How To Install Alpha Omega Elite Car Seat Forward Facing

(Last Updated On: March 11, 2022)

The Blastoff Omega Elite. Utter those words to any Child Passenger Condom technician and then only look for the sigh of frustration and the exasperated look on their face. Something similar this:

Alpha Omega Elite: also big for small infants

Get-go, a disclaimer: when used properly, the Alpha Omega Elite is absolutely just as safe as any other car seat. The key to that argument is "used properly," and in this postal service we're about to explore some of the reasons why this seat is difficult to use properly and why it elicits that exasperated sigh from CPSTs every fourth dimension information technology shows upwards at a checkpoint.

Let's get over the stats for this detail seat. For this post, I'm using the Safe 1st Alpha Omega Elite:

CSFTL Quick Stats

• Rear facing weight range: five-35 lbs
• Rear facing height range: 19-36″
• Forrard facing weight range: 22-40 lbs
• Forward facing height range: 34-43″
• Highback booster weight range: forty-100 lbs
• Highback booster pinnacle range: 43-52″
• Lowest harness position: 10″
• Expiration: 10 years (seats made later Dec 2022)

As the proper name "Alpha Omega" suggests, this seat is marketed equally the only one you'll ever need, it'due south three car seats in i! Sounds neat, correct? Spend $100 once, and y'all'll never have to buy a machine seat again! Unfortunately, that'southward just not the case. Beginning, I tried my i 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 big for small infants

Installed in my vehicle with the recline level line for her age level to the ground, this infant headrest significantly pushed her head frontward, which could crusade a serious breathing upshot for a infant her age. Equally important, is that when I secured her in the seat, her shoulders don't nonetheless meet the bottom harness position.

Alpha Omega Elite: too big for small infants

In this shut up view, yous can run into there is nevertheless near an inch of infinite between her shoulders and the lowest harness position. Page twelve of the instruction manual states for the rear facing position, "harness guide must be fifty-fifty with or simply beneath the shoulders. If the harness is above the child's shoulders with the headrest in the lowest position,practise notapply this kid restraint. Use an infant child restraint instead." Strike one, this seat does non fit an boilerplate sized one month old correctly.

I removed the bulky caput back up that was pushing her head and so far forward and re-installed the seat (the next day – we're not working with ultra patient models, here!) and her head was withal pushed farther frontward than I would be comfortable with for a newborn, even without the head back up. This photograph as well illustrates the massive amount of front to dorsum infinite this seat takes up when properly reclined for a newborn. I'grand boilerplate height, and in that location's no fashion I could sit comfortably in forepart of this seat and be able to drive.

Alpha Omega Elite: recline setting for children under 22 pounds

Second, I moved on to stage two of this car seat: frontward facing using the five point harness. My son is four and a one-half years old, weighs 36 pounds and is 41 inches alpine. He too carries the majority of his peak in his legs, rather than his torso.

Alpha Omega Elite: 4.5 years erstwhile, 36 pounds, 41 inches

Back to page 12 of the instruction transmission, this time the guidelines for the forward facing position: "harness guide must be fifty-fifty with or just higher up the shoulders. If the harness is below the child's shoulders with the headrest in the highest position, the child weighs at to the lowest degree 40 lbs and is over ane-yr-old, convert the seat to a belt positioning booster." The harness is adjusted to the highest position in this photo, and hither is a close up of the positioning:

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

The harness is the tiniest chip below his shoulders, making him too tall to ride harnessed in this seat. As I said, he besides happens to carry a lot of his height in his legs rather than his trunk – the average four twelvemonth quondam would have outgrown this harness much sooner than my son has. This puts me in an interesting pickle, considering he is besides tall to use the harness, however the minimum guidelines for the belt positioning booster use are 40 lbs and 43″, of which he is neither.

Information technology is very important to note here, that in improver to being the proper size, children must as well accept a certain amount of maturity before moving from a five point harness to a belt positioning booster. The job of a booster is just to position the adult sized seat chugalug over their child sized torso, it'south non a restraint like a 5 indicate harness is. For a booster seat to exercise its job properly, the seat belt must fit properly at all times which means the child tin't be leaning out of their seat, slouching, or unbuckling their seat chugalug. A small scattering of four and a half year olds have that kind of maturity and impulse command – mine certainly does non, 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 plenty to handle the responsibleness that comes with a booster seat.

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

Blastoff Omega Aristocracy: four.v years erstwhile, 36 pounds, 41 inches, provides improper booster belt fit

Kids need booster seats considering they are not tall enough, nor are their hips developed enough for the lap belt to sit properly on their lap. The guides on the Alpha Omega let the lap belt to sit down far too loftier on the child's abdomen, as this photo demonstrates. This booster allows the top of the lap belt to sit just slightly below the kid's umbilicus. In a crash, his soft belly would take the brunt of the force, assuasive the seat belt to tear through his internal organs, likely not stopping until it reaches his spinal column and does significant damage at that place equally well. The shoulder  belt is as well 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 only two seats on the IIHS "not recommended" booster list.

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

Graco Turbobooster: four.5 years old, 36 pounds, 41 inches, showing proper booster chugalug fit

Annotation how the lap belt is sitting low and apartment 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  belt fit, and how whatsoever child's seat belt should fit in a booster seat. The seat pictured is a Graco TurboBooster, bachelor for around $fifty at many major retailers.

In that location are many incarnations of the Alpha Omega available; Dorel Juvenile Grouping owns Prophylactic 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 at present offer versions with 50 and 65 pound weight limits for the forwards facing harness function, and those models practice have college harness slots to accommodate taller kids in the harness. Notwithstanding, the seats all the same don't fit young babies, and the booster role is still incorrect and could cause serious injury to a child. The 40 lb model used for this review is still widely available.

The idea of buying one machine seat is highly-seasoned, sure – especially when it merely costs around $100! Information technology'due south of import to wait at what you lot're getting – just looking at the box and seeing 5-100 lbs means you lot are missing a whole lot of details. NHTSA estimates 3/iv car seats are used incorrectly, and CPSTs volition tell you from their experience in the field, that number is even higher. When a seat is difficult to apply correctly, that significantly ups the chances that a parent will make an error that could be the departure between a child sustaining a severe injury in a crash or not. We know that parents demand to stick to a upkeep – absolutely! But this isn't the way to do information technology. Focus on finding a seat that fits your child, fits your vehicle, and tin be used properly 100% of the time, one stage at a fourth dimension.

Originally written by Emma Douglas. Edits maintained past CSFTL.

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

Posted by: parkernineirackly96.blogspot.com

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