Customer Reviews

Sunshine Kids Mighty Tite

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(73)

 

 

As a child-passenger safety technician, I cringe whenever I see a product that helps parents circumvent proper seat installation! If a seat is installed properly, using the correct technique, this item is not necessary. Most instructions tell you to "put your knee" into the seat & show a picture of an adult standing in front of the seat with their knee in it. WRONG! Put your WHOLE BODY WEIGHT into the seat! The 40 lb. weight limit is not for the plastic shell's weight capacity, it is for the shell's capacity for the straps to not break through the plastic upon impact with a 40# child in it. I'm almost 200# in full police gear & haven't stressed a seat yet! Also, please DO NOT use a rolled up towel to obtain the 45 degree angle for rear-facing seats. When needed, Techs will use a section of foam "pool noodles," (sometimes 2-3 taped together with strapping tape). This provides a more solid spacer. Even these are not usually necessary & the seat can be held in place with proper placement and tension, but parents usually "feel" better with the spacers. (It's a psych thing) If a tech does their job right, YOU will be able to install the seat in almost any vehicle. YOU should ALWAYS be the last one to put the seat in at a seat check, not the Tech. Not only to mitigate liability for the tech, but to demonstrate to the tech that he/she has done their job right and you can at least install the seat properly in the vehicle you brought with the seat! To check for tightness, grab the seat at the area of the vehicle belt path and try to move it. If it does not shift/slide sideways or pull away from the vehicle seat (1" max limit, but I prefer a "zero tolerance" approach), it's tight. For leather (and some slippery fabrics), a piece of rubber shelf liner between the car seat & vehicle seat, will take out the slip. Another tip: if using a locking clip, it must be within about an inch of the latch plate (buckle) and NOT on the opposite side of the seat! If you've tried your best & still can't get a good fit, PLEASE contact a technician in your area & have it checked! There are very few "true" incompatabilities between car seats & vehicles, but there are some. Even a good tech can spend up to an hour before being able to get a proper installation in some instances! Good luck, happy parenting & stay safe!

This device cut the seatbelt completely off in a auto accident. T-boned at about 25mph and it ripped seatbelt causing the carseat to be thrown. Thankfully no major injuries. This device will damage your seatbelt.

We bought this for safety, and then had to have it removed by the fire department, after calling the customer service department for the product who could not help and said I was the first call about this. We couldnt get it off and was told by the fire department who installs car safety seat that this was not a good product and they have removed several of these.

As a nationally certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST), I have completed the standardized course consists of 32 hours of classroom & hands-on training, numerous skills assessments & written test to obtain certification. I also keep up-to-date with the most current safety information available. CPST's are recertified every 2 years with a refresher and a skills assessment by a team of instructors. The majority of CPST's are community volunteers. While some are safety professionals, often the majority of the CPS portion of their job is outside of work hours.

This product is not recommended for several reasons.
**It is an aftermarket product!** A 2002 CRS (child restraint system) misuse survey states "Other CRS misuse problem areas were also observed. They included ... presence of aftermarket devices."
**Seatbelts are designed to have some "give" to the webbing. This helps with the ride down of crash forces which reduces injuries in a crash.
**Use of this device WILL damage seatbelts. Call your vehicle manufacturer and ask them if they recommend using this product. The answer will almost definitely be NO.
**It most likely will not withstand crash forces and WILL become a projectile which could injure the child or other occupants.

For more information on this and other Child Passenger Safety topics, visit the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration's website at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov

-----Please note that not all firefighters, police officers, doctors, nurses, or EMTS are certified in Child Passenger Safety! Ask if the person is currently certified when seeking advice!-----

This goes against the manufacturers instructions for both the child safety seat and the automobile. This product is unnnecessary and can actually cause damage. Overtightening a seatbelt can damage your childs safety seat and it can also cut the automobile seatbelt. Both of those things can cause severe injury or death to your child. I am a certified car seat technician and I would never, ever, buy this product.

I think this is a very user-friendly product that when installed properly (just like child safety seats) will only enhance the safety of your child in the car. I have gone to the NHTSA website and looked up the Mighty-Tite testing results, after reading several of the bad reviews of this product.

In the end, I would weigh what is most important to you. I have seen accidents in which the carseat was not tightened properly and the child either sustained severe injury or death. However, I do not like the idea of having a problem with the seatbelt durability due to overuse of the Mighty-Tite and possibly voiding any responsibility of the child safety seat or the car manufacturer.

