How is your Regent Tethered?

How is your regent tethered?

  • My Regent is tethered to an anchor and is within the anchor limits.

    Votes: 31 63.3%
  • My Regent is tethered to an anchor, but my child is tech. above the limit.

    Votes: 14 28.6%
  • My Regent is tethered to a seatbelt in a rear row.

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • My Regent is tethered to another point (please speicify)

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • My Regent is currently untethered (child below 50lb?)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 4.1%

  • Total voters
    49

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Has anybody heard how high the harness slots go on the new recaro?

No, but I'm dying to learn more about that seat!!! :D :p

RubysGirl, I really do think the conversation was very interesting & cheers for inspiring the thought sparks ;)
(I do wish Britax could at least make the Regent stay upright when set on the ground, LOL)
 
ADS

twokidstwodogs

New member
. Only because I don't have tether anchors and Mazda wants over $200 to install one.

That is terrible! What is Mazda thinking? There has got to be a huge profit margin built into that. If so, I can't believe that they are putting profits ahead of child safety. I hope you've called corporate and complained.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
I am intending to get a car that doesn't have tether limits (an Hyundai or a Nissan).

This is interesting! Did they actually say that there are no tether limits, or is this assumed since they're not listed in the LATCH manual? Unless stated specifically by the manufacturer, I would assume a 40-lb LATCH limit... But we looked long and hard at the Nissan Quest and may give this a second look down the road (if we ever get a minivan) if there really is no limit to their LATCH system. Somehow, I'm kinda skeptical of that, though... :rolleyes: Anyone know about this?

Maria
 

Synchro246

New member
This link says that the manufacturer defalts to the carseat manufacturer
http://www.saferidenews.com/pdfs/LATCHApp_B_pg105.pdf

So technically I don't think it's that they have "no limits", but they are comfortable that their tether anchors can handle the seats as they are manufactured.
For me it's more that I get to use the seat and the car without violating any instructions and therefore liability isn't transferred to me if the tether fails.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
Oh, I see... Well, in some of the manuals (Britax maybe?), I think it says not to use the LATCH past 48 pounds, unless the car manufacturer says it's okay. I would take this to mean that for some car manufacturers (i.e., Ford, Subaru, etc), they have higher LATCH limits (60 lbs or 80lbs) rather than the standard 40lbs/48lbs. Using the top tether is one thing, but I'm not sure I'd want to use the lower anchors past the industry standard of 40lbs unless I knew that it had been tested/engineered to that limit. I don't care whose liability is at stake - with my child I'd want to be sure... ;)
 

Synchro246

New member
Oh, I see... Well, in some of the manuals (Britax maybe?), I think it says not to use the LATCH past 48 pounds, unless the car manufacturer says it's okay. I would take this to mean that for some car manufacturers (i.e., Ford, Subaru, etc), they have higher LATCH limits (60 lbs or 80lbs) rather than the standard 40lbs/48lbs. Using the top tether is one thing, but I'm not sure I'd want to use the lower anchors past the industry standard of 40lbs unless I knew that it had been tested/engineered to that limit. I don't care whose liability is at stake - with my child I'd want to be sure... ;)

Yeah, I'm counting the lower latch as different for this. Upper tether is what is important to me. I wouldn't hazzard using the lower anchors just because no one said not to. I want to be able to use the upper tether when it's needed without having to "break rules"
 

jen_nah

CPST Instructor
Okay, I don't own one, and probably never will. My standpoint as a mother with a rearfacing 23 month old is that the regent/husky is quickly becoming an outdated seat.

Why do I say that? Well first off the seat requires a tether past 50lbs, and always when used with a lapbelt. There are other seats on the market that don't, including other britax seats, the radians, and the safeguards. That alone suggests to me that it may not perform as well for a child who still fits into one of the smaller HWH seats. The other thing is that we've seen an explosion of HWH harness seats in the last couple years, and with the leaks of info on that new recaro seat, it's not stopping anytime soon.

