Trouble getting Radian harness to tighten

jennzee_ut · Aug 6, 2008

We've got our daughter in a Radian 80 and recently turned the seat FF. Per the manual instructions, we added the SafeStop strap when we turned the seat around. Since turning the seat, I've found it almost impossible to pull the harness tight enough. It takes my full body weight yanking on that thing to get it to move, and once it won't budge any more I still don't feel like it's getting quite tight enough (not to mention I'm sweating by the time I'm done!). I've reinstalled the seat twice, and my husband did it a third time, all to no avail. We're not sure if it's the SafeStop strap that's causing the issue or not. It's definately causing more friction, but I don't know that it's so much friction to cause the tightening to be so difficult. She weighs about 25 lbs. so there's plenty of slack that needs tightening.

We've got our 4-year old son in the same seat and haven't had any problems with tightening the harness on his, maybe because he's so much bigger and doesn't require as much strap to pull through to be tight enough?

Any suggestions on something to try? Every time I put her in the car, I feel like she's just not as secure as I'd like her to be and it makes me so uneasy.

spokaneCPST · Aug 6, 2008

At 25 pounds, the best way to make sure she is "as secure as you'd like her to be" would be to return her to rear facing. There are lots of links on this board as to why rear-facing is the safest way to ride, if you are not familiar with this.

If you want to keep her forward facing and continue to have difficulties tightening the harness, I would call Sunshine Kids and discuss the problem with them. When the seats first came out, I know many people had this problem. I thought the company had deepend the harness channel to solve the issue, but sounds like some seats still have trouble. What is the date of manufacture on this seat?

For now, try not loosening the straps when you take her out. I rarely have to adjust the straps on my little ones' seats. I just unbuckle, they pull their arms out, and we go. When we get in, we just reverse the process.

Please let us know what Sunshine Kids has to say.

featherhead · Aug 6, 2008

I've finally figured out my Radian adjuster strap. I think the tricky part is it ratchets. When the harness is really loose you can give one long pull. Then it will stop. Then you have to give a bunch of short pulls. It feels like it is stuck, and not doing anything, but if you watch the harness across your dd's chest, it actually is tightening with each little pull. It will probably take several pulls until it is tight.

jennzee · Aug 6, 2008

I do realize that RF is safest for as long as possible. I'm more conservative than most, but not as conservative as some on this topic. My initial goal was to get my twins to 18 months RF and then be grateful for every day beyond that that we made it. I've got three in 5-point harnesses in my backseat and while the arrangement we had wasn't ideal, I was determined to make it work for as long as we could. When the twins hit 17 months, things in the backseat were chaotic at best and I got to the point where I felt that the safety of my driving was being sacrificed by keeping our current arrangement. I held out for a couple more weeks and finally turned them around. It was obviously not the ideal choice, but I was at least proud of myself for getting them to almost 18 months RF while most people are chomping at the bit to turn their baby at 12 months. I did a lot of back-and-forthing before actually making the switch, but when the time came, I felt at peace with my decision. I realize that some will throw tomatoes at me for not keeping them RF, especially when I know that it is indeed the safer route for kids their age...but I feel like we're doing the best that we can with what we have to work with.

I've attempted to reach Sunshine Kids and just get the voicemail for their tech support. They don't close for another 45 minutes or so, so I'll keep trying. I did take the seat out so that I could see if there was an obvious hang-up, but I can't see anything. After I reinstalled it, I even sat in it and tried to tighten the harness (quite a site, I'm sure!). It actually tightened fairly easily that time, but it doesn't go all the way....which I discovered is due to the slot that the shoulder straps are fed into....if it were one slot higher, the extra slack would be picked up. I'll have to measure her when she wakes up to see how close she is to having the straps in the next higher slot. In the meantime, hopefully I'll be able to get a call into the SK offices and maybe they'll have some advice for me.

shauburg · Aug 6, 2008

Can you get it tight enough when the seat is uninstalled and she is sitting in it? Then maybe once you install it, it will be in the right place for the slight adjustments you should need to make once it's installed.

spokaneCPST · Aug 6, 2008

jennzee said:
I do realize that RF is safest for as long as possible. I'm more conservative than most, but not as conservative as some on this topic. My initial goal was to get my twins to 18 months RF and then be grateful for every day beyond that that we made it. I've got three in 5-point harnesses in my backseat and while the arrangement we had wasn't ideal, I was determined to make it work for as long as we could. When the twins hit 17 months, things in the backseat were chaotic at best and I got to the point where I felt that the safety of my driving was being sacrificed by keeping our current arrangement. I held out for a couple more weeks and finally turned them around. It was obviously not the ideal choice, but I was at least proud of myself for getting them to almost 18 months RF while most people are chomping at the bit to turn their baby at 12 months. I did a lot of back-and-forthing before actually making the switch, but when the time came, I felt at peace with my decision. I realize that some will throw tomatoes at me for not keeping them RF, especially when I know that it is indeed the safer route for kids their age...but I feel like we're doing the best that we can with what we have to work with.

I've attempted to reach Sunshine Kids and just get the voicemail for their tech support. They don't close for another 45 minutes or so, so I'll keep trying. I did take the seat out so that I could see if there was an obvious hang-up, but I can't see anything. After I reinstalled it, I even sat in it and tried to tighten the harness (quite a site, I'm sure!). It actually tightened fairly easily that time, but it doesn't go all the way....which I discovered is due to the slot that the shoulder straps are fed into....if it were one slot higher, the extra slack would be picked up. I'll have to measure her when she wakes up to see how close she is to having the straps in the next higher slot. In the meantime, hopefully I'll be able to get a call into the SK offices and maybe they'll have some advice for me.

