Trudy,
Is this interaction something that would cause the seats from Peg or Diono to have to downgrade their RF limit? Just curious as I am ready to buy the Peg now.
*Begin rant* I am about fed up with Clek and their handling of this seat and literally packing up the family to go to Edmonton to buy the Peg today. I was understanding for awhile but this situation could have been handled so much better (much like some of the others). Clek seems to be choosing not to be proactive about letting their consumers know what's going on and are constantly trying to deal with PR blowups when information gets out from other sources. It's good they clarified with you but where is the information for the rest of us?
*End rant*
The information is coming. The difficulty with it is that it's very technical, and "deeper depth" information needs to be released in a way that doesn't just cause more confusion. It makes complete sense to me, but I have a much deeper understanding of the regulations and test methods than what most people do.
I can't tell you what will happen so far as weight limits on the other brands in the future. The response Clek got from TC could impact other brands, but I don't know how the other brands are testing so can't make a definite prediction.
What I can tell you, is that what the seats on the market are currently rated to is what they're good to right now. We've seen decreases in weight limits before and the seats which had previously been available with higher weight limits remained on the market. There was a period of time when people purposefully shopped for older dates of manufacture in an attempt to get the higher rf'ing weight limits. Seems like such an odd concept now in light of the weights we see on current seats, but there is one instance I recall of someone being ecstatic to find a seat that was 5yrs old because it let her keep her young 30lb toddler rf'ing when no seats being made at the time were rated above 30lbs rf'ing.
I stand behind Clek on this. While I understand the frustration that has been faced by the families waiting for the seat, the company is trying hard to be transparent. I think that part of the PR problem being seen happens because they're honest when questions are asked of them - even if it's info that has just become known that day. And because of the internet age we live in, answering someone's question gives that someone opportunity to post on the internet before the company even has time to prepare a media release. Personally I appreciate that they give the honest answers as soon as they know about it rather than hiding it while a media release is prepared. I can appreciate that that makes it more difficult for the parents who see the immediate information before it is released officially though.
I've had interactions with multiple companies over the years, and there is a reason why I support Clek's efforts. The responsiveness and honesty that exists at a management and ownership level is commendable. I know that things were very well planned on the release of the Foonf and then the unexpected happened. Companies can't plan for the unexpected unfortunately. This doesn't help the parents who have been waiting and understandably leaves people with questions and doubts, but on the incredibly positive side, the public has been more involved in the development and tweaking of this seat than any other seat that I'm aware of.
PR bumps happen... delays happen. But underneath it all, we have a company who is willing to say sorry, own their part in delays while protecting the suppliers who caused the delay, seek clarification when something is unclear, and change things on their product due to clarification from the government - even when it upsets people. Their commitment to making a good, quality product, even at the expense of short term PR problems, is unique. It is much harder to say no to somebody, or to tell them that information has changed, than it is to try and push forward without making changes.
That being said, feel free to vent and rant. I can appreciate the frustration that families have faced as they've waited for the release of the seat, and I get that this is "one more thing." Just know that the company is trying to be as honest, transparent, and responsive as possible, and that's very hard to do in this period of time where customers have high expectations and the flow of information from mouth to internet is so fast. When the nature of the information being shared is more complex than what most people have the base knowledge to understand, that makes it even more difficult. And this is what has been run in to in this case.
