Escaping Car Seat

I haven't been on here in a while, but I really need your help. Scarlet will not stay in her car seat no matter what I do. The other day we were driving down the freeway at 80 miles an hour and I glanced back and there she was jumping around in the back seat. She can't unhook the latches, but can wiggle out of the harness no matter how tight I make it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Pull over. I know it sucks but pull over and put her back. You could practice the new rule on short trips around the block.

 

Could you afford a new car seat? My one son was escaping out of his as well (just taking off the shoulder straps) and I ended up buying two of these car seats. With it being a 5-point harness, I am able to slide the center piece all the way up to his shouldes.

Once I installed them in my car, he has not tried to escape. Another good thing is when the time comes, they convert to a backless booster.

 

OK, if she is not unhooking anything to get out, then I'm thinking either the straps are too loose or the chest clip is not in the right place. A properly fitted harness makes it impossible for a kid to wriggle out since it needs to hold them in place even in the case of a high speed crash. However, sometimes kids push the chest clip down to their belly (while you are driving) and this could make the top part of the harness loose enough for her to slip off the shoulder straps and climb out. I know people who have successfully put velcro on the chest clip to keep their kids hands off of it. Another thing is that the harness may not be at the right height and this makes enough slack in the shoulder area for her to wriggle out. If the seat has a continuous harness, she may even be taking advantage of that by pulling to give herself more slack.

What seat are you using and is it forward or rear facing? The seat may not be the right one for her if it has harness straps that are more widely spaced and her shoulders are narrow.

 

I will ditto Cat mommy's suggestion to put a piece of velcro on the strap right below where the chest clip typically sits. It will make it harder for her to push down, which is probably what she is doing to slip her arms out.

I have heard of other moms who have experienced this. What worked was to pull over and stop the car every single time she does this. Do not start it back up until she is correctly buckled in. If she cannot follow this rule, then she does not ride in the care except for truly necessary things (to and from day care, to the doctor's office, etc). And when she does ride in the car, it stops every single time she moves the chest clip. :grouphug: It doesn't sound pleasant, but the alternative is for her to be unsafe in the car. I don't even want to think about what would happen if someone T-boned the car while she was out of her car seat.

 

I do pull over immediately when I see her out of the seat and we don't move again until she's back in her seat. I will try the velcro thing since she is getting out by pushing the top clip down and wiggling out that way. I have it so tight that it's hard for me to buckle, but she still manages to get out. She's a little Houdini! Thanks, ladies for all your suggestions.

 

Both of mine went through a phase where they were pushing the chest piece down and pulling their arms out. I put a safety pin in the belt just below where the chest piece needed to be. It worked wonders and they did finally grow out of it. They haven't tried to do that in months.

 

interesting ideas. My ds pushes his clip down many times. I try to tell him that its "dangerous" and that "for safety" he needs to keep it up.

I'm actually debating on getting a replacement chest clip... and putting two on, so that at least it wouldn't be able to be slid down as far... since now it would be 4" high instead of just 2"... Also mine are RF Recaro seats and I'm debating on getting the Sunshine Kids replacement clip... I remember when we were looking at carseats those seemed like they were really stiff and the kids wouldn't be able to unclip them. I think my son has gotten his unclipped a time or two too... UGH!

the safety pin and/or the velcro are interesting ideas.

 

Had this problem with our guys. They did grow out of it after a while. BUT, now Joshua completely unclips. The last time I had to stop short a bit and he flew into the back of my seat. Fortunately it wasn't bad, but it could have been. I then threatened to spank his bum if he ever did it again! And I mean it! It freaked me out!!! Guess what, he hasn't done it again though! Hopefully, he won't try it again. But if he does, I will follow through. It's seriously dangerous. My heart is still racing from it.
I think when they just wiggle out when they are younger, you can fix the problem with some sort of physical solution, like the velcro. But when they finally figure out how to unclip, then you have to deal with the behavior. At least, that's my thought. But I remember how frustrating it was the first round with this when they were younger.

 

I added an extra chest clip to Addison's seat so now she has 2. So far so good!! She did the same thing to me that Scarlet did to you - she got out while I was driving down the interstate, it scared me to death I went on a mission to find one of those carseats with the bar that comes down. I could not find one so I just added an extra clip.

 

good to know that's an option that's worked for someone! I will buy the extra clips now!

 

one of my dd's was constatntly pushing the chest clip down and since they were facinated with police cars I used the police man as my aide and we discussed at length how the police man's job was to keep us safe and if he saw her clip pushed down mommy would get in trouble for being unsafe. she would push it down and then I would say how upset the police man would be and she would pull it back up again.

they are generally cooperative kids though and eventually she forgot about doing it, and the behavior ended...

 

hmmm... LOVE that idea!

 

I think this weekend I'll try either the extra clip or the velcro. Thanks so much! I didn't even have an idea of what I could do to get her to stop. You guys are lifesavers!