Customer Reviews

Chicco Child's First Remote Control Car

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

this car doesn't work, it looks cute and SHOULD be perfect for a one or two year old to master the basics of remote control vehicles, but it didn't survive regular use, my child didn't throw or damage it, it just didn't work. A real disappointment. Sorry, thumbs down on this one.

We bought this for our son, and were excited about his first remote control car! However, after a month of playing with it, the gears became stripped and it wouldn't work anymore. We were very disappointed. The intention of this car is wonderful, but when you actually get the car, you realize how poorly crafted it is. I would not recommend this toy to anyone. When you spend money on toys, especially toys from decent toy manufacturers, you expect the quality to be there. I am sure this was tested over a period of time, so I am sure that they knew this car did not provide very high quality.

My son received this for his 3rd Birthday. He was so excited because he loves cars. After the first few times he played with it, he told me it was broken. I assumed it was the batteries, so I replaced them. About a week later, he came to me again, saying it was "broken." This time I realized that the remote control has batteries too, so I replaced those. Well, it still doesn't work! What a waste. This is a such a cute toy and my son would love to play with it. But all that doesn't mean squat if it doesn't work! Don't waste your money!

As stated in the other reviews, this would have been a fun toy if it worked longer than 5 minutes. We replaced the batteries several times, but it did not make a difference. My son got it for his first bithday and loved it, however, we had to get rid of it as it created more frustration than fun.

Too bad!

I was also discouraged by the reviews but bought it anyway. It was a lot of fun! While it worked. We experienced the same symptoms as the other reviewers here ... I appreciate the info on how to fix it but should we have to? It's too bad because it really is a cute toy and my 2 year old loved it. I would not buy it again. If you are considering purchasing this toy make sure the company has fixed it first.

I read the negative reviews but figured I'd go ahead and buy it (locally, for less) since it seems to be the only RC car made for younger toddlers. My 13 month old likes it a lot...not his most played with toy, but one of his new favorites. He'll see the car then find the remote to make it go, and vice versa. He'll play with it for maybe a minute or so then drop it and find something else to do...but then always goes back to it every so often.

It runs well on a hard floor, and works okay on low pile carpet too. Sometimes it needs a little nudge on the rug for some reason, or maybe my son happens to be pushing two buttons at the same time. The main problem is just going between the two surfaces (low rug & hardwood floor), the car gets stuck so I'll have to give it a little nudge before it's on its way again.

The car works well for us because my son still needs supervision as he plays & I don't mind getting the car out of "jams". If you're looking for a car for an older & more independent toddler, you might be disappointed.

BTW, there are four action buttons on the remote: straight forward, straight back, right forward and left forward. This is nice for a young toddler because hitting any of the buttons will result in some kind of motion reaction.

I purchased this car for my son who is 21 months old and what a piece of junk. It works for 5 minutes and after replacing the 6 batteries it requires numerous times, I realized I am better off throwing it in the garbage. My son gets very upset when it does not work. I can buy a Hot Wheel for $.97 that will last 20 years. I did e-mail Chicco customer service about this, I'm waiting to hear back. What a hunk of junk.