A reader alerted us to a problem with the Snap
& Go and the Snug Ride car seat:


A reader alerted us to a problem with the Snap
& Go and the Snug Ride car seat:

On
your recommendation, my husband & I purchased a Snap & Go to carry our
Graco Snug Ride infant car seat for our baby that is due next Wednesday. We
were unable to afix the snap bar to the Snap & Go (it was impossible to get
the screws to engage the nut meant to secure the screws), and, after much
frustration, phoned the Baby Trend help line. The Baby Trend representative my
husband spoke with advised him that this is a frequent problem with Snug Rides,
and offered to send to us without charge an alternative snap bar with a design
that is meant to address this problem. He warned my husband that some customers
don’t find the replacement snap bars easier to use than the one that originally
comes in the box, and that the Snap & Go isn’t safe unless we can get one or
the other snap bar screwed in properly. The representative also said that Baby
Trend is trying to modify the Snap & Go with a new design that will be
available in stores in a few months.

We’d
rather have skipped this frustration and purchased either the Kolcraft infant
car seat carrier (which presumably doesn’t also have this incompatibility with
Snug Rides) or another car seat that is compatible with the Snap &
Go.

Please warn your readers about this
problem.

Yours
cordially,

J.M.

Here
is Baby Trend’s response:

Dear Denise and
Alan,

Unfortunately, we did experience an
error in manufacturing the Snap N Go
in an
early January 2005 production run. We have corrected the
problem
in production, we are sending out
replacement pieces for the affected
units, and
we have also created an alternate configuration for
the
product that can be performed by the
consumer in a couple of minutes
without any new
parts. This affects only the Graco Snug
Ride
installation. We can E-mail, fax or read
the alternate installation
instructions to any
consumer who experiences a problem. We are
also
placing a link to the revised instructions
on our website (should be up
by
Monday).

We apologize for any
inconvenience the error is causing our customers
or
your readers. I do believe that it is
important for consumers to
understand that the
Snap N Go is the only unit on the market that
is
customizable to each seat. The others,
including the Kolcraft, are one
size fits all.
This results in various recline angles (we configure
the
Snap N Go so that the seat back angle is 45
degrees, + or – 2 degrees),
balance of the
frame, etc. In addition, the Kolcraft uses only the
belt
to secure the seat to the frame whereas
the Snap N Go uses the shopping
cart latches
and a belt.

Baby Trend