LATCH and booster time

S

stu00

Guest
LATCH and booster time

Folks,

We are getting a car that has the LATCH fasteners, etc. We would like to get a LATCH based seat for this to "house" our 35lbl 5 year old (we breed tiny little guys <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"> . The question we keep running into is "what happens when we move from 5pt to booster seat w/ belts".

The LACH system really seams to anchor the seat in well and I like the idea of having the seat belt hold the child while the LATCH holds the seat (thus preventing those annoying seat based projectiles). However, all the seats we have seen seem to presume you will _stop_ using LATCH as soon as you go to booster use.

Does anyone know _why_ this is? It would seem safer to have the seat immobile, but I don't want to second guess an unknown safety feature. If there is something behind it, does anyone know a nice LATCH seat that allows the LATCH to be used in booster mode? Bonus points for ease of strap size adjustment (like the comet push and turn based one), but a pointer to one that works is best.

Thank you,

--stuart
 
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C

Caviller

Guest
Good questions!

You can read a little more about this in our page on LATCH, linked under the top banner.

The most likely reasons that manufacturers do not allow use of LATCH with a booster are that it either failed crash testing in that mode or that it was simply not tested, since federal standards do not require LATCH with belt positioning boosters.

Some Century Combination boosters did allow LATCH use as a booster when used with the optional EZ LATCH kit. Unforunately, current models that come with LATCH do not appear to allow this.

Darren
 
S

safeinthecar

Guest
Re: LATCH and booster time

The problem with useing latch (or a tether) in booster mode is that the child is not anchored to the seat. Therefore the child will move forward but the seat will stay still, leaving the child to slam back into the shell of the car seat and causing head injury. Also, with some seats using latch in booster mode can cause submarining.The Century latch conversion kit does say you can use the latch in booster mode to stabalize the seat when the child climbs in but I have not been able to get a straight answer from Century as to why this is ok with the kit but not ok with the seats thet come with latch. Until they can give me the answer "I" would not take the risk.
 

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