Thoughts on Safety 1st Designer 22 front adjust

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
The costco my dh works at has some safety 1st seats in right now, and one of them is the travel system with the designer 22 seat. Of course I had to take a look, and lo & behold it was a front adjust - first one I've seen. ;)

So of course I had to read the manual and play with the seat. :whistle:

And I just have to say, what a dumb set up they have for adjusting the harness height in that thing. Most front adjust seats have a splitter plate - take the straps off, pull through the front of the seat, re-thread through the right slots and hook back on to the splitter plate, right?

Well not the front adjust designer 22. It has what they call "S" clips on the bottom of the shell - the hip straps attach to them... The harness straps where they attach to the adjuster strap are sewn on - the attachment looks rather flimsy IMO, and those of you who know me know I don't critique seats this way very often...

Anyways, to change harness height you unhook the "S" clips from the bottom of the shell. (The manual actually calls them "S" clips.) Then you slide the loop off of the clip, pull the strap up out of the bottom of the seat, then you pull the whole strap - chest clip & buckle included, through the back of the shell. Then re-thread to the correct slot, buckle to make sure you don't twist the straps, then push the bottom of the hip strap through the shell. Then you thread it back on to the "S" clip, and hook the "S" clip back on to the shell.

I was so excited to see a front adjust cosco seat at first, then I saw the dumb way the harness height is adjusted. It is just ripe for misuse. :thumbsdown: I don't know why on earth they had to do it that way. :confused:

The only good thing is they've updated the manual so that if you're installing the seat without the base, and the shoulder belt isn't long enough to go around the back of the seat, they've ok'ed not looping the shoulder portion behind.

I guess at least it's a front adjust, so more likely to be used right when the harness is the right height... but less likely the harness will be the right height with the way it's set up.
 
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mominabigtruck

New member
I was so excited to see a front adjust designer 22 at my old walmart the other day. This is the same walmart that carries three travel systems, the barest of the bare ones, scenera, tb and cosco hbb combo that is it. I didn't have time to look at it because dh was waiting in the car but I still think a front adjust seat with eps foam would be better then a rear adjust seat with no foam.

On a side note though my walmart now is carrying a very pretty graco travel system that has a front adjust seat with eps foam:love: Maybe now they'll get rid of the crappy wtp systems they've been selling like crazy.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
I was so excited to see a front adjust designer 22 at my old walmart the other day. This is the same walmart that carries three travel systems, the barest of the bare ones, scenera, tb and cosco hbb combo that is it. I didn't have time to look at it because dh was waiting in the car but I still think a front adjust seat with eps foam would be better then a rear adjust seat with no foam.

On a side note though my walmart now is carrying a very pretty graco travel system that has a front adjust seat with eps foam:love: Maybe now they'll get rid of the crappy wtp systems they've been selling like crazy.

I didn't check to see if this seat had EPS foam - do you know for sure if it does?

I would think it probably does since CMVSS regs have changed and require energy absorbing padding of some sort at any point a child's head could contact... but the scenera still comes without any foam. :shrug-shoulders:
 

mish

New member
I just now checked one of these seats. A new mom at the hospital I work at had one. That S clip is something else. Also, the head support was strange. To get it up high enough for the baby, it pulled the straps up. I don't know if that makes sense. I wonder if there is some kind of defect. The little slots on the head support that the harness goes through are up really high, providing no space for the head. The are only like 3 inches from the top. We took it out and I showed her how to roll up a receiving blanket instead. Has anyone else noticed this?
 
wow..the directions for adjusting the straps sre giving me a headache. that thing is begging to be used wrong. i think all infant seats should have a front adjust imp.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
I just now checked one of these seats. A new mom at the hospital I work at had one. That S clip is something else. Also, the head support was strange. To get it up high enough for the baby, it pulled the straps up. I don't know if that makes sense. I wonder if there is some kind of defect. The little slots on the head support that the harness goes through are up really high, providing no space for the head. The are only like 3 inches from the top. We took it out and I showed her how to roll up a receiving blanket instead. Has anyone else noticed this?

Is this the headrest support with 2 sets of slits for the straps? I didn't really fiddle with the headrest much.. I find a lot of seats they either don't sit in the proper place or else they don't provide adequate support anyways...

And yeah, the "S" clips are really something.. not so bad once you've done it a couple times, but I had misuse galore alarm bells going off in my head as soon as I read that part of the manual and removed the loops from the clips. I didn't actually try threading everything through the slots to see how easily it fits... I have to wonder how many people will try removing the buckle and chest clip in order to get them through the slots though?
 

SusanMae

Senior Community Member
I taught a person how to adjust and install an Eddie Bauer with that same set up. I had to figure it out without the manual.

Susan
 

cpsaddict

New member
Hmm, it sounds like the harness adjusts somewhat like the Evenflo infant seats. Total PITA. I was very excited to see this seat with the front adjust because it's reasonably priced. Most Gracos with rear adjust are more than the Safety 1st. Believe it or not I have seen MANY rear adjsut Gracos with the straps done up wrong on the back, so misuse is possible in any seat. I just wish they made it so the handle could be left up. Otherwise, for the price, I would rather see someone with this over an Evenflo for the same price.:twocents:
 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
I do like it better than the Embrace. I hate the changing the harness height on then!
 

mominabigtruck

New member
I'll be out and about today and I'll see if I can find one and take some pics while I take it apart. Yes I carry fingernail clippers to snip the zip ties off of stuff at stores:eek:
 

mish

New member
Is this the headrest support with 2 sets of slits for the straps? I didn't really fiddle with the headrest much.. I find a lot of seats they either don't sit in the proper place or else they don't provide adequate support anyways...

It only had one set. It was really strange. I just had them take it out. By the way, I want to add that when I went down to the car with the dad to check the base it was in perfect! I think that is the first time I had seen that.
 

BabyKaykes

New member
I thought for a few moments about getting the front adjust designer 22 for the new baby. i wanted something cheap to last long enough until baby could fit into the Uptown.

my first was 5.5lb, 17.5" inches at birth (full term) and well over an inch under his rear adjuster snugride straps. at the time of my m/c last year, my 13wkr was measuring 10wks. and currently at 11.5wks baby is measuring a few days behind.

i changed my mind and ordered the compass last week (cause i need it to be on sale still), because i measured the bottom slots on the d22 - 9"!!! WTH?! For a newborn?!
 

Lara

New member
goodness that sounds like a PITA!!

I saw an EB equivilant at Target that had the same thing. I didn't look into it, I just figured the harness and adjuster were sewn together because it was a store model and they didn't want the harness to get messed up! That's just absurd, that they would do it like that.
 

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