From what I can tell, my tethers work to 60lbs with a seat, and 80 with a vest or harness. I'm not comfortable relying on them past that. Would I tether a product past those limits? Yes, it can only help. Would I use a product that must be tethered past those limits? Nope. At this point I sincerly believe that there are better products available. Of course, if at this momment I had a van with an available belt to tether to, or a special tether installed, and a child that didnt' fit in anyother harness, I'd use a regent in a heartbeat. At this point I'm just going to sit and wait, by the time my son needs something more than his MA, I'm certain better things will be available.

The superelite/husky/regent was really a great seat when it came out, giving parents options that didn't previously exist, but at this point I don't think that it can really compete with the other hwh seats on the market untill a child no longer fits in them for whatever reason(height or weight). I truly think it's time Britax went back to the drawing board and developed a new seat to replace the regent.

Oh, and I want to clarify that I still think it's a good seat, and wonderful for children, budgets, or cars that don't fit anything else, I just really think it's time that Britax either improved it or replaced it. I really, honestly, think they can do better.

I hope that makes sense.


We all hope in the future there will be even more higher weight limit seats (beyond 65lbs) but right now the reality is there isn't. I personally don't think the Regent is an outdated seat or one that will be out of date anytime soon. I think what we will see soon is our LATCH & Tether limits upping. At the time the top tether limits were set remember HWH seats were not there (except the Elite). So, They only did their testing at 40-48lbs. Now since top tether went into effect in 9/99 and we didn't start seeing HWH like the Marathon in '02. It's kinda hard to set higher weight limits on top tether when there are not HWH on the market at the time the law was put into place.

Car manufactures are not going to go up their LATCH weight limits unless NHTSA forces them too. I hope they do trust me I truly want that. But, Right now I think NHTSA biggest concern is getting LATCH more user friendly and actually getting parents to use carseat correctly heck even use them at all.

Do I think a top tether would break in an an event of a crash past it's limit. I think the chances are slim and even if it did it would have already done it's job.

You can't compare a Radian, Marathon, Boulevard, etc... to a Regent. First the Regent harnesses to 80lbs (15 more pounds then the others). Has top harness slots 2+" taller then any of them. That is 2" of torso growth or at least 2 more years in a 5pt harness. We will see what Recaro brings out but right now its just rumors until it's truly annouced and on the market.

While I do think the SafeGuard is very much comparable to the Regent but the price tag is out of reach to most families. So, It's hard to say they are in the same class when you can buy 2 Regents for the price of 1 Safe Guard seat.

My point in all of this is a Regent is not an obsolete car seat and I don't see if ever being so in the near future.
 

lynsgirl

New member
Okay, I don't own one, and probably never will. My standpoint as a mother with a rearfacing 23 month old is that the regent/husky is quickly becoming an outdated seat.

Why do I say that? Well first off the seat requires a tether past 50lbs, and always when used with a lapbelt. There are other seats on the market that don't, including other britax seats, the radians, and the safeguards. That alone suggests to me that it may not perform as well for a child who still fits into one of the smaller HWH seats. The other thing is that we've seen an explosion of HWH harness seats in the last couple years, and with the leaks of info on that new recaro seat, it's not stopping anytime soon.

From what I can tell, my tethers work to 60lbs with a seat, and 80 with a vest or harness. I'm not comfortable relying on them past that. Would I tether a product past those limits? Yes, it can only help. Would I use a product that must be tethered past those limits? Nope. At this point I sincerly believe that there are better products available. Of course, if at this momment I had a van with an available belt to tether to, or a special tether installed, and a child that didnt' fit in anyother harness, I'd use a regent in a heartbeat. At this point I'm just going to sit and wait, by the time my son needs something more than his MA, I'm certain better things will be available.

The superelite/husky/regent was really a great seat when it came out, giving parents options that didn't previously exist, but at this point I don't think that it can really compete with the other hwh seats on the market untill a child no longer fits in them for whatever reason(height or weight). I truly think it's time Britax went back to the drawing board and developed a new seat to replace the regent.

