GRACO Complaints

The foam is showing through on the child’s headrest. It’s the fabric does not fully cover it, and it can be accessed by the child. The bottom part of the cushion my child is able to grab it and pull it off of the car seat while he is riding in it, it is only secured by two little pieces of Velcro so he ripped up the Velcro and exposes the harness tightening strap, and the button in order to loosen his harness he can reach the button and loosen the harness on his own, becoming a safety hazard while I am driving in the car because his stripes are no longer tight to fit, and he could slip through them and become projected from the car seat in the event of an accident

Have had 3 seats replaced under warranty by Graco and was told to make a report with you. The rigid latch anchors on two have been faulty after 2 months. The second one got stuck in the installed base and pulling the release button did nothing. The rigid latch on the first got stuck in the open position. The second they would move independently of each other and not lock in. The third is starting to have the same issue with getting stuck in the base. These have all happened within two months of normal use.

The central front adjuster lever (the release mechanism located at the front bottom of the car seat shell) has suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure. The lever is physically stuck in the "open" position and fails to snap back down or engage. Because the lever remains stuck open, the internal metal locking teeth cannot clamp down onto the harness adjustment webbing strap. Consequently, the child restraint harness completely fails to lock or hold tension. In a vehicle collision, sudden braking event, or even under standard manual pressure, the harness straps pull entirely loose. This defect prevents the seat from securing the child, posing an immediate risk of severe injury or ejection during a crash. The manufacturer (Graco) was contacted regarding this critical component failure under reference case #[XXX]. They refused a structural replacement or shell exchange, offering only a minor $40 purchase rebate, effectively leaving the vehicle occupant unprotected unless a new seat is purchased out-of-pocket. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

My Graco Gomax in the Orchid color had the rigid latch system. The rigid latch broke after a month of use and wouldn't lock anymore. The latches stayed open.

I discovered a potential safety defect while inspecting and preparing my Graco Turn2Me child restraint for eventual forward-facing use. The seat is Model 2170122, manufactured 08/26/2024. The physical SnugLock/LATCH configuration of my seat appears inconsistent with Graco’s published Turn2Me instructions and installation videos. The rear-facing SnugLock lock-off/release mechanism shown by Graco does not appear to be present or accessible on my seat. The gray InRight lower-anchor/LATCH strap is routed through the blue rear-facing belt path and cannot be repositioned in the manner shown in Graco’s instructions. I cannot move the lower-anchor system into its designated storage location or reroute it through the orange forward-facing belt path as required for forward-facing LATCH installation. This child restraint has been used to transport my child before I discovered the condition. There was no crash, fire, injury, or fatality associated with the discovery. I have stopped using the seat. I reported the issue directly to Graco. Graco created Case #52041838 and Case #52041872, cross-referenced them for Product Safety review, and instructed me in writing to “refrain from using the product until further advice is given.” I am requesting that NHTSA review this as a potential manufacturing/assembly or child-restraint safety defect. Photographs documenting the seat, lower-anchor routing, apparent SnugLock discrepancy, and manufacturer label are available.

Locking device to secure car seat to the base broke, on this REPLACEMENT infant car seat. Graco Case #49771285, 10/19/25 (I no longer have pictures or videos of defective car seat, Graco should have them on file. The infant seat was returned to Graco QA, the Graco replaced it with current defective car seat on 10/24/25). Current Graco infant car seat Case # 5195437 with Reference # 520230003. I have pictures of this one. In addition, our daughter gave us her back up car seat to use with her son, the one we bought the above car seats for. This SSME & 3rd infant car seat had the SAME DEFECT! We asked Graco to RECALL these seats. They said they don’t make them any longer. We requested a recall again and said we would also be submitting a report of defect to NHTSA, this is it. We are concerned for the safety of thousands of infants nationwide that are still using these infant car seats. PLEASE follow up with Graco AND recall these infant car seats. Thank you from a concerned grandparent.

No one was harmed. We have been using the car seat for 9 months, assuming it is latched into the base correctly when we hear a click. We have a second interchangeable Graco infant carrier car seat in a second car but it was hardly used. While we were removing both seats to try out new convertible car seats, we noticed that the hooks on the carrier shell of the snugride snugfit are missing or pushed into the holes, where the hooks on the other Graco seat are present. When we attached the other carrier shell to the base, it became clear that the snugride snugfit carrier shell has not been latched in correctly this whole time. We are now using the other safe seat with the hooks in place. I have not contacted the manufacturer but I will do so today. The car seat is available for inspection.

Chest clip won’t pull tight and tethered to pull on lower anchor malfunctions when you pull it is difficult to get tight

Unknown. There is a metal rod poking out from under a warning sticker that was not there at time of installation.

In daily use with the Graco Turn2Me seat in rear facing position with the seatbelt install, I find that the seatbelt comes loose quite often, requiring constant re-install for the seat to be installed properly and safely.