Graco is recalling buckles on nearly 3.8 million carseats, according to the Associated Press. CarseatBlog has some coverage on cleaning buckles and ordering replacement buckles as well as instruction videos for parents on how to replace the buckle system if they have experienced difficulty releasing a child. Graco reports that no injuries have been reported as a result of this issue. For parents who have difficulty releasing their child from the harness system, we advise that you attempt to clean the buckle and contact Graco for a replacement using the email or telephone contact information below.
According to Graco Baby:
As part of our continuous product testing and improvement process, Graco identified that food and dried liquids can make some harness buckles progressively more difficult to open over time or become stuck in the latched position. Therefore, we have decided to conduct a voluntary recall on the harness buckles used on all toddler convertible car seats and harnessed booster seats manufactured from 2009 to July 2013.
As a solution, Graco offers a new and improved replacement harness buckle to affected consumers at no cost. Graco would like to stress this does not in any way affect the performance of the car seat or the effectiveness of the buckle to restrain the child. We encourage all consumers who are experiencing difficulty with their harness buckles to contact our customer service team at 800-345-4109 or [email protected]. All Graco SnugRide infant car seats are excluded from this recall.
For more information on this recall including a list of affected models and photos of the original and new harness buckles, please go to http://www.gracobaby.com/safetyandrecall/pages/safetyandrecallarticle.aspx?recallID=41&page=SafetyAndRecall.
Specific details on the products impacted are as follows:
- Toddler Convertible Car Seats: Cozy Cline, Comfort Sport, Classic Ride 50, My Ride 65, My Ride 70, My Ride 65 with Safety Surround, Size4Me 70, My Size 70, Head Wise 70, Smart Seat
- Harnessed Booster Seats: Nautilus 3-in-1, Nautilus Elite and Argos
@Bethany, I have a Comfort Sport and i still haven’t been able to get the buckle part into the crotch slot on it after spending over an hour trying last night. I’m afraid i’m going to end up ruining the car seat if i get too forceful trying to get it in the slot. After reading our post, maybe i’d just be better off put the old back in.
Is anyone else having trouble with the replacement buckles being too short in the crotch area? It took me 1.5 hours to replace 1 buckle on my Nautilus and 1 buckle on my Comfort Sport. The Nautilus seems fine and was easier, but the Comfort Sport was absolutely ridiculous to replace. Now that it is installed, though, the buckle is so short that it is even harder to release because it is right on my son’s crotch. I am so frustrated with it I am about ready to throw it away and replace it.
Hey all, this is not just a debris / food in the buckle problem. I did get my new buckle and when I went to put it on and remove the old one, I saw serious stress fractures in the plastic of the T-piece that goes into the buckle, right at the point where the strap would pull most in an accident. Please go see for yourself, I took pic and posted it to Facebook on the Graco page and also on my own. Please get your buckles and replace ASAP.
Our Snugride didn’t have this same buckle. It’s nice to get the nicer harness, but I think the recall was because of that specific buckle.
I bought a Graco My Ride and that buckle was a pain right out of the box. I wound up loaning it, over the Scenera, to my friend. When I contacted her to tell her about the recall, she said the buckle was a pain too. I’m not sure why anyone would there were politics involved, or that my friend and I lack common sense because I dared to buy one of the safest seats out there at the time!
My 4 year old and I make a 2 hour trip around once a week, and he eats goldfish and drinks his almond milk during the trip. I have yet to have any issue with the buckles on my Marathon.
It might make you feel good to be so much better than someone who bought a car seat with a difficult buckle, but you should probably get the whole story before you start with the “holier than thou” lecture.
I actually prefer the push down buckle on the nautilus. I’ve owned other graco models with the buckle that pushes in and I find them harder to disengage. I’ve also never had an issue with the buckle being difficult to open or being stuck. I also have several friends with the same seat and buckle and none of them have issues either. From what I have heard it takes months before you get a replacement buckle delivered to replace because they are out of stock.
@Jennifer – yes, those original Nautilus buckles are part of this recall.
Are the old Nautilus buckles, the push down style shown above, also included in the recall?
