You know splash, I've been wanting to start a thread on sort of this very topic, just to discuss it one more time. I REALLY would like to have a discussion of all the research regarding harness vs booster for the over 5/40 set. It REALLY, REALLY concerns me that Sweden doesn't FF harness their kids. REALLY. I've tried to look backthrough olod threads, and tried to wade through webpages in poorly translated swedish about the safety of harnessing while FFing. I think this is an area where there is very little actual info, and it bothers me not to know. It bothers me not to know what to tell parents. What bothers me more is that I don't know enough to be able to make a truly informed choice for my own child. She is 45 lbs, 5.5 yo, and sits well in a booster. And the fact is..i DON'T KNOW what is the safest choice for her. If harnessing safer? Is boostering safer? Are they both fairly equal?? At what point are they fairly equal? Is boostering ever safER than harnessing? Or does harnessing stay safER, even once boostering becomes a "safe" choice?
I really believe that the school of though Pixels referred to in post 7 might truly have some merit. It frightens me that I might actually be making my child LESS safe by keeping her harnessed than she would be in a properly used booster. The mechanics involved in that school of thought about itactually beig EASIER on the neck to have 1 shoulder free seems to have SERIOUS merit from a logical perspective.
I just not sure what to believe, and I really wish there were more data. or i could read swedish.
to address the specific 4 vs 5 point question Splash asked..i actually believe there to be significant benefit. I'm going to have to disagree with my beloved Maedze here. I think that EVEN for an appropriately sized 5-6+ year old 40+ lb booster rider, the SG clip is going to provide benefit. I think even much older kids/teens and even adults submarine to some small extent in a serious enough crash. There are lots of cases of "seatbelt syndrome", usually just referred to as abdominal injuries, even in adults.
Do I think that at some point a 4-pt harness (or even 3 pt harness) is actually safER than a 5-pt at some point?? Yes, i think i probably do. I think there is actually some benefit to that "uniform movement" and not placing all that stress upon just the single neck point. In fact, if you pressed me....using the knowledge I have, to formulate a personal opinion, on what the safEST choice for a 6+ yo child was, I'd probably say the 4-pt system. Prevent abdominal injuries with the 4th point, allow crash forces to dissipate along an entire side of the body instead of just the neck point...that seems like the best choice. Now, I do also think that a standard 3-pt booster system is also probably very safe. i'm not as sure about the 5-pt harness. i do worry about the neck loads, I really do.
As far as holding..that is one HEAVY piece of thick metal. I absolutely believe it would hold in a crash, and be weight-bearing. I remember when i got to play with one (Thanks Darren!) I was very surprised at how heavy it is. The webbing is basuically harness webbing, and the metal clip itself is one single solid piece of metal...so, it's like a crotch buckle, but actually better, IMO..there are no mechanical parts to potentially "unclick" or fail in some way..it's extremely sturdy.
Realistically, I think the semantics debate is probably not horribly useful. Because either a crash is minor enough that any level of appropriate restraint is going to be enough to protect teh child, or else it's completely unsurvivable anyway. I think the number of crashes where the different between life and death is going ot be some tiny variance in safety between 3 and 4 pt harness is probably minute at best. NOW..I'm not talkign about the different between RF and FF a 1-2 yo child..I think there are probably a significant number of crashes where the difference in safety threre IS absolutely the difference between life and death/serious injury. We have lots of data. I feel the same way about the harness vs booster debate in the very young 2-3 yo set. Again, we have data. But at the extended harnessing level, when we are talking about 5-6+ year olds....I'm just not as certain how significant the difference is between the available options of 3, 4 or 5 pt harness. It's probably smallish. I just don't have enough data.