Graco/evenflo buckle issue thread

mom of six

Active member
Reading all these posts about the Graco, Evenflo buckles sticking is intriguing me. It makes me want to get a hold of a broken buckle and take it apart to see how it works and what went wrong. Maybe that is just because I have an engineer husband.

Lets start a My Graco/evenflo buckle jammed thread. Kind of like the Successful Radian install thread or the Successful three across thread

Include:
  • brand and model of car seat
  • DOM of the car seat
  • approximate time you've used the seat (2 days, three months, a year)
  • times per day (or week) you buckle/unbuckle your child in that seat
  • time of year/weather when the jam happened (winter/cold or wet, summer/ hot)
  • What you had to do to get your child out of the seat (loosen straps and undo harness from splitter plate, cut the straps, Houdini maneuvers)
  • What actions you have taken with the manufacturer and their response
  • If you have contacted NHTSA

This could be interesting.
 
ADS

Stelvis

New member
I have nothing to contribute, other than that you can go on NHTSA's website and pull reports about what problems have been reported by seat model.
 

stephpook

New member
Reading all these posts about the Graco, Evenflo buckles sticking is intriguing me. It makes me want to get a hold of a broken buckle and take it apart to see how it works and what went wrong. Maybe that is just because I have an engineer husband.

Lets start a My Graco/evenflo buckle jammed thread. Kind of like the Successful Radian install thread or the Successful three across thread

Include:

[*]brand and model of car seat
[*]DOM of the car seat
[*]approximate time you've used the seat (2 days, three months, a year)
[*]times per day (or week) you buckle/unbuckle your child in that seat
[*]time of year/weather when the jam happened (winter/cold or wet, summer/ hot)
[*]What you had to do to get your child out of the seat (loosen straps and undo harness from splitter plate, cut the straps, Houdini maneuvers)
[*]What actions you have taken with the manufacturer and their response
[*]If you have contacted NHTSA


This could be interesting.

Graco My Ride 65
June 2011
15 months
No idea - some days we don't go anywhere at all, other days we go multiple places in a day. I would say "normal" usage
January - during a cold streak
She's a peanut so I was able to get her out by loosening the straps
I've shipped the seat back to Graco (they sent a pre-paid label) and am waiting for my refund
Yes, I contacted NHTSA via email the evening it happened. They called two days later requesting that I mail them the buckle and tongs, which I did (in a pre-paid envelope they sent).

The person I talked to at NHTSA said he's been x-raying the buckles and in some cases has been taking them apart in an attempt to try and figure out what's going on. I did mention the cold weather as something we thought might have been an initial cause of the buckle sticking.
 

Ozella21

New member
Reading all these posts about the Graco, Evenflo buckles sticking is intriguing me. It makes me want to get a hold of a broken buckle and take it apart to see how it works and what went wrong. Maybe that is just because I have an engineer husband.

Lets start a My Graco/evenflo buckle jammed thread. Kind of like the Successful Radian install thread or the Successful three across thread

Include:
  • brand and model of car seat
  • DOM of the car seat
  • approximate time you've used the seat (2 days, three months, a year)
  • times per day (or week) you buckle/unbuckle your child in that seat
  • time of year/weather when the jam happened (winter/cold or wet, summer/ hot)
  • What you had to do to get your child out of the seat (loosen straps and undo harness from splitter plate, cut the straps, Houdini maneuvers)
  • What actions you have taken with the manufacturer and their response
  • If you have contacted NHTSA

This could be interesting.

I have had Two seats do this, both bough on the same day at target.
SEAT 1
1. GRACO MyRide65

2. DOM SEAT 1: JAN 27, 2012

3. APROX 6months (May-DEC)

4.Normal use, some days nothing others several stops. I do not loosen and tighten the straps due to it being a PITA to do that. So it is just buckle, unbuckle and go.

5. It jammed on the first really cold day in Nov, I was able to unbuckle the seat after sat overnight, only to have it stick again the next day.

6.I loosened the straps and Houdini-ed my kid out. (he was not happy, it hurt but I am lucky he is fairly skinny)

7. Graco sent me a new buckle thing, the seat has since sat in the garage as a spare, the buckles looked the same.

8. Called the NHTSA and they didn't seem to want the buckle or care.


SEAT 2:

1.GRACO MyRide 65

2.DOM: Dec. 12, 2011

3. Just shy of a year (May2012-now)

4. Normal use, some days nothing others several stops. I do not loosen and tighten the straps due to it being a PITA to do that. So it is just buckle, unbuckle and go.

5. Jammed yesterday, warmer weather than it has been but still cold. (30sF)Again sitting overnight it opened this am but the clock is ticking for it to happen again.

6.I again loosened the straps and Houdini-ed my kid out. (he was not happy, it hurt him a lot as he is thicker then his big brother also had to Houdini him back in because we where away from home and had no way to get another seat when this happened)

7/8. It took 2 months to get the last buckle from graco, I just ordered another foonf and will call graco later today along with the NHTSA. We will see how what happens.
 
Last edited:

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