GRACO 4EVER Complaints

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)

After installing this seat correctly per the manual I placed my child in it and noticed it was causing her to be in a chin to chest position and compromising her airway. I removed her and made all of the adjustments I could think to try and then contacted the brand’s cpst team and was instructed further. The CPST team came to the conclusion that this seat is not safe for my daughter as it was causing breathing issues for her while properly harnessed in the properly installed seat and they recommended I return the product.

The chest clip has melted 3 times. Each time I have been told by Graco to discontinue use while they send me a knew one. This is not always possible if it happens when we are away from home.

Twice now we have gone to put my nephew in the car seat and the chest clip is melted. The first time was June 18 and we weren’t sure if something could have melted the clip since he hadn’t been in the car for a few days. I ordered a replacement part in June and now the replacement part has done the same thing. The second time he was in the car the night before and when we went to put him in this morning it was melted. The car was in the garage over night, it wasn’t hot at all. When the clip is melted like this the prongs won’t even clip into the other piece. I called Graco customer service and they told me “it’s probably the humidity” and issued a replacement part. Humidity should not cause the chest clip on a child’s car seat harness to melt. Especially since Utah is not a humid place.

The vehicle was parked in a Driveway in Michigan on Sunday [XXX]. It was approximately 64 degrees. The car seat was safely positioned in the rear passenger side. Rear facing. The window was cracked about an inch so the vehicle was not too hot when leaving. After 4-5 hours I went to leave and the right upper seatbelt on the car seat had melted/burned to the point where it was broken into 2 pieces, which resulted in burns to the seat cushion as well. Thankfully there was not a child in the car seat at time of malfunction so the child was not put at imminent risk. Had the seatbelt not broken it could have snapped during an accident if it was melted and damaged. Graco was contacted and they responded stating this was a burn caused by myself. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

In the manual it does not show how to use a pool noodle/towel to help with car seats install

On, 9/27/23, I took my son to daycare around 9 am and went to Norfolk, NE for the day. I ran errands and had an appointment which my car sat in the sun for 1.5 hours at one time. Between stores we turned the air on as I had my oldest child with me. We came home to West Point, NE and picked up my other children about 4 pm. All car seat buckles were in normal working condition. I parked my car back in our attached garage on the East side of our house. Around 7:30 am on 9/28/23, I attempted to buckle my son again and noticed the male end of the chest clip was severely bent as if it had melted. My car has tinted windows in the second row where the car seat is located. The car sat in the sun, but not directly on the carseat, for the 1.5 hours while we were at the appointment. The car seat may have had direct sunlight while we were eating lunch which was no longer than 30 minutes. The car was again in the sun for another 2 hours but the carseat was not in direct sunlight during that time. Luckily, I had a spare carseat and was able to discontinue use of the car seat with the melted chest clip. I would not have been able to buckle the chest clip in the condition it was in on 9/28/23 ensuring the shoulder straps would be in the correct position on my child. The car seat has not been inspected by anyone other than myself.

On 12/29/22, while in our driveway and preparing to leave home, our forward-facing daughter alerted us to a functionality issue with her car seat straps. The child was able to pull herself all the way forward while strapped into her car seat. After tightening the straps several times, the issue persisted and she continued to be able to fully loosen the straps by simply leaning forward. This demonstrated the way she would have flown forward in the event of an accident, because the straps were not properly restraining her. The car seat was removed from the vehicle and brought inside the home for closer inspection. The locking mechanism in the base of the seat, which typically allows a parent to tighten the straps but then locks the straps in place to prevent loosening, had clearly been rendered nonfunctional. Despite visually appearing functional and safe, the mechanism was not functioning correctly. At that time, a flashlight was used to inspect the mechanism closer. A very small shard of mulch was the culprit. We suspect this mulch must have fallen from our child’s clothing, fallen through the designated strap’s hole in the car seat cover, insidiously jammed itself into the locking mechanism during a routine tightening, and rendered the lock nonfunctional. We believe this to be a significant safety issue that could feasibly repeat without redesign of the mechanism and/or cover of the seat. The mechanism should not be designed in such a way that external items (mulch, food, etc) can interfere. We reported this issue to Graco as well yesterday, 12/29/22. We also have a video of the carseat prior to the removal of the mulch shard demonstrating the nonfunctional mechanism.

The contact owns a Graco 4EVER DLX convertible car seat, Model Number: 2106702, Manufactured on June 3, 2021. The contact stated that the child was able to exit the car seat by wiggling under the harness straps. The contact stated that the harness became loose and could not be tightened securely. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and offered her another harness however, she declined the new harness and the offer for a replacement car seat.

The strap is fraying significantly for the main buckle. This part is not one that’s regularly retracted and extended as it’s a fixed size.