Getting Out of Car Seat Straps

Yes, this is a common problem for all of my kids as well. I have a Britax Marathon and a Graco Seat - it doesn't matter. As long as the main clip remains in tact that bounds them in the seat - at least you know they are in the seat.
I don't know how to keep the harness straps on. I tell them that the policeman is going to give me a ticket and I tell them that they are going to fly out of the window. I have also tried tightening the straps and they still manage to get out.
I'm sorry this isn't much help, but at least you are not alone in this struggle.
Good Luck!

Hi Kim,

I'm a Child Passenger Safety Technician. Hopefully I can help you with this problem (and it's common one!)

The first thing you should check is the tightness of the harness straps. I'm assuming he's forward facing? If he is, the harness should be AT or ABOVE his shoulders. Secondly, make sure the harness is properly tightened. It should be so tight that you can't pinch any slack. The chest clip should be at nipple level and if you try to pinch the harness above the chest clip, your fingers should just slide right off of it.

Once you've made sure the harness is properly adjusted, you can make a little deterrent on the chest clip itself. Get some sticky velcro and stick the prickly side pointing out of the chest clip. (not in towards the child!!) It can be uncomfortable to press on esp with little fingers and that's usually enough to get kids to stop messing with it.

Finally, it's discipline/positive reinforecement issue. If you catch him doing it mid-drive, each and every time, pull over and tell him very sternly that it's not safe and use whatever parenting euphemism you prefer for a behavior that's not allowed in your family. (Examples include, "That's very naughty" "We don't allow that" "that's a no-no" etc)

Hopefully he'll get tired of the trick soon and move on to a new way to aggravate you! LOL!

:-)

I don't have any advice because neither of my kids have ever done that but maybe you don't have the straps tight enough my nephew was doing it for awhile and couldn't figure out how he could get his arms out if the straps were tightened enough.

My daughter tried this once and I made the biggest deal out of it.I pulled over on the side of the road and refused to move until she put them back. I yelled at her pretty fiercely telling her that she was hurting me in doing this. Of course she did it on the highway and really freaked me out. She hasn't done it again and its been one year.

My daughters each tried this once or twice. We were using Britax Boulevards at the time. The first time I immediately pulled over to the side of the road (quite fast, for effect!), slammed on the breaks and jumped out to rebuckle them. I made a huge deal out of it. Telling them that the policeman says all children have to be in their seats, buckled up. I pretended I was so worried about making the policeman upset that they would get very worried. I told them that there are rules about car seats, to keep kids safe and that if I let my girls ride without being buckled in the right way that I would get into trouble. I didn't say that the police would come and get me or anything, just that I would be in trouble.
I don't know if they thought a policeman would come and put me in time out or something... but it worked like a charm! I didn't actually tell them what would happen, just let them imagine this themselves.
I always made it a point after that to remind them of this rule when we'd get into the car, and ask them to help me out by keeping their seat belts safely buckled.
It worked for me! I think giving them a concrete reason helped it stick in their minds better than if I just said it wasn't safe.
I have also heard of people safety pinning Britax straps to keep their children from moving them. Luckily I never had to try this.
Good luck.

Hi, from the sound of it you may have the strapes too high. The 5 point car seat w/ the plastic piece in front should be at the armpit's level. If he said it hurts his neck, would it be a little too high?

Britax has a kit that might help. I'd call them direct.

My daughter did this at the same age. We took her to the police station and they talked to her and this did work. Some times she will try to do it still but i will remind her what did the police officer tell you about being safe. It is working really well. Good Luck.

K.,
My son (2.5 yrs) was doing this for a while and we did about the same things others suggested and we told our son that Mommy and Daddy always have to wear our seat belts,too they just look different! We noticed that during some of the shows like "Dora" and "Go Diego Go" they say "Lets put on our seat belts, so we can be safe!" On "Yo Gabba Gabba" they talk about things being "Dangerous." So we remind him that "Dora and Diego always use their seat belts to be safe and keep them on the whole time they are in a car." and "if you take off your straps it is Dangerous and you could get hurt." Crazy as it sounds he says "oh, okay." I'm sure you could insert any character name your kid likes but the fact that he sees this happen on his TV shows helped us. At some point your son will probably get to the "I want to buckle myself stage", which is where we are now. If we are getting in the car and he says he wants to do it all by himself we loosen the straps so he can buckle himself then we tell him we have to do a safety check to make sure it is safe, then we tighten the straps again and adjust the buckle. If we are in a hurry I will just do the buckle and tell him I will let him do it next time we get in the car. He is pretty good at not letting me forget too!

I have used Britax carseats for almost 11 years now and, with all due respect, I can see no way he could get his arms out if you have tightened it enough. I always pull the children's clothing up between their necks and the straps so the straps won't bother them and then I tighten them. You should only be able to get two fingers between your child and the straps. My husband has been certified as a carseat safety inspector and it is alarming the number of carseat straps that we see that are not tightened enough. You also want to make sure the chest clip is level with his nipples and that the straps are in the proper holes coming through the seat back. They should be at or above sholder level as a forward facing seat. These tips may help his comfort level also.