Chicco Child's First Remote Control Car

by Chicco

Product Features

• Moves in four directions (forward, reverse, forward to the left and forward to the right)
• User-friendly remote control
• Antenna becomes a carry handle
• Requires 6 AA batteries (not included)
• 5.50 x 12.00 x 8.00

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 7 x 13.7 inches ; 14.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AVBPM
• Item model number: 00069238000070
• Manufacturer recommended age: 24 months - 5 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,886 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)

Product Description

Perfect for your child's very first battery-operated remote control vehicle, this colorful car comes with kid-friendly controls. Drive it in four directions: forward straight, reverse straight, forward to the left and forward to the right. Attach the car's remote control onto the top of the car when not in use to keep everything together. Also, its antenna becomes a handy carry handle. Requires 2 "AA" alkaline batteries (not included).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I fixed it! Here's how I fixed it., December 26, 2005

By 

Greg Lovern (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Chicco Child's First Remote Control Car (Toy)

I was concerned about all the poor reviews of this remote controlled car, but encouraged by the positive review by the remote controlled car enthusiast. I was sure my 2-year-old son would love it if it worked, so I took a chance on it.

Before Christmas, I removed it from the box, put new batteries in it, and made sure it worked. It seemed to run fine, even on carpet. I only did a few very brief test mini runs.

Christmas morning, my son liked it even before he realized what it did. When we showed him that the remote made it run, his eyes glowed. He loves buttons and is always trying to make our TV do things with its remote, so he dived right in, running it back and forth.

But soon, after much less than a minute, it became sluggish. We could hear the motor racing, but the car barely moved. I took it to a linoleum floor, which was a slight improvement, but it still barely worked forward and back, and came to a stop if turned in either direction.

I had originally put in Energizer batteries. The next day I got some Duracell Ultras and tried them. It was just as sluggish with the Duracell Ultras.

I took the car apart to see what I could do. Taking it apart wasn't easy. The rear wheels and axle needed to come out to get access to the gearbox, but the inner blue fenders trap the rear wheels in. I couldn't get the rear wheels to pull off of the axle. I found some screws to remove on one of the weels, but removing those screws didn't help. Finally I took a hacksaw and cut down one of the inner blue fenders to allow that wheel to slip off.

From there, I finished removing the wheel from the axle to get access to the gearbox lid, then removed the gearbox lid. I found that there was a plastic gear mounted on the metal axle like a doughnut on a spindle, and on most of the axle there was hardly any friction between the axle and the gear, so that the axle was easy to stop when the motor was spinning the gear. But one small section of the axle had been scored with cross-hatched grooves. When I moved the gear over that section, there was much more friction, and stopping the axle brought the motor to a stop too.

I repositioned the axle and gearbox in their normal place on the car to position the gear on the axle in it's normal place. Then I carefully removed it to see where the grooved part of the axle was compared to the gear. If you haven't guessed already, the grooved part was in the wrong place! It only partly fit under the gear. It needed more grooves further away from the end of the axle.

I tried putting marks in the axle with my biggest pair of pliers, but the axle metal was too hard. Then I tried roughing up the metal with a file. That helped but it still wasn't as good as when I positioned the gear exactly over the grooves.

I held the file steady and put some deep grooves all around the axle, then turned the axle around and put in more deep grooves in the opposite direction, making crosshatched grooves. I tested it again, and this time it had even more friction than the original grooves.

I put it all back together and it works perfectly, even on carpet.

Some hints if you're going to try this yourself:
-- You'll need some very small, slender phillips screwdrivers. I used a precision set.
-- To get the wheel off of the axle, pull and twist at the same time.
-- Remember to screw the lid back onto the gearbox before putting the wheel back on.
-- Make a note of where the antenna attaches to the chassis. Mine broke off while I was working and I had to figure out where to reattach it. But I think I must have guessed wrong, because I don't seem to have much range. If anyone can tell me where it goes, I would appreciate it.

If you're willing to do all that, this toy easily rates a 5 once fixed.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great beginner RC, November 25, 2005

By 

M. Long (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Chicco Child's First Remote Control Car (Toy)

After reading the reviews for this car I felt I should add mine. We've had this car for almost eight months and have really enjoyed it.

This is a great beginner RC. I purchaced this car for my sons 4th birthday after an extensive online search. This car fit all of the basic needs for the starter RC I was looking for. I have been very pleased with this purchase.

It has some definate pros and cons. The pros are that it is very durable. My experience is that the battery life was pretty good. A key factor, like many other toys, is turning it off when my son is done playing with it. It is also very durable as far as the rough play of little boy. My son loves the clown remote and easily uses the buttons. I love the fact that it fits into the top. We haven't lost it yet. It is a pretty easy car to manuver. Some cons are it is recommended for inside use only, which caused some frustrations at first. It also runs poorly on carpet and has no reverse.

Overall this is a quality toy. If you are looking for a starter RC I would highly recommend this toy. My son still continues to play with it.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless, October 13, 2005

By 

R. Dunning (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Chicco Child's First Remote Control Car (Toy)

This car worked ok for about 5 minutes then all you heard was the motor running but the car don't move. My guess was it running into walls might have caused this so durability is very low. I actually sent it back and got another one and it did the exact same thing. A design flaw maybe. If you just want a car to push around you can get one for much less money.