@Paul, please see our above comments. We’ve personally had samples that have been difficult to open before children have even sat in the seats, and these buckles have not been used by Graco alone though Graco has used them in the majority of their seats. It does become a severe problem when a parent or caregiver cannot release a child from a carseat and has to resort to mutilating the harness to remove the child, thus rendering the restraint completely unusable until another is obtained. It’s unfair to blame parents who allow their children to eat in their carseats for this problem, especially due to the sheer number of people who’ve experienced the stuck buckles. I allowed my kids to eat dry crackers and goldfish and their carseats and harnesses were never dirty nor did their buckles become jammed with food. I did, however, help a first time parent-to-be install a carseat last week who had peanuts jammed in his seat belt buckles. I wonder how those got there?
How is this a defect? From what I’ve read, the buckles may become difficult to release if they become “sticky” after being jammed by spilled food, etc. There are a myriad of devices/mechanisms we use every day that might malfunction when they get crudded up with spilled food. How about keeping your child seat cleaned, and sanitary.
Furthermore, I can’t see how people think it is OK for small children to eat while riding around a car. Don’t be surprised that many more children are at risk of choking during this situation than they are likely to become “trapped” by these buckles. Have we lost common sense?
Finally, seeing how that many companies, not just Graco, use these identical buckles, I have to wonder who in Washington has it out for Graco. Clearly, they are not contributing to the correct political party. I’ve seen a lot of questionable recalls, but this one has politics written all over it.
I think it’s important to note that Graco has refused to recall their infant car seats with the same buckle despite being asked to do so by the NHTSA. The release you have printed above says specially SnugRide isn’t recalled which I think gives people a false sense of security. According to this article from CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/us/graco-child-seat-recall/)
The seven models that Graco isn’t recalling despite being asked to do so by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are all infant seats. Specifically, they are: Snugride, Snugride 30, Snugride 32, Infant Safe Seat-Step 1, Snugride 35, Tuetonia 35, and Snugride Click Connect 40.
Despite not recalling them they will issue a new buckle for those who want one for their infant seat
“Asked about these models, Graco’s spokeswoman said that any customers with those or other car seats can still call and get a new harness buckle sent to them for free.
‘They are not officially recalled; however, customers experiencing any difficulty with their harness buckle can still get a new one,’ said Mowrey.”
I think the buckle is going to be an issue for many parents with the infant seats – even carseatblog.com’s own reviews of many of the Graco infant seats say the buckles are difficult to undo and not “grandparent friendly”
Hi JNCJJ, CarseatBlog has indeed noted difficult buckles of this type for a few years and we have given plenty of feedback to manufacturers about them, based on our own experience as well as numerous comments from parents. We note that these buckles are not only used by Graco. The are supplied by a third party vendor (AMSAFE) and are used on various other products from a few other manufacturers as well. We had one review sample of a carseat with this buckle from mid-2011 that was very difficult to both insert and release the mechanism. This was a brand new model that had no chance of dirt or food being in the buckle. Food and drink spills may make the buckles more difficult to use, but the core issue is the buckle itself. Our sample was difficult enough that we chose not to do a full review until the issue was resolved a couple years later. Obviously, there seems to be a lot of variability in how much force is needed to connect and release these buckles, so not everyone will have a problem with theirs.
In any case, we have touted the IMMI harness systems for many years, and these are the ones being offered by Graco as a replacement. We feel this is a nice offer for parents, though many of us would have liked to see this happen sooner. Kudos to Graco for being the first to offer this almost 7 months ago, followed by this comprehensive recall now. We wonder when the other companies using the same buckle will follow their lead.
Hi Katie. That is correct. If you have an affected seat and you aren’t having any difficulty with the push-button to release the buckle, then it is not urgent and no immediate action is required. This voluntary recall does not affect crash safety at all! If you do have a problematic buckle and the cleaning procedure in our link above does not help, then you should certainly contact Graco and request a replacement. Of course, you can request a replacement anyway. We’ve always had a preference at CarseatBlog for the IMMI replacement buckle system, so we think it’s a nice upgrade for parents even if you didn’t notice a problem!
So its just the BUCKLES that have essentially been recalled? Not the entire seat. So if you have seats with these buckles, you can contact Graco for replacement buckles? 4 of my 6 seats are these Graco models, I need to go check our buckles.