In this paper, an adaptive output feedback control strategy is presented to solve the stabilization problem of nonholonomic systems in chained form with strong nonlinear drifts and uncertain parameters using output signals only. The control law is developed using input-state scaling and backstepping techniques. The objective is to design adaptive nonlinear output feedback laws which can steer the closed-loop systems globally converge to the origin, while the estimated parameters remain bounded. An adaptive output feedback controller is proposed for a class of uncertain chained systems. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.