a ratcheting seat? Repeated pulls? Pull up? Pull down? Straight out?

Thanks - I've been arguing with these seats for several hours now, fighting off the three year olds as I go.
 

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