3 year old son can loosen his carseat straps

Help! My 3 year old has learned how to loosen his car seat straps. We have tried every thing under the sun including purchasing a new car seat and he figured out how to loosen the new one. Any recommendations for carseats to try? He is 42 pounds.

It's a discipline issue. Treat it like you would any other discipline issue. [emoji4]

How is he loosening it?

lgenne said:

How is he loosening it?

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If I had to guess, he's doing what my son did. At a certain age they can reach down and pull on the lift to loosen the straps. I still struggle with trying to get DS to leave it alone at times. Thankfully he hasn't done it lately and I can easily see him in my rear view mirror. The other two kids are pretty good about telling me when he does it as well.

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Which car seats has he managed to do it in? Off the top of my head, the Britax combination seats are super hard to reach to loosen the harness. There are probably cheaper options, too. Making his straps tighter in the first place might also make it harder for him to reach the adjuster release.

Outside the box suggestion: a Graco Extend2Fit would accommodate him rear facing for a long time. If you adjust it correctly before you install it, then install it with the harness adjuster strap caught between the seat back and the leg extension panel, he won't actually be able to loosen it. Which might deter him from messing with it (even if he can reach it) but could be dangerous if he continued to mess with it anyway. You wouldn't want it in the open position during a collision.

lgenne said:

Which car seats has he managed to do it in? Off the top of my head, the Britax combination seats are super hard to reach to loosen the harness. There are probably cheaper options, too. Making his straps tighter in the first place might also make it harder for him to reach the adjuster release.

Outside the box suggestion: a Graco Extend2Fit would accommodate him rear facing for a long time. If you adjust it correctly before you install it, then install it with the harness adjuster strap caught between the seat back and the leg extension panel, he won't actually be able to loosen it. Which might deter him from messing with it (even if he can reach it) but could be dangerous if he continued to mess with it anyway. You wouldn't want it in the open position during a collision.

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Any suggestions for a 52lb. 7yo? I have him in the KidsEmbrace Ninja Turtle Toddler Seat still using the 5-point harness. It harnesses to 65lbs. and 49in. We rf until around 4-5yo when he got too tall for his Evenflo Triumph LX. Would like to keep him in a 5-point harness as long as possible.

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LilSweetie785 said:

Any suggestions for a 52lb. 7yo? I have him in the KidsEmbrace Ninja Turtle Toddler Seat still using the 5-point harness. It harnesses to 65lbs. and 49in. We rf until around 4-5yo when he got too tall for his Evenflo Triumph LX. Would like to keep him in a 5-point harness as long as possible.

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Budget? At that age/size, I would (a) take a hard look at boostering (maybe giving him more control will make him less likely to try to break rules?) or (b) look at the Evenflo Sureride and the Britax combination seats. I'm pretty sure my 5 year old can't reach the release for the harness adjuster in the Sureride.

lgenne said:

Budget? At that age/size, I would (a) take a hard look at boostering (maybe giving him more control will make him less likely to try to break rules?) or (b) look at the Evenflo Sureride and the Britax combination seats. I'm pretty sure my 5 year old can't reach the release for the harness adjuster in the Sureride.

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I've been contemplating changing him to a seatbelt in his KidsEmbrace since his harness needs to be moved up to the highest slot now I'm just worried that he'll move around more in the seat belt vs. the harness. The main reason he does it is to pickup things he drops and sometimes he says it hurts (he has covers on the harness for his neck).

I guess I'll try taking the harness out and using it as a highback booster. I think I'm not ready for that more than anything. Lol I got in my first minor accident this week. A deer ran in front of the van in a neighborhood. Hit it going about 35-40. All damage sustained was limited to the grill and headlights.

I extended rf with him. The older two JUST got out of their harnesses last year so he'd only be a year earlier. If it doesn't work out I will probably check out the Britax and Sureride. Thanks for the input and suggestions!

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You can tell him that if he can't sit still he'll have to stop using his ninja turtles car seat. [emoji28]