21Jan/10Off
Graco My Ride 65 Convertible Car Seat
- Rear-facing for infants 5 to 40 lbs
- Forward-facing for toddlers 20 to 65 lbs
- SafeSeat Engineering - Engineered & Crash Tested to Meet or Exceed US Standard FMVS213: Side Impact Tested, New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) peak crash force approximately 2X Car Seat Standard, Extreme Car Interior Temperatures
- EPS, energy absorbing foam
- 5-point harness with front-adjustment helps keep baby secure
Product Description
Graco My Ride 65 Convertible Car SeatHelp keep your growing child safe in this innovative convertible car seat. The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends your child ride rear-facing as long as possible. The My Ride 65 stays rear-facing up to 40 lbs.- longer than any other car seat! Then, use this seat to secureyour forward-facing child in a 5-point harrness up to 65 lbs. Other features such as EPS, energy absorbing fam, side impact testing, removable infant i... More >>
Graco My Ride 65 Convertible Car Seat
January 21st, 2010 - 00:24
I’m going to go ahead and second the recommendations of the previous reviewer to research extended rear facing and the Kyle David Miller Foundation. We got this seat as a secondary car seat to be used in the grandparents cars. Our primary is a Britax Boulevard.
I have installed this seat probably 8 separate times now, in two different Ford Focuses and one Honda Ridgeline. My son is almost 23 pounds and almost 32 inches at 15 months old. We are continuing to rear face because it is five times safer than forward facing at this point. Now on to the car seat!
I installed it first in the Honda Ridgeline, and it took me about a half an hour to get a good install. To correct the previous reviewer, it doesn’t have to have less than one inch of movement at the head of the car seat, but at the belt path. That means you should NOT be able to move it more than one inch in any direction where the seat belt or the LATCH belt is connected. I have to stick a knee into the seat and put a lot of weight into it and simultaneously pull the LATCH strap to get less than an inch of movement, but it’s a small price to pay for safety.
I also have the same problem with the difficulty in tightening the shoulder harness, and have heard that complaint from many other people with the My Ride. I finally got it tight enough, but have no idea how I did it and am afraid to loosen it at all or I won’t get it back.
I had the same issue with the cover as well where it pops off of the cup holders and also the top. I called Graco, and they sent me a replacement cover right away. I got it within three days. I haven’t had a chance to put it on yet, but we haven’t used the seat in awhile either.
All in all, it is a good seat for the money. If you have a tight budget and are looking for a high weight limit rear facing seat, this is a good one.
I personally like the deepness of the seat, he actually has more leg room in this than he does in his Britax Boulevard.
Again, after installing a seat, find a certified car seat technician in your area to go over your install, they can help you learn how to do it correctly. You can find one in your area by going to this website: [...]
Remember, the American Academy of Pediatrics have recently changed their recommendations regarding car seats, and now recommend rear facing until at least age 2 and 30 pounds, NOT age 1 and 20 pounds.
Rating: 3 / 5
January 21st, 2010 - 01:25
We are committed to keeping our son rear facing as long as possible (for more information visit the Kyle David Miller Foundation online), so when he hit the 33lb rear facing limit on his Britax Marathon we were delighted to find the My Ride with its higher 40lb rear facing limit. The day after he weighed in at 33lbs we went and bought the My Ride and set about installing it and giving it a try.
We have a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and were installing in the captains chair, an easy install with most seats thanks to the amount of room and availability of latch, but we were unable to get this seat installed firmly (with less than 1 inch movement at the head). Unlike the Britax, which has a latch strap and buckle for each side of the carseat, the My Ride has a single latch strap (with two buckles on it) that runs underneath the seat. This seemed like a good idea, except that no matter how hard we pulled to tighten the single strap the seat seemed to slide around on it–two points of attach and adjustment (on the seat) seems more secure than one. This loose fit is my biggest complaint, but not my only with regards to safety. We also found the harness difficult to tighten over our son (who is 33lbs) to an acceptable point. Safety is our number one concern, and no seat, no matter the safety rating, can be considered safe in your car if a successful install cannot be achieved, so we returned the seat after a few days trial.
Some additional thoughts, related more to quality than safety: like stated in another review, this is a bulky seat, from back to back, side to side, and top to bottom (seat height)–it was difficult for my son to climb into and out of. It also has a pretty steep recline, which is safe for rear facing, but I can’t imagine my 50lb forward facing child wishing to remain reclining that far, so I fear that the seat would have become obsolete before the weight limit. The cover on this seat has no elastic on the sides, and every time my son pulled on one of the cup holders (the cup holders themselves are only loosely set into the seat, not latched or clicked in) the seat cover pulled off the arm of the seat as well. Lastly, the seat is very deep which means that there wasn’t a lot of room for my son to cross his legs and it was hard for him to get comfortable, which was not a problem still rear facing in the Britax Marathon because it had low sides on the lower seat allowing more room for his legs.
Ultimately, the idea of this seat is an excellent one. Keeping your small child rear facing is the safest choice you can make, and this seat, for a low price, will allow you to do this, but a proper install and proper use are necessary for this to be true, and the My Ride, with its single latch strap, does not make this easy. Be sure to have a certified safety technician check the install (look online for local car seat safety check points in your area). If you cannot get a safe install with Graco don’t give up–look at the Sunshine Kids Radian seats or Safety First Complete Air. Rear facing is safest. For more information and seat recommendations visit the Kyle David Miller Foundation online.
Rating: 2 / 5