Oh, and I want to clarify that I still think it's a good seat, and wonderful for children, budgets, or cars that don't fit anything else, I just really think it's time that Britax either improved it or replaced it. I really, honestly, think they can do better.

I hope that makes sense.

Interesting viewpoint and one I hadn't thought of. However, as the mom of a 10 yo and 8 yo who currently still fit (and use as their primary seats) a Husky and a Regent, respectively, I can tell you that for them, there are *not* other harnessed options I am comfortable with. Ds1 certainly hasn't fit in the MA (or clones) for several years and dd stopped fitting in the MA sometime last year. AFAIK, my van (05 Sienna) does not have tether anchor weight limits, and even if it did, I would still tether. My ds1 is 61 lbs and I have to measure him, but he has somewhere between 1/2" to 1 inch of torso growth left in the Husky. My dd is 8 and 50-51 lbs (again, have to measure her, though) and she just moved up to the top slots.

Maybe Britax can do better. I don't know. Maybe it's not worth the expense to them right now to invest in design, development, testing, marketing, etc, when they have a seat that works, kwim? They've led the market in HWH seats in the first place, and stepped up with SIP before most others. They've worked on integrating that into boosters before most other manuf., as well. I believe the PW was one of the first (if not the first) that does not have a set top weight limit. That's a lot of "new" stuff in the last few years, so while I have various issues with them on a variety of things, I can say that I am very satisfied with the Husky/Regent. It definitely serves my needs very well right now.

Yes, the future can bring new and hopefully, better, things. Will my 5yo be in something different when he outgrows his MA? I don't know. The baby? For sure, I don't know! lol I don't necessarily have brand loyalty unto death or anything, but I know all 3 of my older kids would not be harnessed right now (well, maybe the 5yo in something else, since there is more available now) and certainly the 5yo would not have RFed as long as he did w/out the MA.
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/Nikolas.aspx (too tall for his Touriva RF around 32 lbs or so). Now I've rambled and I'm sorry! I'm just saying all of this to hopefully make the point that for those with much younger children, there *are* a lot of other options that we didn't used to have, which might be why there are so many people who still praise Britax, even in the midst of various problems.

Amy :)
CPST and Mom to 4 great kids, all in seats
(Ds1 - 10 - 61 lbs - Husky; Dd - 8 - 51 lbs - Regent; Ds2 - 5.5 - 40.5 lbs - Marathon; Ds3 - 3.5mos - 17 lbs - Companion, new MA arriving TODAY!)
 

Amaris

New member
Lena, the tether is part of the latch system. The T=tethers. If the latch system is rated to 48# then that includes the latch brackets on the seats and the tether anchors.
 

scatterbunny

New member
Lena, the tether is part of the latch system. The T=tethers. If the latch system is rated to 48# then that includes the latch brackets on the seats and the tether anchors.

Yes, technically it does. But most who post here agree that the benefits of tethering a higher weight limit seat (and the requirement of tethering the Regent after 50 pounds) outweigh the risks of the tether anchor possibly failing in a crash. I believe it's best to keep using a top tether at any weight.

http://www.saferidenews.com/html/LATCH_P8.htm
http://www.saferidenews.com/html/LATCH_P49.htm
 

RubysGirl

New member
Assuming your child fits in another hwh seat, if the tether were to fail, would you rather have them in a regent that does not pass the 32" test without a tether, or one of the other seats that does?

I'd rather have my child in another seat.

Now lets say my child does not fit and all I have is lapbelts, I'd use a regent tethered. If I had a child that could not use a booster, I'd use a regent.

I just think that the other hwh seats are potentially safer for the kids who still fit in them vs a regent that is tethered past the limits of the tether.

Does that make sense?
 

scatterbunny

New member
The argument makes sense, but I don't agree. :)

All of the other hwh seats have a top tether, and that top tether, if you follow the rules of the LATCH limits, must be discontinued at 40 or 48 pounds. And they are outgrown much sooner. For us, it didn't make sense. For a smaller kid, sure, maybe so.

