How To Install Alpha Omega Elite Car Seat

(Last Updated On: March 11, 2022)

The Alpha Omega Aristocracy. Utter those words to whatsoever Child Rider Safety technician and and then just wait for the sigh of frustration and the exasperated expect on their face. Something similar this:

Alpha Omega Elite: too big for small infants

Commencement, a disclaimer: when used properly, the Alpha Omega Aristocracy is absolutely just as rubber as whatsoever other car seat. The key to that statement is "used properly," and in this mail service we're about to explore some of the reasons why this seat is difficult to apply properly and why information technology elicits that exasperated sigh from CPSTs every time it shows up at a checkpoint.

Let's go over the stats for this item seat. For this post, I'm using the Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite:

CSFTL Quick Stats

• Rear facing weight range: 5-35 lbs
• Rear facing peak range: nineteen-36″
• Forward facing weight range: 22-forty lbs
• Forward facing height range: 34-43″
• Highback booster weight range: xl-100 lbs
• Highback booster pinnacle range: 43-52″
• Lowest harness position: 10″
• Expiration: 10 years (seats made after Dec 2022)

Equally the proper name "Alpha Omega" suggests, this seat is marketed as the only 1 you'll ever need, information technology's 3 car seats in one! Sounds great, correct? Spend $100 once, and you'll never take to purchase a car seat again! Unfortunately, that's just non the case. First, I tried my ane month old daughter in the seat. She weighs nine pounds and is twenty-two inches long, well within the specifications for rear facing.

Alpha Omega Elite: too large for small infants

Installed in my vehicle with the recline level line for her historic period level to the ground, this infant headrest significantly pushed her caput frontwards, which could cause a serious animate consequence for a infant her age. Equally important, is that when I secured her in the seat, her shoulders don't yet meet the bottom harness position.

Alpha Omega Elite: also big for small infants

In this close up view, you lot can encounter there is all the same about an inch of space between her shoulders and the lowest harness position. Page twelve of the education manual states for the rear facing position, "harness guide must be fifty-fifty with or just below the shoulders. If the harness is higher up the child's shoulders with the headrest in the everyman position,do nonuse this child restraint. Use an infant child restraint instead." Strike one, this seat does not fit an boilerplate sized one month old correctly.

I removed the beefy caput support that was pushing her head and so far forward and re-installed the seat (the next twenty-four hour period – we're not working with ultra patient models, hither!) and her caput was still pushed further forward than I would be comfy with for a newborn, even without the head support. This photo besides illustrates the massive amount of front to back infinite this seat takes up when properly reclined for a newborn. I'yard average superlative, and in that location'due south no way I could sit comfortably in front of this seat and be able to drive.

Alpha Omega Elite: recline setting for children under 22 pounds

Second, I moved on to stage 2 of this car seat: forward facing using the five betoken harness. My son is four and a half years quondam, weighs 36 pounds and is 41 inches tall. He also carries the majority of his height in his legs, rather than his trunk.

Alpha Omega Elite: iv.5 years old, 36 pounds, 41 inches

Back to page 12 of the didactics manual, this fourth dimension the guidelines for the forrard facing position: "harness guide must be even with or only above the shoulders. If the harness is below the child's shoulders with the headrest in the highest position, the child weighs at least 40 lbs and is over 1-year-erstwhile, convert the seat to a belt positioning booster." The harness is adjusted to the highest position in this photo, and hither is a close upwards of the positioning:

Alpha Omega Elite: four.5 years erstwhile, 36 pounds, 41 inches, highest harness position

The harness is the tiniest bit beneath his shoulders, making him too tall to ride harnessed in this seat. Every bit I said, he besides happens to carry a lot of his height in his legs rather than his torso – the average four year old would take outgrown this harness much sooner than my son has. This puts me in an interesting pickle, considering he is too tall to employ the harness, however the minimum guidelines for the belt positioning booster utilise are 40 lbs and 43″, of which he is neither.

Information technology is very important to note here, that in addition to existence the proper size, children must also have a certain amount of maturity before moving from a five bespeak harness to a belt positioning booster. The job of a booster is simply to position the adult sized seat belt over their child sized body, it's not a restraint like a 5 betoken harness is. For a booster seat to do its chore properly, the seat belt must fit properly at all times which means the kid can't be leaning out of their seat, slouching, or unbuckling their seat belt. A small-scale handful of four and a one-half twelvemonth olds accept that kind of maturity and impulse control – mine certainly does not, and his regular seats are all v indicate harnessed seats that he fits correctly in. The bulk of children are well over 5 years old before they are mature enough to handle the responsibility that comes with a booster seat.

For demonstration purposes, I took pictures of my son using the chugalug positioning booster part of the Alpha Omega because I want to highlight this seat's biggest downfall – the positioning of the seat belt in booster mode.

Alpha Omega Elite: 4.5 years sometime, 36 pounds, 41 inches, provides improper booster belt fit

Kids need booster seats considering they are not alpine plenty, nor are their hips adult enough for the lap belt to sit properly on their lap. The guides on the Alpha Omega allow the lap belt to sit far too high on the child's belly, as this photo demonstrates. This booster allows the height of the lap belt to sit only slightly below the child's omphalos. In a crash, his soft abdomen would take the brunt of the strength, allowing the seat belt to tear through his internal organs, likely non stopping until it reaches his spinal column and does significant damage there also. The shoulder  belt is also positioned too far off the edge of the shoulder, it should be resting evenly across the child's collarbone.

This isn't an anomaly with my child or my vehicle: the Alpha Omega Elite was one of simply ii seats on the IIHS "not recommended" booster list.

For comparison purposes, here is a proper booster seat fit:

Graco Turbobooster: iv.5 years quondam, 36 pounds, 41 inches, showing proper booster belt fit

Note how the lap belt is sitting low and flat across the child's hips, touching the tops of the thighs and the shoulder belt is positioned evenly across the collarbone. This is a safe seat  chugalug fit, and how any child'southward seat chugalug should fit in a booster seat. The seat pictured is a Graco TurboBooster, available for effectually $50 at many major retailers.

There are many incarnations of the Alpha Omega available; Dorel Juvenile Group owns Condom 1st, Cosco, Eddie Bauer, and Maxi-Cosi and there are versions of the seat nether several Safety 1st, Cosco, and Eddie Bauer names. They do now offer versions with l and 65 pound weight limits for the forward facing harness function, and those models practise have higher harness slots to accommodate taller kids in the harness. Nonetheless, the seats still don't fit young babies, and the booster office is still incorrect and could cause serious injury to a child. The forty lb model used for this review is still widely bachelor.

The thought of ownership i car seat is highly-seasoned, sure – especially when information technology only costs effectually $100! It's important to expect at what you lot're getting – just looking at the box and seeing 5-100 lbs ways you are missing a whole lot of details. NHTSA estimates 3/iv automobile seats are used incorrectly, and CPSTs will tell you from their experience in the field, that number is even higher. When a seat is hard to apply correctly, that significantly ups the chances that a parent will make an fault that could be the deviation between a child sustaining a severe injury in a crash or non. We know that parents need to stick to a budget – admittedly! But this isn't the mode to do it. Focus on finding a seat that fits your kid, fits your vehicle, and can be used properly 100% of the time, ane stage at a time.

Originally written by Emma Douglas. Edits maintained by CSFTL.

Source: https://csftl.org/the-alpha-omega-why-its-neither-the-first-nor-the-last-nor-the-elite-car-seat/

Posted by: riverashmed1979.blogspot.com

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