Cosco Apex 65 - tightening straps

[mom2twins]

Hello All,
Well we decided on the Apex 65 for DH car (Matrix) and installed them without a hitch until....we went to take DS and DD for a ride around the block in their new seats. We went to strap them in and we can't get the straps to tighten enough. The pull strap does not slide very well, but we can tighten it to a point and then it just sticks and doesn't budge. My husband took the seat out and worked with it to see what was preventing it from pulling further and just couldn't figure it out. We are having the same problem with both seats. Any advice?

Also the crotch strap also seems awfully tight (i.e. close to their crotch), even when we use the slot that is furthest out. Will this prevent us from using it to the full 65 lb. limit or are they unlikely to grow in a manner that will cause this to be a problem?

Thanks again for all your help!

Amy

[Scatterbunny]

I don't have any ideas for the hard-to-tighten harness, my only thought is that when it's installed the seat presses the harness so tightly against the vehicle seat (behind the seat, between the carseat and the vehicle seat) that it won't tighten easily.

About the crotch strap: it really shouldn't be an issue. The Britax Marathon's crotch strap is MUCH shorter and most big kids don't have a problem with it.

But most kids will outgrow these seats by height before 65 pounds anyway--they get too tall and their shoulders go over the top set of harness slots. When that happens, even if the child is below 65 pounds, they have outgrown the harness.

[mom2twins]

Thanks so much for the feedback. DH worked on it and finally got the staps to loosen/tighthen freely. The way he did it was by loosening the straps all the way first, then installing the seat then tightening it. For some reason, that did the trick. Thanks for your help.

Take care,

Amy