2020 BRITAX E1C27-ONE4LIFE

Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness

Summary: The straps on this car seat came loose with a firm pull with my baby already buckled in. Description: On Saturday April 5th, we place our baby in the Britax One4Life ClickTight All-In-One Car Seat. My husband had our baby fully buckled in with the straps tightened when for some reason (thank goodness he did), he gave the straps a pretty firm pull (not holding the strap release lever down) and they loosened up. We were very shocked that this could happen. I also tested it as well and had the same result. This concerning because with a forceful pull on the car seat straps, they came loose. If we had been in some sort of collision and were unaware of this issue, the force of an accident certainly would have loosened the straps which could have had a lethal outcome ever for a minor collision. Because we weren't sure why this was happening with this car seat. We ordered a new car seat from a different manufacturer due to this safety concern. On Monday April 7th I called Britax twice to see if I could get an answer as to why this may be happening. I could not get a live person so I left a voicemail. I also scheduled an appointment for a video call on Wednesday the 9th in an attempt to contact someone. I was able to speak with someone on Wednesday the 9th. The person I spoke with asked me to check if there was any debris under the button to release the strap. with her on the call, I shook the car seat upside down, and vacuumed under the release button. Once that was done, the straps did function again as expected, not loosening with a firm pull. The representative did mention that she had seen this issue before with something even as minor as sand getting stuck under the button. If you have kids, you know how impossible it is to keep car seats completely clean. The seats get dirty from kids being at parks, daycare, in their own back yard, eating snacks, etc.. I believe this is a design flaw of this car seat and it needs to be investigated for safety.