Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness Problems of Mazda MAZDA3

Mazda MAZDA3 owners have reported 2 chest clip, buckle, harness related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common chest clip, buckle, harness problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's chest clip, buckle, harness (2 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.

Table 1. Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness related problems of Mazda MAZDA3

Problem Category Number of Problems
Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness problems
2

Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness problem #1

The cup holder on the car seat is damaged, as it broke from the car seat at the time of the incident. The hook in which buckles the car seat to the car is stuck and no longer pulls out nor in, no longer able to tie the car seat into the car correctly. My child is put at risk due to the buckle not being able to tighten nor more. Yes the insurance first stated they would replace it.

Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness problem #2

When cleaning and adjusting the seat to move it to forward-facing, we discovered that two of the child harness straps (the crotch strap and one of the shoulder straps) had significant grooves cut into them, presumably by the plastic edges of the base. Given that this damage was not visible before moving the cover and adjusting the seat, and given that graco advertises this seat as rear-facing from 4 to 50 pounds and forward-facing up to 65 pounds, a consumer wouldn't see or have any reason to expect this level of damage after about 3. 5 years of use. I have to assume that this sort of severe wear compromises the strength of the straps and thus the safety of the seat if there were an accident (thank goodness we didn't have one). I have the seat still, and I contacted the manufacturer with pictures of the damage, and they did not seem to think it was out of the ordinary or alarming at all, just told me that they could send me a rebate for a discount on a new seat if I wanted since this one was out of warranty. I cannot believe that this is an acceptable and safe amount of normal wear. I can attest that we followed manufacturer instructions for care and install and did not use any cleaning products on the seat, submerge the seat, leave it outside, or do anything else that I can think of that would have constituted inappropriate care of the seat.



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