booster seat

Hello! I could really some advice. My son is 46 pounds and 46.5 inches tall. He will be 7 in November. He is currently in a triumph advance but is nearing the weight/height limits and the seat expires at the end of the year. We have delayed getting him into a booster because of our concerns. We are very safety conscious and would really like to have him in a 5 point harness. Is a booster seat with a seatbelt as safe as a 5 point harness? I know that there are other 5 point harness seats with higher weight limits, but not sure what route to go. I've read that when a child can sit still, he is ready for a booster seat. I know my son wouldn't "get out" of a booster while I'm driving, but I know he rarely sits still in his car seat. Is it true that there are weight limits on using the LATCH system? He is our only child and his booster seat will be in the middle of my 2006 Pontiac Torrent. We are looking at the Evenflo Big Kid Lx booster, but it doesn't have the LATCH system. So, would the seat just be loose in the car until he is safety belted in? We also are looking at the Graco affix, Evenflo big kid or Evenflo secure kid. The Evenflo secure kid will harness to 65 pounds, 50 inches. Any recommendations? We would greatly appreciate any feedback! Thanks so much!

Welcome to car-seat.org!

Given that he's never ridden in a booster before and doesn't sit still in his current car seat, I would probably look for a combination seat, so that you have the option to harness. At his size and age, he would be fine in a belt positioning booster, but only if he can sit in it properly. A combination seat would allow you to start booster training him but switch back to the harness if he wasn't ready or for long trips, etc.

Oops, accidentally posted before I was done.

Yes, there are weight limits for lower anchors. The combined weight of the car seat and the child should not exceed 65 pounds if you're using LATCH. If they're heavier, you should install with the seat belt instead, but continue using the top tether. For a booster that can be used with LATCH, there is no limit.

However, if you're putting him in the middle with no lower anchors, you can't use LATCH with the car seat anyway. With a booster, you would have to buckle it in when you drive without him.

The SecureKid is frequently recommended around here. There's also a new Graco Tranzitions coming out next month that looks pretty nice at a similar price point.

Thanks so much for your help! I've been researching booster seats for months and was overwhelmed. We do have lower anchors in the middle seat of my Pontiac Torrent : ) Yay!With the Evenflo SecureKid we could harness him until he is about 53 pounds since the car seat is suppose to weigh 12 pounds. I feel pretty good about choosing this booster seat. I'd like to harness him as long as possible without spending a fortune. I really appreciate your feedback!

Since he hasn't entirely outgrown his seat yet and it hasn't expired yet, you could think about the following idea. If you think he might be OK in a booster (with some instruction), you could get a high-back booster (like the Evenflo Big Kid, Graco Affix, Chicco KidFit) now. Talk to him about the rules of booster riding: have to stay in place at all times, no bending/leaning/reaching, no messing with the seat belt. If he sleeps in the car, coach him to look up when he's feeling sleepy, which will help him stay in place.

Have both his existing seat in the car and the new booster. Tell him that if he has a hard time with staying in place in his booster, he'll have to ride in his old seat.

If he does well with his first couple of rides in the booster, great! When you're satisfied that he's a good booster rider, uninstall the Triumph. If he's not able to keep it together in the booster, return the booster and get a combination seat like the SecureKid or Graco Tranzitions or Harmony Defender.

We don't have any evidence that harnesses are safer than boosters for kids of an appropriate size (which yours is), *as long as they have the behavioral maturity to stay in place.*

Regarding LATCH, does your car have 3 full sets of lower anchors (6 anchors total) in the back? If so, you're good to use lower anchors to install a harnessed carseat in any position, up to the LATCH weight limit of 65 lbs child + seat.

If your car doesn't have dedicated lower anchors in the center, you would have to do something called "LATCH borrowing" to install a carseat with lower anchors in the center. That's when you use the inner anchor from each of the sides to install in the center. LATCH borrowing is only allowed when both the car manufacturer and the carseat manufacturer explicitly permit it. So in most cars, with most carseats, you need to install with the seatbelt in the center, or if you want to use lower anchors, install in one of the side seats.

Regarding boosters with LATCH: it's to keep an unoccupied booster from becoming a projectile in a crash. Boosters without LATCH need to be buckled in when they're unoccupied. As lgenne mentioned, there is no weight limit for using LATCH in this application since the seatbelt is holding the weight of the child. I don't think any of the boosters with LATCH allow LATCH borrowing (but I could be wrong). Chicco has said that the KidFit needs to be buckled in when unoccupied anyway, even though it has LATCH.

Ah, that's weird, it hadn't shown me your response after lgenne's before I posted. That's cool if you have a dedicated set of LATCH for the center!

Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it!