How To Put The Straps Back Together In A Graco Infant Car Seat

By Philip Yiga | January 8, 2016

All car-seats are designed with straps so as to securely hold your child when sitting but removing and putting these straps back together may not actually be a simple process. In fact, straps of Graco Infant Car-Seats can get tangles and dirty over time and this means that you may have to remove them in order to get cleaned and after put them back onto the car-seat. In fact, it is usually recommended to follow the user-manual that comes with your Graco infant car-seat in order more details on how remove and install the straps. However, in case you no-longer have the user-manual, then i have decided to provide you with some of steps that will guide you through placing back the straps into your Graco car-seat with ease.

STEPS TO FOLLOW WHEN PUTTING BACK STRAPS TOGETHER INTO A GRACO INFANT CAR-SEAT:

1. Locate the front buckle: before you begin installing the straps, you actually need to first locate the buckle at the front of the car-seat and this buckle usually fits in-between your child’s legs. In fact, this front-buckle will help to connect both shoulder and legs straps in order to hold your little-child firmly while sitting in the car-seat. All in all, most Graco infant car-seats are designed with this front buckle and I think you won’t actually fail to locate it.

 

2. Connect shoulder-straps to the front-buckle: you will now have to connect the shoulder straps onto the buckle at the front then start routing the top-section of the shoulder-straps through the slot at the back of the car-seat. In fact, there are actually 3-slots on each side of the car-seat and all these are placed at different levels so that you can select a slot that will make the strap fit the size of your child. So, the smaller your baby is, the lower the shoulder-straps should be placed and vice-versa. All in all, it’s recommended to route the shoulder-straps through the correct slot depending on your child’s height.

 

3. Turn the infant car-seat over: afterwards, you will have to turn the Graco infant car-seat over in order access to access the bottom-section. Start locating for the slots at back of the car-seat so as to gain access to the shoulder-straps and once you see these straps, pull them gently through the slots until they reach the back-section. However, make sure that the shoulder-straps don’t fold-up during as you pull them to the back-section of the car-seat and always be careful when doing this so that you may not cause any damage to the straps.

 

4. Locate for the hooks at back-section: you will know have to locate for the hooks that hold on the back-section of the infant car-seat because these hooks actually help to hold the straps in position/place. In fact, on most Graco car-seats the hooks are made of either stainless-steel or gold-plated and this actually makes them strong enough to withstand any resistance/pressure applied. Likewise, you will notice that 1-hook is placed on the left and other hook will be placed on the right of the back-section of the car-seat.

 

5. Place the shoulder-strap ends into the hooks: it involves taking the end of each of the 2 shoulder-straps and then placing them tightly through the 2-hooks at the back-section of the infant car-seat. In fact, each shoulder-strap should have a loop at the end with reinforced-stitching whereby you will have to use the loop-section to hook the straps into the metallic-hooks on the back of the car-seat. Additionally, make sure that the shoulder-straps are not lose because they may end-up coming off the hooks hence making the car-seat unsafe for our little-child. So, examine these shoulder-straps and hooks properly in order to ensure that they are properly installed before proceeding to the next step.

 

6. Turn the infant car-seat back over to the top-section: carefully turn the car-seat back over onto the top-section whereby you can access the seat-section and then gently pull the shoulder-straps so as to ensure that they are properly locked into the hooks at the back-section.

 

7. Locate for the adjustment lever/button: after, you will need to locate for the adjustment lever/button which is usually placed at the bottom of the front-section of the car-seat. In fact, in Graco car-seats the adjustment lever/button is located at the center of the unit and just 3-to4 inches below the buckle but it might be covered-up by fabric. This adjustment lever-button should actually be pushed-down as the shoulder-straps are being pulled outwards in order to adjust the tightness. Additionally, to tighten-up the shoulder-straps further, you will have to push-down the adjustment lever/button and after pull the long adjustment-strap positioned just below the button/lever but do this gently so that you don’t damage the straps.

 

8. Finish-up the installation-process: this actually involves checking whether the level of tightness set can accommodate you little-child and if not, then you may do some adjustments again. On top of that, you may also decide to add other accessories into the car-seat like seat-pads and head-pads in order to firmly hold your infant when seated into the car-seat.

 

TIPS TO CONSIDER WHEN PUTTING STRAPS BACK TOGETHER INTO A GRACO INFANT CAR-SEAT:

• Always make sure that about a 2-finger width-of-space is left in-between the little-child and the straps and this should actually apply to both shoulder-straps and leg-straps. In fact, you will need to make any adjustments if necessary until your child feels comfortable in the car-seat.
• You should always try pulling the buckle in order to ensure that it’s properly secured into the bottom of the car-seat and won’t come-out when connected to the straps.
• Make sure that all car-seat straps don’t get twisted during the installation-process because twisted straps are unsafe and even make your little-child to feel uncomfortable when buckled-up.
• Lastly, take your time when putting straps back onto a car-seat because straps are very delicate and can easily be damaged if over-pulled and this means that you be compromising the safety of you little-one when he/she sits in a car-seat with damaged straps.