RF Clek Fllo lockoffs slipping in Honda Odyssey?

CPST_girlmom

New member
I'm a CPST, but will readily admit that I don't have tons of experience installing Clek seats--they're not usually what we run into at the seat check events where I volunteer. (I see and work with lots of Radians, and often encourage parents to consider the Foonf/Fllo in place of a Radian--in some situations they work better, in others, not as well.)

Anyway, I have a fairly new (DOM 2016) Fllo RF in the second row captain's chair (outboard) in my very new (2016) Odyssey. Originally I got the Fllo for a tight three-across in an older Volvo wagon, and it fit beautifully there. I had no trouble with it, ever, in that seating position.

When I traded my wagon in for the Odyssey, I put the Fllo outboard so that it'd be easier to load my two-year-old into the seat. I installed it using the seat belt, and both lockoffs, as shown in the manual. The lap/shoulder belt was routed through both lockoffs, as it's supposed to be, and the seat was tight--waaay less than an inch of movement at the belt path.

A couple of months later, I noticed that my daughter seemed to be bouncing more than usual when I was driving. The seat still seemed tight at the belt path, but I re-installed it to see if I could get it tighter. This seemed to solve the problem.

This afternoon I noticed that the seat was again loose, this time with more than an inch of movement at the belt path. Seat belt is still buckled, installation was secure before, and the only explanation I can come up with is that the belt is sliding through the lockoffs slowly, bit by bit.

It's one of those Honda belts, super-slippery and silky, and it's quite new (maybe even more prone to sliding than a well-worn belt).

My daughter is tiny, and weighs less quite a lot less than 35 lbs, so I can solve the problem (at least for now) by installing the seat using the lower anchors.

Anyone else ever seen this with the Foonf/Fllo? These are the new ski-boot style lockoffs.

I'll probably contact Clek too, just to see if they have any advice, but I am going to be really bummed if I can't use this expensive seat to RF past 35 lbs.
 
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Hazelandlucy

Active member
This was the story of my life with the Foonf. I tried one lockoff, both lockoffs, no lockoffs, new lockoffs (but not the version they have now) and nothing worked. I ended up turning my daughter around at 35 lbs. I have a 2014 Odyssey.

This makes me nervous because I was in an accident and need new seats and had faith in the new lockoffs...now I am not so sure.
 

CPST_girlmom

New member
I waited for the 2016 version in part because I thought Clek had solved their lockoff problems with the new design.

And the seat felt so rock-solid tight when I first installed it that I didn't even think the lockoff might be slipping.

I'm really disappointed.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
Do you have other kids in the car who might be grabbing the back of the seat when going into the third row, etc.? When my seats go inexplicably loose, that's sometimes the culprit.
 

CPST_girlmom

New member
Nope, I went out and played with it some more, and the lock-offs are definitely slipping.

Both shoulder and lap portions of the belt are supposed to be going through BOTH lock-offs, and both lock-offs are to be used at all times, as per the manual.

On the side where the shoulder belt goes into the retractor, the shoulder portion of the belt will come loose inside the lock-off with only a little wiggling, and once that happens and slack is introduced, they all start slipping.
 

piecon

New member
I've never gotten a good install return the lockoffs in the Following in my Sienna. I didn't even try to get a RF install in my husband's Grand Prix; I just turned my 3.5 year old ff. I still had a heck of a time getting a good install. For the $$, I wish I'd just bought another Britax or Chicco. Or both.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 

CPST_girlmom

New member
Clek is sending me new lock-offs. But if they are the same as the old lock-offs, I'm not sure I understand how this will solve the problem....:confused:

Those of you with late-model Odysseys who are considering Clek seats for purchase might want to keep this in mind...
 

bnsnyde

New member
I have a 2011 Odyssey and the old lockoffs and the seat was waaaaay slipping. I was concerned.

Now I have the new lock offs. They are better. Child is RF outboard behind driver, seatbelt install. She is 3.

I will say I have had to tighten once so far (only had them a few months). So the seat does not stay rock solid (and it was when I installed it). I do not know why. But the seat is very heavy and when she climbs in and out it's really a lot of force in all directions. And the belt doesn't "hug" the seat like some of my other seats. And I always feel I have to play with the angle a bit so I am not 100% sure WHERE it should sit when installing. I don't know but maybe all that makes a difference.
 

kphil

Member
Clek is sending me new lock-offs. But if they are the same as the old lock-offs, I'm not sure I understand how this will solve the problem....:confused:

Those of you with late-model Odysseys who are considering Clek seats for purchase might want to keep this in mind...
I also have a 2016 Odyssey and was considering the Fllo. Did your problem resolve? Would you still warn people away from the seat?
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
I've been having the same gradual slipping with Fllo RF in center, 2016 outback. I've just switched to FF, but it's much worse-- the slip occurs almost immediately.
I'm re-checking everything including the seatbelt auto locking and will update if I can get it working FF. Regardless, it must be the lock offs on the Fllo, and not the specific vehicle.
Please correct me if I'm missing something.
 

CPST_girlmom

New member
Just to answer the follow-up question posted by kphil...

The new lock-offs that Clek sent were exactly the same as the old ones, and they slip in the same way.

I'm still using the seat, but only with a LATCH install, which has stayed rock-solid throughout the time I've had it in my Odyssey.

I had a long back-and-forth with Clek about whether or not I could continue to use the seat RF after my toddler reaches 35 lbs. by switching to a seat belt install with the belt locked at the retractor. (This seems to solve the slipping problem, since you're no longer relying on the lock-offs to secure the seat.) At the time that I talked to them, they said no, because they hadn't yet crash tested the seat that way, but that they were planning to, and would likely update their installation instructions in the future.

I like the seat, and I think Clek's customer service is very responsive, and better than most car seat manufacturers.

Nonetheless, I regret buying it. If I had no budget limits (think after a crash, where my insurer is paying for a new seat) I'd get a Nuna Rava instead. Given the realities of $$$, I'd buy a Graco Extend2Fit instead of the Fllo.

Fllo does have very nice fabric (stays cool in summer, warm in winter, cleans easily and well), an easy and smoothly-adjusting harness, and the anti-rebound bar, as well as great customer service. And it's narrow, which makes it one of the few good options for most three-across situations.

But if you're thinking of buying one, definitely test it in your vehicle before you buy it to see if you have slipping problems. If you do, call Clek to see if they've updated the installation instructions and can advise you how to get around the problem.
 

kphil

Member
Thanks so much for replying to this. I currently have a Fllo in my house, waiting to be tried in the Odyssey. Do the lockoffs loosen quickly enough that I will know pretty quickly if it's working or not? It has free returns to Amazon, so hopefully if it doesn't work, I don't have trouble returning. One of many reasons I decided I wanted the Fllo was because it's narrow enough to out in the second row, middle seat, and still tumble the side seats. That's necessary for my situation.
 

CPST_girlmom

New member
When I first noticed the problem, it took a while before the looseness became apparent. But when I was testing the install and trying to figure out what had gone wrong, I was able to make the slipping happen more quickly just by wriggling the seat around.
I was definitely applying more pressure (or more jiggling movement) than I ordinarily would when checking an installation, but not a huge amount of force.
If you've already bought the seat, call Clek. They were very responsive when I talked to them. They said (and this was over six months ago) that it was a "known issue" with the 2016 Odyssey, and that they were working on a solution to the problem. If your lock-offs do slip (and I think it's likely that they will), and Clek can advise you to install the seat with a seat belt locked at the retractor, say, and this works for you, then you can keep the seat even if it doesn't work with the lock-offs.
Flo does fit nicely in that narrow second row center seat, and will leave plenty of room for you to slide the captain's chairs forward for third row access.
 

kphil

Member
Just to answer the follow-up question posted by kphil
I had a long back-and-forth with Clek about whether or not I could continue to use the seat RF after my toddler reaches 35 lbs. by switching to a seat belt install with the belt locked at the retractor. (This seems to solve the slipping problem, since you're no longer relying on the lock-offs to secure the seat.) At the time that I talked to them, they said no, because they hadn't yet crash tested the seat that way, but that they were planning to, and would likely update their installation instructions in the future.
Now that I've read the manual in preparation to install, I'm more confused about this. (This is taking me so long because I'm not able to lift much right now, so I need my dh to do the actual install.) The video manual on Clek's site says that you can use the locking retractor, if your vehicle has it, but the manual only shows using the lockoffs. I've never installed a seat without locking the seatbelt, so that feels very weird to me.

That said, if I can get a good Latch install, that would probably be good enough. My other kids haven't hit 35 pounds until 5 or 6 years old, so Latch would likely work until we're ready to ff (unless this child is unexpectedly big, which I can't imagine).
 

CPST_girlmom

New member
If the video manual is newer than the printed manual (which makes sense--it's probably easier for them to update), then it means that they've revised the installation instructions. So before they didn't allow the belt to be locked at the retractor, but now they do, since before they hadn't tested the seat that way, but now they have. That's my best guess, anyway.

I can get a beautiful, very tight install with the lower anchors in that middle seating position, though.

And you never know with weights--my oldest has been in the second (!) percentile for weight for most of her life, and didn't hit 40 lbs until second grade. My middle is in the ninth percentile, and got to 40 lbs in the middle of the year in first grade. My third is 2 1/2 now, and 30 lbs already (60th percentile for weight). She's also much taller than the others were at this age.

You just never know.... :)
 

kphil

Member
We installed it with latch, and like you said, it's a very solid install. So, I think it will be okay. I'm not confident the recline is deep enough, though. I need to recheck today with it out of garage. This is for a newborn, with the infant thingy installed, so needs to be a full, deep
Recline.

I think I I will also call or email Clek to verify if the video manual is current, or not.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
I have a 2016 Honda Pilot that does not have leather seats (my 2007 Pilot had leather and I thought that was a reason for slippage), but I've had this car for 6 months now and am constantly annoyed at having to retighten my fllo- both of them. I have a 38 lb 3.5 yr old and 35 lb 2.5 yr old, both RF. They do climb in and out of their seats, so I'm sure the tugging on it doesn't help but I find myself retightening the seats every 1-4 weeks. I can get it super tight, but it never lasts. It's drives me crazy!!!! Reading that it is just as bad FF scares me. I will soon be adding an infant seat to my second row (a big reason I bought the fllo was to fit 3 across), but not I'm tempted to completely replace their seats with ones that won't loosen.

I am going to try a few of the suggestions in this thread. But I don't have much hope, other than selling them and purchasing different seats when the kids have outgrown these ones.
 
J

Jkph

Guest
Considering the 2018 or 2019 Honda Odyssey. I currently have a Fllo and foonf I’d be installing. Any updates on the car seat slipping?! Thank you all!
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
Forward facing seems to have issues. One is the odyssey belt anchor is ahead of the crease, I wonder about this as a root cause in FF mode.
Second or related it is easy to entirely dislodge the seat when tightening it. I pulled up on the belt with child in and the whole seat twisted out of position. Pushing side to side at the back was fine. The whole van moved.

Just grab the front of the the car seat, right under the release button, and lift and pull. I can nearly put the seat on its side. Talking to Clek this week but alarming.
 

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