My email to Recaro- did I cover everything?

ZephyrBlue

New member
This is what I sent to Katherine Hubanks this morning:

"Katherine, I was reading my Como's owner's manual and talking with several Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians, and I believe the information that you gave me over the phone yesterday is incorrect. According to the manual, I should be able to tighten the vehicle seat belt using the locking clip so as to achieve an installation that allows no more than 1" of movement at the belt path. According to the revised Como manual that is online, the belt guides are designed to help achieve the same goal- no more than 1" of movement. The locking clips on my seat in no way help prevent the seat from moving- and it moves a lot more than 1" at the belt path. I have talked with other Como owners who have told me that their seat won't install properly with the lock offs, either. The belt appears to be held tightly by the clip, then as soon as you tug on the seat with one hand, the vehicle belt slips through the clip and the child restraint slides all over the vehicle seat. According to the technicians that I spoke with, a seat has to come furnished with either a built in locking clip to be used with non-locking ELR Lap-Shoulder Belts, or a separate locking clip with instructions on how to use it to achieve less than 1" of movement at the belt path, to meet government standards.

I am feeling very frustrated and concerned about my son's safety; we missed a doctor's appointment last week because I could not install his seat safely according to the instructions in my child restraint manual, and as it stands, this seat will not safely install in vehicles without ALR belts. The owner's manual clearly states that the lock offs can be used to secure the seatbelt and secure the child restraint with less than 1" of movement at the belt path, which is false. When I spoke with Gayle on Friday, she told me that I would be able to return my seat (without incurring the cost of shipping for myself) to the retailer where I purchased the seat; I would like Recaro to contact the retailer and arrange the return, if it's not possible to go directly through Recaro. At this point, I do not feel that trading my seat for an identical Como with an updated manual is in the best interest of my child's safety, unless the new seat has a totally differently designed lock off that is designed to lock and hold the seat belt so that the child restraint moves less than 1". At the urging of several CPST's, I have filed a complaint with NHTSA and, following NHTSA's advice, I have also filed a similar complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. I was told by the FTC to contact the State Attorney General's office in MI if I don't get a satisfactory response from Recaro, which I am confident will happen. Recaro appears to be a great company with cutting-edge products, but this issue is a huge safety concern and really needs to be addressed on a much larger scale than the individual seat that I purchased. I would like to resolve this asap, so if you could either contact Michelle at Baby On The Go At Home and arrange the return to her, or send me a prepaid shipping label to send the seat back to Recaro, I'd very much appreciate it. Thanks for your time and effort; you have been pleasant to work with and I hope to be able to purchase another Recaro convertible in the future, when this issue has been resolved.

Sincerely,

XXXXX"

Did I cover everything?
 
ADS

scatterbunny

New member
I've been following your story, and the letter sounds great! I hope the issue gets resolved quickly. This really is a huge safety issue, not a minor manual wording issue. :mad:
 

scatterbunny

New member
LOL--I noticed that, too, but didn't want to sound super-picky. :p

CPST's would mean something belonging to ONE CPST. The apostrophe signifies ownership. ;)

CPSTs would be the proper plural form of CPST.
 

southpawboston

New member
well written! please keep us posted with any replies you get from katherine. i suspect any replies you get from katherine will be watered down and vague, presumably to avoid any admittance to liability. just FYI. but please do keep us posted!
 

crunchierthanthou

New member
I wouldn't call them locking clips, since that's the technical name of a different item. I would call them belt guides or belt clamps like the current manual revision, or even lock-offs as they are called in your manual and both manuals indicate is their function.
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
Katherine's response:

"Brandi, I am in Chicago, but do not want you to think I am not answering you. I have forwarded your email and will have a discussion as to the proper measures we need to take and Hopefully they will get back to me shortly and I can let you know.

Thanks for being so patient

Katherine"
 

niccig

New member
Looks good to me as well.

As an aside---have others reported the defect to NHTSA?

Susan

I need to play with my seat. It's in DH's car, so I'll swap cars with him tomorrow. I do have LATCH and locking belts, so I'm going to install without locking the belt and see what happens. I too have the manual that calls it lock offs and not belt guides.

Nicci
 

southpawboston

New member
Katherine's response:

"Brandi, I am in Chicago, but do not want you to think I am not answering you. I have forwarded your email and will have a discussion as to the proper measures we need to take and Hopefully they will get back to me shortly and I can let you know.

Thanks for being so patient

Katherine"

in other words, she's thinking, "sh*t, this is a problem that engineering and marketing are going to have to hash out, and i've got to be the point person through it all".
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
in other words, she's thinking, "sh*t, this is a problem that engineering and marketing are going to have to hash out, and i've got to be the point person through it all".

kinda sounds that way, eh?
 

crunchierthanthou

New member
yup. good for you for calling her on it. That's a load of bs that it isn't actually supposed to lock the seatbelt. I don't care what they call it, the manual is pretty clear on the function.
 

ThreeBeans

New member
Katherine's response:

"Brandi, I am in Chicago, but do not want you to think I am not answering you. I have forwarded your email and will have a discussion as to the proper measures we need to take and Hopefully they will get back to me shortly and I can let you know.

Thanks for being so patient

Katherine"

Translation:

Brandi,

$hit, $hit, $hit! We are in so much effing trouble! Oh, eff me! Oh, $hit, $hit, $hit!

Katherine
 

ZephyrBlue

New member
ThreeBeans, good thing I'm not pregnant at the moment, because I surely would have peed my pants reading your response :ROTFLMAO:
 

niccig

New member
And imagine her response when others with Comos start calling in with the same problem.

SPB - how is your Signo with the lock-offs. I wonder if it's just Como related?
 

Mama!

New member
LMAO

(and yet...:mad: another como issue. )

My question: I'm using latch right now for RF 33 lb ds. When I turn him FF , can I continue using latch? Do I have to switch over the the vehicle belt/lock offs at some point?
 

ThreeBeans

New member
LMAO

(and yet...:mad: another como issue. )

My question: I'm using latch right now for RF 33 lb ds. When I turn him FF , can I continue using latch? Do I have to switch over the the vehicle belt/lock offs at some point?

Consult your vehicle manual/ car seat manual ;)

Most vehicles have a lower anchor weight limit of 48 lbs. So you can continue using the lower anchors until then. However, if you have the LATCH system, you also have locking seatbelts :)
 

Mama!

New member
so this whole issue is for vehicles without locking seatbelts? (sorry, my brain is scrambled today)

So, technically the seat is okay in my van, but if I needed to put it in someone else's vehicle that DIDNT have latch /locking seatbelts, I might have issues getting a secure install b/c the lockoff's dont work properly?
 

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