Problems with the Graco My Ride 65

[JessnMatt11]

I recently purchased a Graco My Ride 65 with safety surround at babies r' us on sale (I had a gift card or I'd never shop there) and this seat is driving me insane. This was a replacement seat for my 15 month DD's Britax Marathon that has expired. I have an 07 Mitsubishi Galant and no matter what I do I can not get a tight install. I did search the forums first and tried removing the cover off the cup holders to try and get a tighter install, but it still wobbles. I am also having a problem getting the harness snug on my DD - I checked the splitter plate and the harness is correct. Another problem is the seat is so deep that my DD can not see over the sides and gets very annoyed. On the plus side the cup holders are a nice feature, RF longevity is a huge plus and there is substantially more RF leg room than her Britax. I want to love this seat but leaning on more of the side of returning it, which should be a pure joy with babies r' us lovely return policy. Has anyone else had these problems with their my ride or their kids being unhappy about the depth of the seat and recline? Any other options on a $200 budget would be greatly appreciated. Right now we are using our spare seat, an evenflo tribute, which I am fine as a spare but would like to avoid evenflo as I am not a fan of the chest clip and narrow harness, but I am open to any other brand suggestions. The only thing I am really looking for in a seat for her is one that sits up higher so she can see out the window - thats the only thing that keeps her happy during car rides.

 

[Kat_Momof3]

not sure how new your evenflo is, but they changed the chest clips recently.

deep is good... I know it is frustrating to see out sometimes when they are little, but it gives them all that side protection.

but back to the more pertinent issues.

What seating position are you trying to install it on? latch or seatbelt?

where are you checking for tightness (only place to check is at the beltpath)

for tightening the harness on a rearfacing seat (which can be tricky no matter what), make sure there is nothing that the harness is caught on... then grab the splitter plate with one hand at the back of the seat and pull down as you pull the tightening strap with your other hand.

and for what seat and budget you describe, I'd actually suggest an evenflo.. namely the evenflo triumph 65 or the momentum... they sit up high, go for under your budget and have good tall slots and high rf limits.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Evenflo-Triumph-65-DLX-Convertible-Car-Seat-Lincoln/15566907
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Evenflo-Triumph-65-Convertible-Car-Seat-Kirkly/19414713

http://www.target.com/p/Evenflo-Momentum-65-LX-Convertible-Car-Seat-Ollie/-/A-13466160
http://www.albeebaby.com/evenflo-momentum-65-dlx-convertible-car-seat-afton.html
Those are the best prices I found on those seats for the time being.

OR I'd look at the Safety 1st Complete Air
http://www.albeebaby.com/safety-1st-complete-air-convertible-car-seat-
silverleaf.html

And finally (and this one is my favorite for you cause it's PINK), the roundabout 50 or 55 by britax!
http://www.target.com/p/Britax-Roundabout-50-Classic-Kathryn/-/A-13220489
http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-roundabout-55-car-seat-in-isabell.html
(in case you don't like that much pink)
http://www.target.com/p/Britax-Roundabout-50-Classic-Ashton/-/A-13614038
http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-roundabout-55-car-seat-onyx.html

 

[JessnMatt11]

Thanks for the reply. I will certainly give all those seats a look over.

I am trying to install it with latch, right now but the seat has well over 6 inches of give room side to side. I've heard the install with the my ride could be a little bit tricky, but it wasn't a major concern of mine since the seat would only come out to wash the cover or adjust the harness. I am going to take it to be checked regardless, but am wondering if it's giving me this much trouble if I should just return it now for a better fitting seat for our vehicle.

Before choosing the my ride I had it narrowed down to the my ride, true fit premier and britax roundabout 55. My DD is a peanut for both height and weight, so her out growing the RF limits before 3 yrs probably won't be an issue for us.

Do you know if the new roundabouts have an easy install? Is it worth the extra money for the marathon? The one thing I dislike about the graco seats is the latch. I loved how the latch was set up on her britax and it made so someone like me, who isn't certified in carseat safety, to be shown how to install correctly and to be able to re-install upon needed and feel confident about the install. I don't mind a pain in the neck install, but do care about one that I can't do correctly. I am leaning more towards the new roundabout or possible increasing our budget a bit for the new marathon. I don't want to be stuck on britax but I missing her seat badly!

 

[Ninetales]

I tried putting our Myride in a Galant rental once and I didn't like the seatbelt install, but you should try that if you haven't. Are you putting it in the middle, and if you are, is it a dedicated LATCH position? That might be the problem.

