Radian?

[Aprilmom]

I have a new foster placement. She is 6 yo and weighs 50 lbs. I have a 48 lb rated Radian, is the new 65 lb weight limit retroactive? I'd rather her in a 5 pt until I see how mature she is. She told me the Case worker brought her in a carseat with straps but with her parents she rides in a booster seat (highback part is broke though)! So very rare in this field!
Thanks, Danielle

[CDNTech]

There were absolutely no changes made between the 48lbs Radian and the 65lbs Radian other than the stickers. They are the identical seat.

That said, they are not retroactive, so your seat legally only goes to 48lbs.

Some parents have made the parental decision to continue using the seat above the 48lbs limit to the 65lbs limit, but you do need to be aware that this is technically illegal and would void manufacturer's liability should something happen.

[snowbird25ca]

Ditto to what Jen said. ;)

My :twocents: is that seeing as this is a foster placement, and your legally responsible to follow laws etc, I wouldn't use the seat past 48lbs, especially seeing as she's 6yrs old & 50lbs. I think it's just too big a liability risk.

I'd be curious what seat the agency brought her in if she's 50lbs. :confused: Around here anyways, the agency's all use sceneras/tourivas. I can't imagine a 6yr old fitting in one of those - not to mention the weight limit is 40lbs...

Hopefully she'll sit well in a booster, I know kids with tumultuous childhoods often have behavior problems, but hopefully at 6yrs old that's not a problem. The only thing I could suggest if she's not mature enough for a booster would be to see if there was a way to get one with a 65lb limit.

If it was my child I likely wouldn't worry about 2lbs since I know it's the same seat, but for someone else's child that I'm temporarily responsible for I wouldn't go against the stickers on the seat.

[Aprilmom]

The case worker could have been using any seat, when I was in the office awhile back they had an infant carseat that was identical to my brothers and he is 21 years old! FD told me it was grey and black just like my daughters P&T stroller LOL.
I took her out and she did fine in my HB Turbo booster, but that was a 2 min drive each way.
I have an 86 Y coming for my 8 yo, I will feel funny since he will be more protected than her.
Are the Marathons retroactive, I have a 48 lb one. I wonder if she would fit?
Thanks so much,
Danielle

[snowbird25ca]

Nope, Marathon's aren't retroactive. :( They stopped production of the 48lb ones completely, quit shipping them and changed over to 65lb production that just started shipping the last few days of august/beginning of september.

I do know for sure that the 48lb radian's are structurally the same as the 65lb ones, so if you were going to go past stickers, I would use the Radian and not the Marathon... Britax stopping production and switching over makes me wonder if there is some small structural difference between the 48lb and 65lb seats. :confused: