Anyone else drive themselves nuts about strap height?

snowbird25ca · Mar 24, 2008

This is a bit of a vent... just because I'm frustrated by magic carseat land where one install makes a kid over the slots and another makes them under.

Long story short, after debating about 2nd to top slots on the MA for dd and not sure if she was just even or slightly over, we decided to keep her in the top slots. (We did a trial with moving them down, but I moved them back up after the trip around town because of the "when in doubt, move them up.")

When I reinstalled it with the straps in the top slots, I wasn't completely happy with the ff'ing lock-off, so decided to just use LATCH to install it. So today we went out of town for Easter, and discover definitively that now that the seat is installed with LATCH she is slightly below the 2nd from top slots.

I wanted to bang my head on a wall when I was reinstalling her seat after changing the strap height for the 3rd time in 3 days.

So anyone else have vehicle seats that make their kiddo's shoulders yo-yo over & under the slots depending on the method of install? I feel like I'm driving myself nuts some days.

I would've been fine leaving her on the top slots with her shoulders even with the 2nd ones from the top, but with the LATCH install dropping her below them, I figured it best to move them back down. How annoying though...

And it's this yo-yo stage that makes me love infinite adjust harnesses - or front height adjust harnesses... oh to be able to just buy another seat.

Thanks for humoring me with my whiney rant.

tanyaandallie · Mar 24, 2008

I have obsessed over the strap height issue many times!!!

Airforcemomma · Mar 24, 2008

We're having the same problem with our seats. We went away for easter yesterday to and when I put DS in his seat his shoulders seemed to be just over the second to top slots. So, I completely took his coat off instead of just undoing it for the harness and obsessed with it all the way to our destination. When I first removed his coat and put him in his seat he seemed to be even with the second to top slots, then the more I checked during the drive he seemed over the slots. Its crazy. So, we're just going to remove the seats today and move them all up a slot. That way I don't need to worry about it.

I have this funny feeling though, that as soon as I move them up, the same thing is going to happen to me. They'll need to be moved back down again.

I swear the seats (as other's have said) have magic moving slots.

Defrost · Mar 24, 2008

Must be the "magical harness slot" phase of the moon?

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=384815

Yeah yeah, we KNOW this - but personally, I'm still shocked that it can cause over an INCH of difference. I just expect "slight" differences, so the huge ones just drive me nuts!

I didn't have this downloaded when I posted my rant above - she was WELL OVER the slot with the stick in it when we TESTED it before installing it! Not "just over" or "it's kinda close so let's move it up." Very definitely over that slot! :dizzy:

snowbird25ca · Mar 24, 2008

Defrost said:
Must be the "magical harness slot" phase of the moon?

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=384815

Yeah yeah, we KNOW this - but personally, I'm still shocked that it can cause over an INCH of difference. I just expect "slight" differences, so the huge ones just drive me nuts!

I didn't have this downloaded when I posted my rant above - she was WELL OVER the slot with the stick in it when we TESTED it before installing it! Not "just over" or "it's kinda close so let's move it up." Very definitely over that slot! :dizzy:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/alunatic_photos/Unknown.jpg

I was thinking of your post when I saw this. I think the LATCH install must've just made it more upright... it's the difference from seatbelt to LATCH in this case...

The even stranger thing is, she'd been using the top slots before we switched her to the radian in september - but she'd also been in the center of the truck where the seat installed less upright. When we moved her back to the MA she was outboard... and after weeks of hedging I finally decided to try moving them down, but decided to move them back up. Then I reinstall with LATCH and she's definitely under them. I 2nd the :dizzy: icon.

What's really frutrating when this happens, is that if you get the seat installed differently after changing the harness height, it's possible to have their shoulders over the slots again... hovering at the slots isn't a big deal to move up, but when they're definitely below the harness just fits so much better.... I was so scared last night that despite her being definitely below, I'd get the seat reinstalled at a slightly different angle and she'd be over them again.

Exercise in frustration if I've ever seen one. LOL.

Amaris · Mar 24, 2008

We are having the same problem with ds2 in his regent. I moved the straps up to the next to top slot because I was certain he was over the one under it. When I re-installed it he fit the same way, but now he seems like he's even with the lower ones again! I make sure he's sitting all the way back, but I'm still not sure where to put them, so I left them in the slots next to the top. It does seem like they are quite a bit above his shoulders though....

remken · Mar 24, 2008

I've been having the same problem with Remy in his seats.

Sometimes when I put him in his seats Wizard or marathon) he looks like he's about to out grow them both by height and other times he looks like he has plenty of room.

Heres a couple of pics showing what I mean in his wizard.

First one was after
I picked him up from school.

The second was on the way to school.

The harness is in the top position in both pics.

He does the same thing in his marathon also.

I resized the pics. so not sure why they are so big.

