Radian XT forward facing head wing question

fyrfightermomma

New member
I turned Sophie FFing in her XT in DHs car today (and wow, converting it to FFing is not for the faint of heart!) but cant figure out the headwings. We didnt have this problemRFing cause the straps were below her shoulders. But now, her head is not even really in the wings :confused:

shes on the 2nd from the top slots. I put the wings as low as they could go without covering the straps. The wings were exactly AT the staps. Yet they really only covered from the middle of her ears up. The whole lower half of her head isnt in the wings

What am I missing? Im not understanding the point of these wings. First, you cant use them half the time you are RFing (have to be on 3rd slots). Then they dont go low enough FFing (without covering the straps) to be used fully.

Help me out here. This kid has never been able to use these wings except the last 5 months RFing on the fourth slot(or was it the third?) anyways, its a good seat but im thinking isnt the best designed.


Do others have this problem?
 
ADS

Pixels

New member
Move the wings down until the bottom is even with her shoulder. Don't worry about covering the straps.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Move the wings down until the bottom is even with her shoulder. Don't worry about covering the straps.

Yup, according the manual the wings are supposed to be right above the shoulders, covering the straps is fine best I can tell.
 

AtTheSouthDam

New member
Now you know why I sold mine and got an 80 ;)
The problem I had with moving the wings to cover the straps is then it became near impossible to adjust the harness. Sorry I am not more help, I view this as a design flaw and I understand now why other seat with headwings have infinite harnesses.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
I had no clue you could cover the straps. I was told with my GN not to, so I figured this was the same.


But yeah, it's annoying. When she gets home, I'll change it and see how hard it is to adjust the harness


Thanks guys!
 

tl01

New member
Russ told me not to cover the straps. He said I should use the lower harness slot even if DS was a bit over the top so that I could get the wings low enough w/o touching the harness.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Russ told me not to cover the straps. He said I should use the lower harness slot even if DS was a bit over the top so that I could get the wings low enough w/o touching the harness.

That doesn't fit w/ what the manual says though. Hmmmm.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
I'll have to get my manual for exact wording, but the I remember reading the headwings should be right above the child's shoulders, rfing or ffing, which in the case where you're just needing the next set of slots up would put the headwings covering the straps some or would put the headwings 3" or so above the shoulders reducing the amount of the head inside the wings.
 

Pixels

New member
Also, the only time you're allowed to have shoulders over the slots when forward facing is when the child is over the top slots. Any other time, when the child goes over the slots, you have to move the harness up according to the manual.

This is not the first time Russ has advised a parent directly contrary to what the manual says.
 

tl01

New member
Also, the only time you're allowed to have shoulders over the slots when forward facing is when the child is over the top slots. Any other time, when the child goes over the slots, you have to move the harness up according to the manual.

This is not the first time Russ has advised a parent directly contrary to what the manual says.

He said that having the headrest go over the harness straps meant that it would cause the harness then to be too long which could affect safety.

How do we know that there's a difference in the slots whether it is the top or 2nd from the top. He said that the seat has been tested over the slot and that is fine... he didn't qualify it with which slot it had to be. I sent up pics of my son. He he said the appropriate choice was to use the seat on the lower slot for sure.
 

tl01

New member
I'll have to get my manual for exact wording, but the I remember reading the headwings should be right above the child's shoulders, rfing or ffing, which in the case where you're just needing the next set of slots up would put the headwings covering the straps some or would put the headwings 3" or so above the shoulders reducing the amount of the head inside the wings.

Does it actually say that you should be covering the straps or are we just assuming this is what it means?
 

emars002

New member
Russ told me not to cover the straps. He said I should use the lower harness slot even if DS was a bit over the top so that I could get the wings low enough w/o touching the harness.

This - i had the same problem and I was told I could not cover the slot the strap comes out of so the wings are a little higher than I would like them but it is doable
 

Pixels

New member
He said that having the headrest go over the harness straps meant that it would cause the harness then to be too long which could affect safety.

How do we know that there's a difference in the slots whether it is the top or 2nd from the top. He said that the seat has been tested over the slot and that is fine... he didn't qualify it with which slot it had to be. I sent up pics of my son. He he said the appropriate choice was to use the seat on the lower slot for sure.

Well, first of all we know there's a difference because the manual says so. It's very clear on this point. Also, there are rules for using the harness over the top slots to ensure that the child is not endangered by being over the slot. There are no such rules for safe use of the harness above the other slots.
 

tl01

New member
Well, first of all we know there's a difference because the manual says so. It's very clear on this point. Also, there are rules for using the harness over the top slots to ensure that the child is not endangered by being over the slot. There are no such rules for safe use of the harness above the other slots.

I wonder though if in a crash, if the forward momentum could cause the headrest to move up leaving the child with extra harness length. Russ was very clear for me not to use the seat that way. Honestly, I get the impression that they didn't realize that the headrest would interfere with the harness. It almost seemed as though Russ was surprised that this could occur hence they wouldn't have had the info when the wrote the manual. As we know, many manufacturers have made changes to the manual once they had input from the public because the seat is in real use (Britax, Graco). When you look at the headrest the pieces that seem to interfere are made of styrofoam. I wonder if they eliminated the styrofoam there if that would help the situation.
 
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tl01

New member
So I called Russ again and quoted the parts of the manual that I believe are being referenced. He said of course the manual is written in black and white b/c you can't tell someone to use a see a little above the slot... b/c who is the judge of how much is a little etc. If the manual were written that way it would be interpreted differently by each person. At least for me, he confirmed what I thought before. He'd rather have the slot be slightly lower on any of the slots than DS's shoulder than have the headrest pushing the harness down. He told me to continue using the seat as I have had it which is what I'm going to do. He said the impact of having DS's shoulders slightly over the slot is not going to be relevant in a crash. I guess if anyone has other questions or concerns they can call him directly... or just follow the manual if you feel that is the best choice.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
So the consensus is basically....nothing huh? LOL

She isn't "slightly above" the slow below so I can't move it down one. She's almost right at the slot she's on (2nd from top, about 1/2" below it).

So that's not an option.

My options are either, cover the harness with the headwings. Or the headwings don't protect her entire head. Excellent......
 

tl01

New member
So the consensus is basically....nothing huh? LOL

She isn't "slightly above" the slow below so I can't move it down one. She's almost right at the slot she's on (2nd from top, about 1/2" below it).

So that's not an option.

My options are either, cover the harness with the headwings. Or the headwings don't protect her entire head. Excellent......

Can you post a pic?
 

emars002

New member
These are from when i first got the seat - she is slightly taller now but it pretty much looks the same.

How I left it after talking to SKJP with the wings just over the slot. I think it will still protect her head - just not exactly how i wanted it:
DSC_0315.jpg

DSC_0316.jpg


And these are where i would have needed the wings but this position is covering the harness slots:
DSC_0306.jpg

DSC_0307.jpg


I am using the 3rd slot b/c i felt she was too much over the 2nd - but she is far enough away from the 3rd that the headwings sit to high
 

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