DS escaping from the straps of my RF two way elite - what to buy to stop him?

[acatcalledfelix]

After having to buy a new car seat since DS could escape from his Kiddy Energy Pro, I'm now finding he's regularly taking his arms out of the 5 point harness of our new rear facing Britax Two Way Elite, arghhh!!!!

At the moment the straps slot into the car seat below his shoulder height. I believe this is correct but am I right???

I'm considering one of these

or one of these

I know adding something to the straps is not ideal and the emergency services don't like them, because it's an extra unexpected strap to undo. But, I really don't see an alternative. He also breaks out of his buggy / pram and smart trike straps no matter how tight I pull them. So I figure a child with an extra strap to undo is less at risk than a child with just a lap belt / no belt on!

have a look at the 5 point plus... it means there is no extra buckle to unclip

The houdini looks more like the one I bought, mine was a sunshine kids one. I did find that I only needed to use it for about 6 months, dd started doing it up herselp and just accepted that she had to keep the straps on.

Also the shoulder slots should be level or higher than the childs shoulders. Does it not say in the instruction booklet?

Where is the five point plus from?

straps should be lower than shoulders on a RF seat, higher on FF IIRC

Fanny that's what I thought but I've just looked at the manual and the straps are indeed too low so I need to move them upwards.

eek. will check mine (Besafe izi)

five point plus

When you move the straps up as they should be, he's much less likely to escape. The problem with them being lower is that they can easily slip down the shoulder with a wriggle sideways and then their arm is easy to slip out. Depending on his age and dexterity, he may be able to undo a chest clip so a 5 point plus would be better in my opinion. Although you may not need anything at all with the new shoulder strap position.

We use Houdini stop with our 2way elite. It works for us.

Have you tried doing lots of short journeys to somewhere special and the minute they start removing their arms you stop the car and refuse to move until they put their arms back. You just tell them the once and the choice is theirs, take a flask and a book. Believe me it works!!

I thought the straps lower than shoulders for rfing was to do with the 'ride down' that happens in an accident - child goes up on initial impact then 'rides down' into the seat- if the straps are at/below the shoulders this movement up is limited therefore keeping the head/neck with in the confines of the seat (hence the limit on baby carriers of minimum 1" of shell above the baby's head and the height limit on rfing group 1/2 seats of eye level/tips of ears level with top of seat).

Although different manuals say different things regarding strap levels, I tend to stick by the at/above for ffing and at/below for rfing (my own personal choice).

If the straps are too loose a child can escape as DD1 did when we moved the harness up on her rfing TWE prematurely. It fitted fine when she first sat in the seat but as she relaxed she had too much wriggle room and got her arms out. DH had to pull over asap while I tried not to panic too much-- and I then gave DD1 a very stern talking to whilst DH readjusted the straps. Never did it again luckily

I'm a bit confused now. My DD is in a RF seat and her harness is below her shoulder but it does sometimes look like if she really wanted to she might be able to wriggle out. It seems logical to me that if the child could choose to get out of the harness, then it's possibly loose enough that in a collision they could be flung out. Or is that me being paranoid? FWIW I do pull the straps very tight and there is no way on earth they could be pinched! I might just need to get one of these houdini or 5 point plus things to stop myself worrying!

BTW has anyone else noticed that in the picture of the escaping child on that 5pointplus website, the straps are way below his shoulders and in a FF seat?!

On my way home today DS wriggled out and until it was safe for me to pull over all I could hear was him pinging the door handle. Thank god for child locks!!!