Here is what the NHTSA has to say about this product:

The Effects of Seat Belt Tightness on Child Restraint Systems

As a result of investigation and research into the issue of vehicle seat belt tightness and the potential effect of excessive tightness on a child restraint system(CRS), the following salient points are relevant to this issue:

* In general, CRS design and construction takes into account the tension forces generated on the seat belt during both the manufacturer's recommended CRS installation process and the dynamic crash test.
* Dynamic crash test forces far exceed those placed upon the CRS during recommended installation(by as much as 8 or 10 times), and therefore these extreme forces are generally relied upon to determine design and engineering specifications for the maximum required performance of the CRS.
* During the CRS installation process, typically vehicle seats themselves are initially compressed as the seat belt tension on the CRS increases.
* Empirical testing has shown that with excessive tightening of up to 100 lbs. of seat belt tension force, vehicle seats typically deform and/or are permanently damaged prior to any damage occurring to the CRS itself.
* Even after excessive tightening of the seat belt up to 100 lbs., vehicle seats immediately begin to "relax" into a position that then relieves the seat belt tension over a short period of time, significantly reducing the overall tension force on the CRS to below 40 lbs.
* Complaints and returns of CRS units for structural damage as a result of excessive seat belt tightening are virtually non-existent.

Implications for the Mighty-Tite Seat Belt Tightener

* When the Mighty-Tite is used properly, the tension force applied to the seat belt is comparable to the force on the CRS when it is installed according to the manufacturer's recommendations without the use of the device.
* Even if excessive force is exerted through the use of the Mighty-Tite during CRS installation, due to the dynamics of the vehicle seat and the actual resultant force on the seat belt, there is no indication that CRS performance will be degraded.

We had gotten this seat belt tighter for both our cars - a Subaru Outback and an Audi A4. For the Subaru, the Mighty-Tite was too bulky to work well - it was pushed up against the car seat and it was difficult to tighten completely. It fit well on the Audi, but when we got our car seat installation inspected, the police office checking our seat said that she did not recommend this product. She has actually had one break while installing it! Since it is not made by the car manufacturer and not made by the car seat company, you should be wary of being lulled into a false sense of security just because you have this product.

I am a certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor for over 10 years. These are NOT safety tested and can void all warranties for the automobile and carseat. You auto insurance may also claim that you used an unapproved product. The government has strict standards for carseats to pass crash tests FMVSS 213. If the product does not have that stated on the product then it can be more of a danger. If you can not install a carseat with less than 1" of movement, you may need to move it to another seating position, get another seat or contact a Certified Child Safety technician in your area. (NHTSA, Highway Patrol, Police, Fire Dept, Health Dept,) Keep them seated and buckled.

I'm expecting my second child in 2 days. I bought this item last week because I have a 2001 Saturn and all the seatbelts are the shoulder harness type. I never used an infant car seat with that type of belt before and couldn't seem to get it in tight enough. It worked well if used on the left or right, but due to the compact nature of my car, the driver or passenger would be squished against the dash when the baby was in the car seat. Therefore, it needed to be installed in the center position, which was fine for me because that's where I wanted it to begin with, but the Mighty Tite didn't work there. There is not
enough room under a rear-facing infant carseat base to install it. It says it should be installed 1 inch above the seat, but that's not possible.
AFter about an hour and a half of trying to get it installed, I sucked up the metal piece of the seat belt into the device and wasn't able to get it out. I ended up having to go to the dealership, thinking I'd need a totally new seat belt, to get the thing removed. They got it off, but suggested it shouldn't be used on the center seat belt.
I have a booster seat for my 4-year-old that it works perfectly on because the hole you thread the seatbelt through is already about 5 inches above the seat. When installed properly, this device really does reel in the slack and keep the seat nice and tight. I don't feel they should advertised that it's to be used on infant seats in any car. Even the instruction booklet only shows it installed on a booster seat.

I have been trained in car seat checks. I strongly do not recommend this product. It gives you a false sense of tightness. It stretches the seat belt and could malfunction in a car crash. Safety belts loose some of their strength after being stretched. The safety restraint coalition advises against most after market product add-ons. Your child is less safe with this product. Put it in the proper place- in the trash.