 

[bree]

One trick for tightening the harness on the My Ride is to do it before buckling the crotch buckle. I don't know why it works, but it does for the My Ride (and also the Diono Radians, so it's not just the My Ride).

 

[JessnMatt11]

We have it outboard in the designated LATCH - the middle seat does not function with LATCH.

If this makes any sense at all, the middle seat does function as a useable seat (has it's own seatbelt but no LATCH) but it is elevated from the outboard seats which makes it very very difficult to get a tight install. It's almost like the outboard seats are bucket seats.

Thanks for the tip Bree - I didn't even think about trying to tighten before buckling the crotch strap.

I'll try installing it with the seatbelt to see if that works.

Thanks for all the replies... this has been extremely frustrating.

 

[MommyShannon]

We just got DD2 the true fit premier from BRU on sale and she loves it. She was in the Roundabout 55 prior but we are handing it down. She is small too, but the extra roominess is great in the TFP. The RA55 is the shortest of the Britax seats but would still get my DD2 to 3 but she was getting a little crowded. Plus the TFP will last longer FF eventually.

 

[Ninetales]

I remember being able to get it acceptably tight with the seatbelt, but the tipping was irritating me and I ended up using the locking clip on our trip. Maybe that's only a problem in the middle because of the sinking and you'll have better luck.

 

[krissybear25]

We have a myride and love it! Ive never had a problem with a seatbelt install in any vehicle I've put it in. I do find it hard to tighten while RFing so we just pull from the back like someone else mentioned. We don't loosen it for my son to get in or out.

 

[Kat_Momof3]

if the roundabouts now have the two separate latch tighteners like the classic MA did, then it would be so super easy to get tight.

I'm just wondering why the myride won't get tight, though, as latch outboard is pretty easy install and it has a tall base, so it doesn't have the install issues the Radian does.

I'm not trying to get you to keep a seat you obviously don't like regardless, but we at least need to get the install fixed.

I'm wondering if there is a true issue with that particular my ride's latch belt. tighten it all you can, then disconnect the latch... and see if it will let you tighten it more... if not, then it's the latch strap that is the problem, not the vehicle or the seat in question or the combo of the two together.

if that's the issue, call graco and they should do something (have you return it to store for exchange or exchange it themselves)

if on the other hand it tightens just fine, well, I'm curious how you are tightening it.... to that end I mean... are you putting a hand in the seat of the carseat, your knee, etc? I know you mentioned you have tried pulling the cover off to reach through the beltpath to pull the strap, so I know you are on the right track, which is why I posed the other reason first before this.

 

[JessnMatt11]

I'm wondering if there is a true issue with that particular my ride's latch belt. tighten it all you can, then disconnect the latch... and see if it will let you tighten it more... if not, then it's the latch strap that is the problem, not the vehicle or the seat in question or the combo of the two together.

if that's the issue, call graco and they should do something (have you return it to store for exchange or exchange it themselves)

I didn't even consider this. The latch strap will not budge regardless if I am trying to tighten or offer any slack.

Thank you for all your help. I'll be giving graco a call in the morning to see what their suggestion is.

 

[jourdysmom]

The MyRide has RF and ff separate LATCH straps. Are you using the right ones? Are the FF "feet" tucked under the seat for RF?

Sent from my DROIDX using Car-Seat.Org

 

[JessnMatt11]

After re-reading the manual over again last night and playing around with it some more, I still couldn't get the latch belt to move for slack or to tighten, regardless if it was detached or attached. I was however able to get a pretty decent seatbelt install. I ended up returning it today and thankfully babies r' us gave me no grief over it.

 

[Kat_Momof3]

good... and at that stores, returns aren't put back out for sale (I don't think) what seat did you buy?

 

[JessnMatt11]

good... and at that stores, returns aren't put back out for sale (I don't think) what seat did you buy?

Before I purchased the seat, I had asked about their return policy with car seats and was told by the sales associate they will only accept a return if everything is returned with the seat, including the recall papers which they are required to provide for car seat sales by law. It lead me to believe they may put returns back on the shelfs.

When I returned it I made sure to point out it was not an issue over me not liking the seat, or it not being a good fit for our a vehicle - the issue appears to be with the latch belt not functioning properly.

I ended up getting a RA55 which I love and DD has plenty of room to grow RF.