Baby carseat problem

Has anyone else got a Graco Autobaby carseat? We have got one as part of a travel system and cannot work out how to make the seatbelt straps longer. We have tried everything that was in the instructions that came with it, and a few other things besides, but they don't seem to get any longer. Ethan has not outgrown the seat yet so there must be a way to make the straps fit. Any ideas?

Oh, Thank God I don't have to struggle with Car Seats any more. 

Any carseat we ever had, you adjusted the straps from the back.  Look for any metal clips in the back, that sort of hold it in the hole.  There should also be more than one hole-to change as he grows.  Short of that, sounds like time for a trip to Halfords. 

Have done the adjustment from the back, doesn't seem to make any difference, or very little.  Either we're doing something wrong or it's defective.

There are two ways to do this. 

1. Reposition the harness location above his shoulders.

2. On the singular snap (harness buckle) located on the bottom seat, you should be able to press in the red button and add or take away slack.  It's on page 30 of my manual with a reference to picture 38.

We have a Graco carset/travel system. What we have to do is this...where the harness attaches to the bottom buckle you should see what looks to be a cloth patch....stick your finger under the patch and into the seat itself. You should feel a small metal buckle. Push it down and pull on the harness strap and it will give you more seat belt. Hopefully yours is like mine and it will work for you. I hope Im making sense! 

Thanks Caitlinn & Pebbles - have tried both your suggestions and still nothing. Sigh. Might have to contact the manufacturer as it seems the straps are just too short and this seat is supposed to last up to the age of 9 months.

we have a similar Graco carseat and just this morning figured out how to make Calvin fit better in it (as ours too, says up to 29lbs). we adjusted the straps to the higher slot, and if you look behind the covering (that goes over the back part), there may be a foam/ (well, hard foam) wedge in there that you may need to remove. we did that this morning with ours and it fits him a lot better now and the straps fit better as well.
or maybe go back to the store you got the car seat at and ask them for assistance on it?

what travel system did you get?


(plus the little booklet we got with ours also shows about taking the foam wedge out)

Now that you mention it, Lunar, I remember taking the cover off mine to better adjust the buckle.  I could 'get at' things much better with the cover off.

we have a similar Graco carseat and just this morning figured out how to make Calvin fit better in it (as ours too, says up to 29lbs). we adjusted the straps to the higher slot, and if you look behind the covering (that goes over the back part), there may be a foam/ (well, hard foam) wedge in there that you may need to remove. we did that this morning with ours and it fits him a lot better now and the straps fit better as well.
or maybe go back to the store you got the car seat at and ask them for assistance on it?

what travel system did you get?


(plus the little booklet we got with ours also shows about taking the foam wedge out)

already did that but the straps are still too short

Liz, on my car seat, the upper harness did not adjust outside of moving it from the bottom slot to the top slot.  On the front of my seat, towards the bottom, there was a long dangle-y strap that appears to have no purpose.  It's the slack adjustment strap and that gives slack to the buckle.  It's the buckle that moves up, not the harness itself. 

You may already know this.  I'm just making sure we are on the same sheet.   

The only long dangley strap is the one you use to attach it to the pram base, it has a plastic loop at the end, is that the one you mean?

Yes, that's the strap.  It's called the Slack Adjustment Strap.  That's what gives the slack to the buckle to move up and down (on mine).

oh yaaaaaaaaaaay yaaaaaaay thank you thank you thank you I can do it !!! a combination of you and Pebbles and I'm sorted, oh THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yippee!