HEy Hollo....I would contact Britax as suggested. They will replace the belt free of charge. Especially since its only 3 years old. They replaced mine and I didnt have a reciept for it, they just look at the manufacture date. As for the maxi rider....I just put dd1 in it and shes 2 years 3 months. It doesnt recline much and when she falls asleep her head drops forwards. We never had that problem in her old seat (safe n sound compaq). I couldnt imagine Rebecca in it, shes 8 months and 9kgs. I still havent changed her to forward facing yet and could imagine that she wouldnt be too comfy in it coz shes so little. HTH