Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I own two RECARO car seats: RECARO ProRIDE Convertible Car Seat and the RECARO Performance SPORT Combination Harness to Booster. I've owned the ProRIDE for two years and the Performance SPORT for two months. I trust the ProRide's construction and durability and quite simply, love it. I do not, however, trust the construction and design of the Performance SPORT when it functions in harness mode, using my 2015 Honda Odyssey's captain's chair seat belt to secure the car seat to the vehicle. The vehicle's seat belt runs directly over the slot through which the harness straps pass, obstructing the harness strap and SIGNIFICANTLY reducing the degree to which I can tighten the harness over my son's shoulders. To boot, the bottom lap belt runs directly behind him my son, digging into the lumbar portion of his back. This causes him great discomfort and leads to poor posture (which is also unsafe). My 2.5 year-old son weighs 32.25 lbs and is 37.25 in. tall. He uses the car seat in harness mode and is required to sit front facing with the car seat. I moved him into the Performance SPORT when his baby brother graduated from his Britax infant car seat and needed to move into the ProRide. A certified safekids.gov car seat technician/police officer assisted me in installing the car seat. I also reinstalled the car seat multiple times at home, making sure to consult the user's manual. I also contacted RECARO in late May to discuss my concerns and ensure I wasn't erring when installing the seat. Despite all these efforts and despite proper installation, the harness straps remained loose and the bottom lap belt still dug into my son's back. When I contacted RECARO and inquired into the problems with the seat belt, they suggested lowering the height of my Honda Odyssey's seat belt (you can slide the belt up and down on the wall of the van). This did not change the problem with the vehicle's seat belt interfering with the harness strap. RECARO also suggested checking the headrest height setting (located on the back of the seat) and the harness strap's length setting (there are three settings and you must select the strap length that best accommodates your child's height). I followed their advice, ensured the seat was adjusted to properly and safely accommodate my son. Still, the seat belt overlapped the harness strap behind my son's shoulders and made it impossible to fully tighten the harness over his body. The customer service representative admitted the company is aware of the complaint regarding the lap belt digging into children's backs. She kindly offered to send a free foam pad to place behind his back. Still, though, this does not solve the problem of the lap belt running directly behind him; even with a foam pad over the belt, it would still protrude and push into the small of his back. This design is nothing like the ProRide. The ProRide's design never places the vehicle's seat belt in contact with the child. Instead, the seat belts run in belt paths below or behind the seat. I'm unsure why RECARO decided to run the seat belt directly behind the child and directly behind their back when designing the PerformanceSport. I've added photos to demonstrate a few of the points I addressed in this review. The deal breaker for me is the issue with belt path interfering with the harness strap's ability to be fully tightened over my son's shoulders. I still trust the RECARO brand, but I think they really goofed on the PerformanceSport. My baby will continue riding in his ProRide until he exceeds the height and weight requirements. The PerformanceSport has a major design flaw in my opinion. I'm hopeful RECARO reads the **many** negative reviews and concerns regarding the aforementioned seat belt path problems and changes the design for future models. Solution: I'm ordering a second ProRide for my 2.5 year-old. I'm giving up on the notion of a "one car seat forever" idea. I tried the Diono Radian after returning the PerformanceSport. The Diono was awkward and impossible to tighten. Plus, there isn't a guarantee that my tall kids will remain within the height limits of the Radian past age 4 or 5. I'm surrendering to the reality that I'm going to purchase booster seats someday. Instead of wasting more time searching for the "perfect" all-in-one harness to booster car seat that my 2.5 year-old will ride in until age 8 or 9, I'm going to love my RECARO ProRide car seats and graduate my kids to strictly booster seats when the time comes.