IF IF IF a tether is to fail, it will have already done so AFTER the brunt of the crash is over, AFTER it has done the job of reducing head excursion.
 

mak101376

Member
Y'know, I really think the only reason the tether limit for most vehicles is 40 or 48 lbs is because that is the max limit for most harnessed seats in the US and Canada. I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the things holding up increasing the weight limits in Canada, because they're required to be top tethered there, correct? The tethers can probably handle much more that that, but why bother testing above minimum requirements.:rolleyes: I'd rather have my daughter in a Regent tethered past the weight limit them in a booster using the adult seatbelt. I am confident she is safer that way. The Regent is by no means an outdated seat, is is actually ahead of it's time. It's time for the vehicle manufacturers to catch up!
 

Amaris

New member
Yes, technically it does. But most who post here agree that the benefits of tethering a higher weight limit seat (and the requirement of tethering the Regent after 50 pounds) outweigh the risks of the tether anchor possibly failing in a crash. I believe it's best to keep using a top tether at any weight.

http://www.saferidenews.com/html/LATCH_P8.htm
http://www.saferidenews.com/html/LATCH_P49.htm


I absoutely agree....and my regent is tethered in my 03 odyssey and will be until we no longer use it. DH and I did a lot of research before buying the regent simply because of it's tether requirements. We also came to the conclusion that if the tether failed it would have performed it's job first. I just wanted to point out to the pp that the tether is included in the latch weight limit.
 

j4m4d8

New member
Assuming your child fits in another hwh seat, if the tether were to fail, would you rather have them in a regent that does not pass the 32" test without a tether, or one of the other seats that does?

Very few children over 50 pounds will fit in another high weight seat. Despite their maximum weight ratings, most kids will outgrow them by height long before they reach the maximum weight. There was a lot of discussion about the Boulevard recall, but I'd love to see a 50 pound child actually fit in the Boulevard. At CPSafety's photo gallery, the heaviest child in one of the Britax convertibles is 45 pounds. All the children over 50 pounds are in the Super Elite/Husky/Regent or in a SafeGuard.

Many previous posters have already made this point, I'm just repeating it. The real question we face is "Would I rather have my child harnessed in a Regent (requiring a tether) tethered over the tether limit or riding in a booster?"

Well first off the seat requires a tether past 50lbs, and always when used with a lapbelt.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this or not, but the Regent doesn't require a tether when used with a lap belt. All car seats have to pass federal testing when installed with a lap belt without the tether. The Regent does require the recline bar to be used in this situation. Of course if the child is over 50 pounds the tether is required.

Interestingly, seats only have to pass the head excursion and other specific federal testing requirements with a 48 pound dummy. (The new Hybrid III 6 year old dummy is 51.6 pounds but it doesn't have to be used for over a year yet.) The weighted dummy is used only to measure structural integrity. Thus you are taking the manufacturer's word for it that a seat will perform adequately over that 48 (or 51.6) pound weight limit.

There are still a lot of questions in my mind about the benefits of higher weight harnessing in this age group. (75% of children won't be 50 pounds until they are at least 6. Over 90% will be at least 5.) Certainly everyone agrees if a child cannot sit properly in a booster then it is safer to have them harnessed. The Regent remains the only moderately priced, dependable seat in this niche. The Apex is too variable--you never know if it will have higher slots or not, plus there are the head support issues. The SafeGuard is a great deal more expensive. So most of us appreciate Britax keeping this seat available.

Julie D.
 

Lena

New member
Lena, the tether is part of the latch system. The T=tethers. If the latch system is rated to 48# then that includes the latch brackets on the seats and the tether anchors.

I wish I would have kept the letter from Saturn. I quoted directly from it.
 

wondering1

New member
Does anyone know more about heavy duty anchor points? I remember reading something about this. I think it requires a more extensive mod to the vehicle.

I'm glad to see that Toyota defers to the limit of the seat rather.
 

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