southpawboston
New member
i spoke with an engineer for recaro north america this morning. before i divulge what he told me, i would ask everyone NOT to go calling recaro to speak with the engineering staff, out of respect for the guy i spoke to who was exceedingly generous with his time for me. recaro CS were very reluctant to put me through to engineering in the first place, and since i couldn't claim i was a CPST with technical questions, i had to use a little subterfuge and claim i had a technical question about my own RYS as an owner and consumer (which is valid, i guess, so it wasn't really subterfuge ). the engineer was very nice and after establishing a good rapport with him (i'm an engineer by training as well so we had that going ) he allowed me to ask him some pointed questions about the como/signo. i profusely thanked him for his generous time (over 1/2 hour!) and am truly grateful to have spoken with him. so i hope his answers to my questions will satisfy everyone's questions here about the como/signo, based on all the big questions that have been circulating unanswered.
here it goes:
como/signo RF tethering:
NOT APPROVED OR ENDORSED BY RECARO AT THIS TIME. when i asked him if the testing had been done with/without, he said he was "not at liberty" to answer. so we don't know if it was tested and failed, or if it simply wasn't done. this engineer seemed intimately familiar with the data out there and other seats on the market, and commented that RF tethering is really a mess, and depending on the vehicle and RF tether points chosen (since there is no standard or approved attachment point like there is with top tether anchors, and they may be off center or at extreme angles), it can make the difference between improving or worsening the crash test results of a given seat-- ANY seat. he also had some not very nice things to say about britax's allowing their seats to be RF tethered given the lack of standardized tether points (or non-existing points) in cars. for this reason, recaro is not comfortable endorsing the practice. they are currently evaluating whether or not to allow it in the future, and if (big IF), it would likely apply retroactively to all current shipping comos/signos. but as of now, RF TETHERING IS NOT ALLOWED.
como/signo 34" versus below 1" from top of CR:
he was aware of this discrepency in the manual (and said he knows they're going to get flooded with calls about it, and are training the CS staff on how to reply), but said it was necessary to put it in there. he said that the 34" statement is a dumbed-down, statistically average number based on population averages designed to give parents who have no idea about their kiddo's torso or leg length, an "estimate" of whether they should be FF or RF in the seat. he said that owners and CPST's at seat checks can treat it as a guideline, and it is not set in stone. however, the 1" below the top of the shell statement is a REQUIREMENT, as is the 35 lb limit (which we pretty much knew).
straps folding over at the buckle tongues (all harnessed recaros):
this was my YS question that got me put through to the engineer . he was unaware of the problem, and he said that according to IMMI, folding over at the tongues does not pose a safety hazard and thus is not a "defect". however, if it poses a comfort issue to kiddo, then they can treat it as a warranty defect and can replace the straps IF you send in pictures convincingly documenting the problem. he said that the cause is due to the geometry of the 5 points of the harness system, and that the same harness on one seat may be prone to folding over while not on another seat. he welcomes people to send in pics of any YS or como/signo that has this problem for them to evaluate a redesign of the buckle tongues. interestingly, he was very surprised that SKJP is willingly handing out replacement tongues for their radians without a release of liability (since the end user is altering/disassembling the seat). this is something recaro will NOT do for customers for liability reasons. so for any como or future signo owners, if you experience the harness folding @ the tongue problem (based on the recent pics of comos, it *appears* it will have the same problem as my YS), please send in pics to force recaro to address it. this is my biggest gripe with the RYS.
RYS retesting for HWH:
there was some discussion circulating about this, but it is not happening soon. they are completely re-evaluating the YS for a future version, but they have no immediate plans to retest it for higher limits. if they do, it will be on a revised version and current YS's won't be grandfathered. so existing current shipping YS's will never be re-certified for higher weight limits.
i hope his replies to my questions helps everyone with the new comos. personally, i am a little disappointed about the RF tethering, but on the other hand, the more i research this area myself, the more i see potential pitfalls and caveats. in the end, this is not going to stop me from buying a signo.
here it goes:
como/signo RF tethering:
NOT APPROVED OR ENDORSED BY RECARO AT THIS TIME. when i asked him if the testing had been done with/without, he said he was "not at liberty" to answer. so we don't know if it was tested and failed, or if it simply wasn't done. this engineer seemed intimately familiar with the data out there and other seats on the market, and commented that RF tethering is really a mess, and depending on the vehicle and RF tether points chosen (since there is no standard or approved attachment point like there is with top tether anchors, and they may be off center or at extreme angles), it can make the difference between improving or worsening the crash test results of a given seat-- ANY seat. he also had some not very nice things to say about britax's allowing their seats to be RF tethered given the lack of standardized tether points (or non-existing points) in cars. for this reason, recaro is not comfortable endorsing the practice. they are currently evaluating whether or not to allow it in the future, and if (big IF), it would likely apply retroactively to all current shipping comos/signos. but as of now, RF TETHERING IS NOT ALLOWED.
como/signo 34" versus below 1" from top of CR:
he was aware of this discrepency in the manual (and said he knows they're going to get flooded with calls about it, and are training the CS staff on how to reply), but said it was necessary to put it in there. he said that the 34" statement is a dumbed-down, statistically average number based on population averages designed to give parents who have no idea about their kiddo's torso or leg length, an "estimate" of whether they should be FF or RF in the seat. he said that owners and CPST's at seat checks can treat it as a guideline, and it is not set in stone. however, the 1" below the top of the shell statement is a REQUIREMENT, as is the 35 lb limit (which we pretty much knew).
straps folding over at the buckle tongues (all harnessed recaros):
this was my YS question that got me put through to the engineer . he was unaware of the problem, and he said that according to IMMI, folding over at the tongues does not pose a safety hazard and thus is not a "defect". however, if it poses a comfort issue to kiddo, then they can treat it as a warranty defect and can replace the straps IF you send in pictures convincingly documenting the problem. he said that the cause is due to the geometry of the 5 points of the harness system, and that the same harness on one seat may be prone to folding over while not on another seat. he welcomes people to send in pics of any YS or como/signo that has this problem for them to evaluate a redesign of the buckle tongues. interestingly, he was very surprised that SKJP is willingly handing out replacement tongues for their radians without a release of liability (since the end user is altering/disassembling the seat). this is something recaro will NOT do for customers for liability reasons. so for any como or future signo owners, if you experience the harness folding @ the tongue problem (based on the recent pics of comos, it *appears* it will have the same problem as my YS), please send in pics to force recaro to address it. this is my biggest gripe with the RYS.
RYS retesting for HWH:
there was some discussion circulating about this, but it is not happening soon. they are completely re-evaluating the YS for a future version, but they have no immediate plans to retest it for higher limits. if they do, it will be on a revised version and current YS's won't be grandfathered. so existing current shipping YS's will never be re-certified for higher weight limits.
i hope his replies to my questions helps everyone with the new comos. personally, i am a little disappointed about the RF tethering, but on the other hand, the more i research this area myself, the more i see potential pitfalls and caveats. in the end, this is not going to stop me from buying a signo.