Trying to adjust the child seatbelt harness higher in the carseat

Children are copy-cats. They watch your every move so closely and repeat it to see what happens when they do it. You're aware of them doing it a lot of the time - many people avoid swearing in front of their children, some people don't like arguing in front of them, you allow them to see you using the loo and brushing your teeth by way of encouragement of what they need to learn.

So what about when they copy the bad stuff? Stuff that we, as parents, need to do, but stuff that they really shouldn't. Stuff like opening the oven, pouring boiling water from the kettle, opening the buckle of their harness on their carseat.

Well, it's down to parental guidance: "Don't touch the oven", "Don't play with the kettle", "Don't undo the carseat harness". Most often than not, you'll follow up that statement with a reason - "Don't touch the oven - it's hot, and it might burn you". It's the same with the carseat harness buckle - you have to provide a reason why it's important for them not to undo it.

There are various pages set up on the internet to help parents with techniques for discouraging children from undoing their carseat harness; Tips such as making it into a game, demonstrating to them how everyone must wear a seatbelt and explaining the importance for it on a level that the child can understand, whether they're a curious toddler or a bored six year old. In addition, distraction techniques can be helpful, and for younger children the Maxi Cosi PlayTray will fit onto all the Group 1 carseats in the range, providing not just entertainment but also making it more difficult to access the red release button.

The Maxi Cosi carseat range requires a pressure of 60 Newtons of force to open it. This is the maximum allowed under UK safety law so we can't make it any harder to undo. To make it more difficult for the child to undo the harness, always ensure that the harness is adjusted to the appropriate height for their shoulders (it should be no more than an inch above or below their shoulder height) and also check before every journey that the harness has been properly tensioned. You should only be able to fit 2 fingers between the childs chest and the harness once it is correctly tensioned as per the user manual. While the child may not like being restrained in the carseat harness, you aren't hurting them by ensuring it's correctly tightened before each journey, and you must remember in the event of an accident you want the harness to be nice and secure to prevent them flopping around in the carseat.
The harness must be completely released by a single, red push button. This is the universally recognised seatbelt and carseat release button, and in the event of an emergency if someone other than yourself needs to get the child out of the carseat quickly they need to be able to do so easily and without specific guidance from yourself on how to do it, so adding things to the harness is not advised and some additional chest clips are in fact not legal for use under UK law.

If you're on a long journey and the child falls asleep, you may find that the harness appears looser on them than it did when you first set off - this is as they've relaxed, and as the harness is not self-retracting like an adult seat belt it may become loose as their posture changes in the seat. In this event, if you were to have an accident at this point, the harness would prevent the child from moving any further forward from the position they were originally in; the carseat harness has not loosened off at all. In the event that you're concerned about the amount of additional gap when the child falls asleep, pull over when it is safe to do so and give the tensioner strap that extra pull to remove the slack. If you're not sure that you are able to fit the carseat and tension the harness correctly, please refer to the website for video demonstrations on fitting the carseat, or ask your local retailer for a refresher lesson in how to correctly fit and tension it.

These sites are worth having a look at if you encounter the issue of your child trying to get out of the harness, whether they are releasing the red button or attempting to slip out of the harness any other way:
http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/choosing/children_undoing_belts.htm
http://www.trafficclub.co.uk/
http://www.dft.gov.uk/think/education/early-years-and-primary/

Good Evening

Take hold of the headrest and lean it forward (toward the front of the carseat) then you can slide it up and down to wherever the harness needs to be for the best fit for your child.

The shoulder straps should be no more than 1 inch above or below the childs shoulders when correctly adjusted.

Depending on the type of front facing carseat you have depends on the belt connections in the back of the seat. Normaly you would pull the complete sholder and seat belt through the opening hone closes to the door so the seat belt goes through the back of the seat from top to bottom and latch the seatbelt. Then the normal harnes in the seat would be used on your child from the forward facing car seat. After setting the car seat up the correct way it normaly just needs to be checked each time you enter the car to take a drive for tightness of the belt and rensure the lack is on the seatbelt. Some come with a seatbelt holder that looks like a crazy piece of metal this is used to help secure the seatbelt into one belt to help the input of the seatbelt into the back of the seat.

I know new seats have the sholder holders on the right or left side so that the seat belt from your car can be used, it is important that you stop by a police station or firestation to have help ensuring that your seat for your child is correctly placed. Across the US there as places even hospitals that will assist you in ensuring you seat is set up correctly to help you protect the life of your child. You can call down the the Local police and ask about the classes available too. I have moved from all over the US and have always found that you can have you seats for children comfirmed just about anywhere that deals with children even social work services, Each year there is a annual seatbelt childsafty taskforce community round up that deals just with car seats put on by local police/firemen/and SWS.

I have 5 children and use to run a daycare for special needs children, School teacher for middle school, I have double associates one in accounting one in business and a Bacholors in Psychology, attending Master classes for clinical psychology to help people, and the local handyman of my home, my husband is active duty Army, needless to say with the war and after 9/11, I have had to do everything for myself so I picked up much being somewhat signel mother of 5 children, one from birth up to 16 so far.

There is no such thing as an extension for a carseat harness - it would be unsafe. The carseat harness has ample length for your child but will require extending as per the user manual to fit around the child safely.

This will help if you lay out the chest pieces and all the pieces you removed on the table first. If it helps, snap them together. Then, lay out the pieces with metal prongs that lock into the buckle that goes between your child's legs.

1st pull through the belt adjusting piece through the bottom cover ****.

