Got to see the Nautilus today...something to watch for...

The officers (techs) that I support had an appointment this morning with a mom who purchased a Nautilus. She and I worked hard to find her one and I was excited to see it...I asked them to call me downstairs when she arrived.

When I got outside one of the officers said 'It's nice...but that harness isn't nearly long enough for anything close to a 65lbs child.' What? You guys are all raving about this seat...seems to me someone would have said something about the harness being very short by now.

So I took a look. LOVED the styling of it, the cushion seems like it would do the job, liked the rubberized arm rests...seemed easy to clean and the molded in cup holder...no falling off like on my Advance. We have an Apex in dh's car...don't like it nearly as much as the Nautilus.

Then I looked at the harness...there was only about 1 inch hanging out at the end where the adjustor is...and when I pulled on the straps, sure enough, they didn't look nearly long enough. And then I looked a little closer and realized I couldn't see where the harness came out of a harness slot. So I raised the headrest...and voila...an extra several inches of harness!

It was threaded through the 2nd from top harness slot...which is completely covered by the headrest when in the lowest position. And when that happens the harness comes out the slot and then is held down a couple of inches by the headrest before it 'pops out' below the bottom...if that makes any sense.

I did not have an opportunity to read the manual but I assume that this arrangement isn't condoned (the harness being threaded under the headrest)...I'm thinking the harness could pop the headrest off in an accident possibly causing a head injury. So I'm curious what the manual says.

The mom didn't have her child with her so we encouraged her to check the harness slot height with her child in the seat and be sure that the slot it's on is correct. And to read the manual. And that she probably needs to keep the headrest so it doesn't obscure the slot that she's using...but that the manual will let her know what to do. And to call us back if there's any questions and come back in with the child and the manual.

Has anyone else seen this?? Can you give me the manual's answer? I'd like to be able to know for next time and to tell my techs.

Thanks for the heads up!

I have the Nautilus and when a child is in the seat, the headrest is raised to the position so that it does not cover the harness slot. (My DD is on the second-from-top slot also) Everything is "out in the open" so to speak and freely slides. I could see that being an issue if you place the headrest too low- the red shoulder belt guides attached to the headrest are supposed to be at or above shoulders as stated in the manual. I could fit two of my 42 lbs kid in that harness- unlike the Apex.

yoshiandluke said:

I could see that being an issue if you place the headrest too low- the red shoulder belt guides attached to the headrest are supposed to be at or above shoulders as stated in the manual. I could fit two of my 42 lbs kid in that harness- unlike the Apex.

Click to expand...

It appeared to me that a problem might be that the seat comes out of the box with the headrest all the way down and the harness in that 2nd from top slot (I don't think the mom changed anything when she took it out)...and that often, as was this case, mom hadn't read the manual and we'd not seen the seat before so we didn't know where the red shoulder belt guides should be. I agree that once I raised the headrest everything flowed freely and was fine...and that the harness length was plenty long. I was just a little concerned about the general public removing it from the box and not realizing that they needed to move the headrest to 'free' the harness. This mom was prepared to return the GN! And 2 techs were with her who had no idea what the problem was.

Odd - my seat and the display were both set up out of the box in the bottom slot.

It states in the manual to put the belt guides at the child's shoulders - now they just have to READ it.

I also see misuse with the harness threading on the back even though it's carefully lettered out in many many places.

The Nautilis on display in our Walmart yesterday had the harness straps pulled up and through the red seatbelt guides! I'm not sure what someone was trying to do with that.

Mine came out of the box with the harness in the lowest slots as well. I know there is also a tag on the side of the seat (on the headrest I think) with a picture and directions regarding the proper height of the headrest. Good point to watch out for though for those that may be unfamiliar.

Andrea

yeah,the pictures are so good that you really don't seem to need the manual.

the straps go at/above the shoulders, and so does the headrest.
So the bottom of the headrest should be JUST above the slots and that makes the red guides, which slant slightly down, be a little below them, so not too far above the shoulders.

My siggy picture shows what I mean.