Child Shoulder Straps Cannot Be Tightened
December 13, 2022
As a grandparent, I've successfully installed 10 car seats within the last 5 years, for various family members, in a variety of cars, vans and SUV's. Most are easily removed and replaced, if/as/when required. This Evenflo 4-in-1, on the other hand, has been the worst.
In forward-facing mode, it is difficult to do the seat-belt install - only the rear tether eventually stops it from sliding excessively.
But even worse is trying to tighten the child shoulder straps ... a ridiculous degree of effort is involved. One risks dislocating a shoulder, or straining arm muscles, or (due to the exertion and ensuing frustration), suffering a stroke or aneurysm!
In all seriousness, there is a fundamental engineering and design flaw in this car seat. The straps can be effortlessly and repeatedly tightened and loosened when the seat is NOT in the vehicle. However, as soon as the seat is installed and properly restrained, the child shoulder straps can no longer be tightened. My suspicion is that, because the straps are exposed in the rear of the seat structure, they end up being compressed into the vehicle seat fabric, which in turn imposes excessive friction and severely impedes strap tightening. All in all, a major waste of money.
This product review was collected by the manufacturer.