Mae · Mar 24, 2008

Oh, you mean like today? I had to go to the dentist, so I set my DN in his nautilus and saw he was under the strap by like half an inch, so I set him in the seat next to me, uninstalled it, rethreaded the harness, and reinstalled the car seat. So I put him back in the car seat and off we were to the dentist. Then, I put him back in the car getting ready to come home, and what do I see? I see a little boy who is now under two, not just the one, but TWO harness slots! :hitselfonhead:

ZephyrBlue · Mar 24, 2008

Yes. Because every time my almost 8yo DD rides in her Nautilus, the harness height is different. I kid you not. It's driving me insane. Last week I was freaking out because her shoulders were even with the top slots. I was hoping that the Monterey would be released in the next few weeks, worrying because she's only 45lbs, not what I would feel comfortable with in a booster full-time, yadda yadda.

Fast forward to this morning- we get ready to leave for the mall, and I check her straps again. There's almost an inch of space before her shoulders reach the top slots. WTH????

MsFacetious · Mar 24, 2008

Yep. In the dodge the girl's are still below the 2nd slots on the Regent. In any other vehicle they are well above them. It is because the other vehicle have slightly recline vehicle seats and the dodge is a truck so they sit straight up.

Fortunately I haven't had to move them in quite a while, but I will be this week and not only uninstalling, reinstalling but moving the straps up. Then when I put them back I uninstall, reinstall and move the straps back down.

I miss the Boulevard.

safeinthecar · Mar 24, 2008

Could it be the child fits the same, but the COVER is sliding up and down as the child enters and exits the seat?

Defrost · Mar 24, 2008

safeinthecar said:
Could it be the child fits the same, but the COVER is sliding up and down as the child enters and exits the seat?

Not in my case, at least. That's why I put the stick in! And we checked under the cover the first time around, too - it's definitely a difference from the way it's installed.

arly1983 · Mar 24, 2008

I hate this and we are having this problem with the radian.

It seems like J is just slightly above the actual slots second from the top so I move the straps to the top slots. Then he looks like he is a good quarter inch below those slots and he hates the straps on his ears. But when I move them down, I swear he is above them.

snowbird25ca · Mar 24, 2008

safeinthecar said:
Could it be the child fits the same, but the COVER is sliding up and down as the child enters and exits the seat?

No, definitely not in our case because I don't use the cover when checking slot height, I always go by where the slots in the shell are. :thumbsup:

arly1983 said:
I hate this and we are having this problem with the radian.

It seems like J is just slightly above the actual slots second from the top so I move the straps to the top slots. Then he looks like he is a good quarter inch below those slots and he hates the straps on his ears. But when I move them down, I swear he is above them.

We were having this problem when dd was in the Radian too. And there's such a difference between the 2nd to top and the top slots in the Radian. I'd been looking forward to switching back to the MA since when we'd used it before she was clearly needing the top slots.

Hadn't even considered different seating position in the truck... and then didn't consider that switching from seatbelt to LATCH would change the install enough to make her actually below the slots.

Probably one of the problems in my truck is that the seats are really sloped, so the front of the seat gets really compressed. When I reinstall and the seat is already compressed like that, I think the seat ends up being installed more upright, and that when kids are just hovering around the slots, that bit more upright is enough to drop them right under. I suspect carseats installed in vehicles with flat seats wouldn't have quite the same dilemma because it would be easy to get the seat installed pretty much the same every time. In my truck there's always a slight variance though because of the sloped seat...

Amaris · Mar 25, 2008

I always feel for the slots, especially in the regent, because the cover just has a narrow slit and the shell has an oval shaped slot. I am going by the bottom of the slot in the shell.

cryswilkins · Mar 25, 2008

I am torn about slot height for my DD in her MA. I can't decide, some days she seems like the second slots too far above her shoulders (she is RF) and others she is even with them. She is just so squished in the bottom slots.

snowbird25ca · Mar 25, 2008

cryswilkins said:
I am torn about slot height for my DD in her MA. I can't decide, some days she seems like the second slots too far above her shoulders (she is RF) and others she is even with them. She is just so squished in the bottom slots.

If she's squished in the bottom slots, and within 1/4" of the next slots up, I'd just move the straps up and not worry about it too much. Usually the straps getting difficult to tighten properly and it seeming like they're really low is a sign of being ready to move up. If she's mostly even, then you're fine with moving them up - especially if it allows for a better harness fit. :thumbsup:

This is really the struggle with ff'ing straps - you have to raise them if kiddo is over the slots, but for the first while after raising them the harness is often harder to adjust and just never seems quite as tight. So in many ways it's desirable to wait until it's really necessary to move the straps up to the next slot. But the "if in doubt, move them up" applies.

Anyone else drive themselves nuts about strap height?

snowbird25ca

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