2nd pull the square release buckle through the second ****, on top of the piece that tightens and releases. This is the piece that you push with your thumb to release the seatbelt.

3rd pull both side seatbelts through the respective side right and left and make sure they are flat.

4th slide on the two pieces with metal prongs on one left and one right seatbelt. Before you do this, ensure that you have put the correct piece on the correct side and that they will latch properly into the buckle. Snap them into the buckle to ensure you have it right.

5th attach the two respective chest clips on one right and one left seatbelt. Snap them together to ensure you have it right.

6th pull the top shoulder seatbelt straps through one of the top cover slits. If you have a newborn, then it will be the bottom **** at the top. If your child has grown, then it will be the top two slits. Ensure both seatbelts are pulled either through the same **** on either side.

7th after you have pulled the shoulder straps through the top slits on the cover, pull them through the slits in the plastic carseat frame. Pull them through until you see them at the rear.

8th attach on their respective sides the shoulder strap at the back of the plastic carseat. There is a big brass metal piece with "hooks" at the top. The shoulder strap has a seatbelt "loop" on one end that can be hooked on. Do this on each respective side and make sure it is secure.

Hi,

To fit the Cabrio (with seat belts only), follow these steps:
Note that you will have three metallic looking blue seatbelt hooks (made of plastic) on the Cabrio. One is at the back to carseat (directly behind the childs head) and also there is one either side of the child (when seated in the carseat), these hooks are used to slip the seat belt into and therefore secure the seat.
Placing the carseat facing the rear windscreen of the car - if this is in the front seat, then ensure that your airbag is disabled if you have one. If this is not possible, then DO NOT use the front seat.
Ensure that the carseat handle is clicked into the 'carrying' position, upright.
Taking the seatbelt in your hands, slip the lapbelt through the two blue hooks which are either side of baby and then click the seatbelt into the buckle. Pull firmly so it's nice and taut, hold onto the carseat when you are pulling the seatbelt.
Whilst taking the slack with one hand, take the shoulder seatbelt and loop through the third blue hook (located on the back of the carseat) and again pull firmly whilst holding onto the carseat.
When you attempt this, practice without the baby in as this is much easier to do.

Finally, check that the buckle of your seatbelt is not resting too high or on an angle of the cabrios plastic shell, as this is considered dangerous and is called 'buckle crunch', for more information on this, please see the link below, which explains with images:

http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/choosing/fitting.htm

I hope this helps.

Here's a manual:
http://www.coscojuvenile.com/usa/eng/DJGFiles/ProductDocuments/43583614D.pdf
Hope this helps!

That is the common installation process for a convertible carseat in rear-facing position. It is important that the shoulder/lap seatbelt be as tight as possible. This can best be achieved by putting as much of your own weight as possible on the carseat (without the baby of course), clicking into the seatbelt fastener and then pulling as much slack as possible out of the seatbelt strap. If you have the assistance of another adult, one should provide the weight on the carseat from inside the vehicle while the other pulls on the seatbelt strap from outside to remove as much slack as possible. If you have an I-shaped locking bracket, it should be installed over both straps 1 inch from the seatbelt fastener.

Some, but not all, manufacturers provide a metal locking bracket to be placed on the seat belt after the carseat is installed to prevent excessive slippage. You could contact your manufacturer to see if one should have been provided or you may purchase one at most major baby product retailers.

Be aware, a little movement of the installed carseat is considered normal and acceptable.

One last note, many fire stations, police stations, children's hospitals and even car dealerships offer free carseat safety checks. Call those in your area and ask if they offer this service.

~Alkara

ON THE BACK OF YOUR CARSEAT ARE 2 METAL LATCHES ON EACH SIDE. REMOVE ONE BE PUTING THE STRAP THROUGH AND ADJUSTING IT TO YOUR CHILDS FIT.YOU COULD ALSO PUT IT THROUGH A SECONDARY HOLE IF YOUR CARSEAT HAS ONE TO PROPERLY HOLD YOUR CHILD SAFELY.LET ME KNOW IF I WAS ANY HELP...

There is a trick to this. All the straps are kinda connected together. The main harness is one piece, a clever clip on each of the lap section. (one on each side) needs to be removed to allow the belt to slide through the seat and cover openings. Once here the strap needs to go through the actual seatbelt buckle. Once the buckles are off you can pull the harness through the shoulder opening. The note to take here is that the harness runs through a loop on the adjuster belt (a narrower belt that runs from the back of the chair under the it to and through the adjusting fastener) Once through the loop you can pull the main harness strap free from the chair. Now the next part, depress the release clip of the adjuster and with the other hand pull this belt free from adjuster. It may require a bit of two handed work as belt nears the end. You should now have a wide belt, a narrow belt, 2x clips and 2x harness buckles. All you need to do now is remove the adjuster which usually requires the manipulation of a metal 'B' buckle which is sewn into the loop to be twisted sideways to allow it to pass through the opening. You are home free now. The cover should be elasticated around the edging and easily removed for washing.(you can also put the straps in too) Now is also a good time to just give the actual seat a good clean too. Refitting is reversal of removal. However REMEMBER and NOTE the way clips,buckles and which openings the straps went through when removing. There are usually a couple. Mark the items with a marker if you think you'll forget. On refitting you might want to put it to the next one up. (as a child grows ie. the shoulder straps should be above the shoulders when the child is seated, equally important is they must be the same on both sides.) I think there might be a couple of slots for the adjuster strap. You might want to move that one out too. Have your child seated in the chair before you start the reassembly and mark out the openings the staps need to pass through which would be most comfortable for the him/her. Good Luck.