Totally understandable and you did a great job keeping her rear-facing this long! I just wanted to post that information in case you did not know.
Renee

wondering1 · Aug 7, 2008

Moving to the next slot made a big difference for adjusting our Regent harness. It too is a ratchet style with little tugs working better. With the one harness slot at a particular height though, the seam of the harness seemed to be getting hung up somewhere. Adjusting when he wasn't in the seat was helpful!

Best wishes!

When forward facing, the harness should be at or above the shoulders. If in doubt, move the harness up to the next higher slot.

Dillipop · Aug 7, 2008

I have the easiest time tightening my radian harness when I pull/push the adjuster strap straight down towards the floor. It gives me more leverage and I am able to get the seat tight on the first try. Pulling straight out just frustrated me.

Misty-Bug · Aug 7, 2008

featherhead said:
I've finally figured out my Radian adjuster strap. I think the tricky part is it ratchets. When the harness is really loose you can give one long pull. Then it will stop. Then you have to give a bunch of short pulls. It feels like it is stuck, and not doing anything, but if you watch the harness across your dd's chest, it actually is tightening with each little pull. It will probably take several pulls until it is tight.

YES!! Just like a ratcheting mechanism. You have to do quick, abrupt pulls and it tightens.
Also what slot is the child using? It should only be on the top two slots. Page 33 of my manual says "Only use the top three shoulder haness positions for forward-facing child"
I would say if they are lower then that and can't comfortably move up and safely move up, then you might WANT to turn them RFing again until they reach that height. But you did a great job going to 18 months. Sometimes situations don't "allow" ERFing. Can you move the seats at all? Like put your oldest in the center to seperate the twins? Either way, you did good going to 18 months.

ETA:
What I tighten my Radian's I pull kind of upwards.

jennzee · Aug 7, 2008

Misty-Bug said:
YES!! Just like a ratcheting mechanism. You have to do quick, abrupt pulls and it tightens.
Also what slot is the child using? It should only be on the top two slots. Page 33 of my manual says "Only use the top three shoulder haness positions for forward-facing child"
I would say if they are lower then that and can't comfortably move up and safely move up, then you might WANT to turn them RFing again until they reach that height. But you did a great job going to 18 months. Sometimes situations don't "allow" ERFing. Can you move the seats at all? Like put your oldest in the center to seperate the twins? Either way, you did good going to 18 months.

ETA:
What I tighten my Radian's I pull kind of upwards.

Thanks for your suggestions everybody!

The seat that my older child is in doesn't require short tugs to get the harness to tighten....one nice pull, and it slides right through, so it's frustrating to not have the same thing with my daugher's seat. I do have better luck pulling the strap downward....it won't budge at all if I try to pull upward.

The harness is fed through the 3rd slot from the top....which seems OK according to the manual. I'm not sure if you meant something different by saying it should only be in the top two slots, followed by the quote from the manual saying it should be in one of the top three slots.

The slot it's in is about 2-2.5 inches above her shoulders, putting the next slot a good 4-4.5 inches above her shoulders. Would it be safe to move it to the next higher slot? That would definately help take up some of the slack that I seem to be having.

The only RF'ing option we have in our vehicle is to have older brother in the middle, and that was a big part of the problem with the chaos in the backseat. Him being able to see both babies so easily RF'ing really made it easy for tormenting to take place. I have a pretty high threshold for chaos, and can usually ignore most things, but it was getting pretty extreme. The Radian will fit RF'ing in the middle position of the backseat, but then I can't reach the harness adjuster to tighten it up. Maybe I could grow some longer arms...

Misty-Bug · Aug 7, 2008

jennzee said:
Thanks for your suggestions everybody!

The seat that my older child is in doesn't require short tugs to get the harness to tighten....one nice pull, and it slides right through, so it's frustrating to not have the same thing with my daugher's seat. I do have better luck pulling the strap downward....it won't budge at all if I try to pull upward.

The harness is fed through the 3rd slot from the top....which seems OK according to the manual. I'm not sure if you meant something different by saying it should only be in the top two slots, followed by the quote from the manual saying it should be in one of the top three slots.

The slot it's in is about 2-2.5 inches above her shoulders, putting the next slot a good 4-4.5 inches above her shoulders. Would it be safe to move it to the next higher slot? That would definately help take up some of the slack that I seem to be having.

The only RF'ing option we have in our vehicle is to have older brother in the middle, and that was a big part of the problem with the chaos in the backseat. Him being able to see both babies so easily RF'ing really made it easy for tormenting to take place. I have a pretty high threshold for chaos, and can usually ignore most things, but it was getting pretty extreme. The Radian will fit RF'ing in the middle position of the backseat, but then I can't reach the harness adjuster to tighten it up. Maybe I could grow some longer arms...

nope that was a typo. Sorry. i was yelling YOU TWO STOP IT!! LOL!!! Hence the two. hehehe......I think I was told the top two slots but then read the manual. I am not sure what a tech will recommend but if you have 2-2.5 inches above the shoulders I would leave it. But let's see what a tech says!

NVMBR02 · Aug 7, 2008

I have a much harder time with my son's Radian than I do with my Daughters. They both have a DOM of 12/07 too.

Anyway, My dd is on the top slots and ds is on the second from the top and I think that has a lot to do with it. Both of ours we have to tug ,tug, pull, but ds's seems to stick. I have it adjusted and I pretty much just leave it alone for the most part.

Trouble getting Radian harness to tighten

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