mom of six
Active member
I have been using a Harmony Defender for my 4.25 year old son for about a year. He is currently 47 lbs, 42.5 inches and has a 16 inch torso height. I LOVE the Defender. I love how it fits him and how easy it is to install in my Suburban.
What I don’t love…he has nearly grown out of harness length. Right now with his fleece coat on he has about a half of an inch of shoulder strap length before the splitter plate hits the back of the seat. He will gain a little bit of length when he stops wearing his coat. How in the world is this car seat supposed to fit a 65 lb kid?
I e-mailed Harmony to ask if a longer harness was available. Here is their reply:
Personally, that is a lame reply. How is taking a ½ inch thick piece of foam from under his bum going to get him to 65 lbs harnessed?
So…the reason for this post is…how do you affect change with a car seat manufacturer? Can we start a campaign to compel them to provide a longer harness. Can it be called false advertising when a manufacturer states the car seat can accommodate a 65 lb child in harness mode when there is no realistic way that the car seat can actually do that? I know that when the Defender first came out it had a super short crotch buckle and it seemed like they quickly made a longer one available. Can all of you defender owners drop them an e-mail and ask for a longer harness so they will see there is a need?
**On another note, in the same e-mail I asked if I could use LATCH in booster mode. Here is there reply:
What I don’t love…he has nearly grown out of harness length. Right now with his fleece coat on he has about a half of an inch of shoulder strap length before the splitter plate hits the back of the seat. He will gain a little bit of length when he stops wearing his coat. How in the world is this car seat supposed to fit a 65 lb kid?
I e-mailed Harmony to ask if a longer harness was available. Here is their reply:
At your son’s size – you will need to remove the Black Pad found under the base seat fabric. That was put there to boost up the 22lbs children, but it is clearly using us too much of the space you need. The fabric itself has the comfort foam for your child’s continued comfort, but the pad underneath need to come out.
Personally, that is a lame reply. How is taking a ½ inch thick piece of foam from under his bum going to get him to 65 lbs harnessed?
So…the reason for this post is…how do you affect change with a car seat manufacturer? Can we start a campaign to compel them to provide a longer harness. Can it be called false advertising when a manufacturer states the car seat can accommodate a 65 lb child in harness mode when there is no realistic way that the car seat can actually do that? I know that when the Defender first came out it had a super short crotch buckle and it seemed like they quickly made a longer one available. Can all of you defender owners drop them an e-mail and ask for a longer harness so they will see there is a need?
**On another note, in the same e-mail I asked if I could use LATCH in booster mode. Here is there reply:
There is no risk to your child if the seat is latched in booster mode, as long as you use the vehicle’s seat belt to fasten your child into the booster. It actually isn’t safer, but it does prevent the seat from moving around in the car when its not in use.
**