I meant released on the britax site july 1 - but it looks like they are just releasing info on them? this is the copy/paste:
NEW BRITAX CAR SEAT LINE OFFERS 360 DEGREE PROTECTION AND REVOLUTIONARY HEAD
SAFETY TECHNOLOGY
— New technology on convertible car seat range addresses no. 1 cause of death
for children in vehicle crashes —
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 28, 2010 — Britax today announced a full redesign and
relaunch of its line of best-selling convertible car seats. The new line offers
Superior 360 Degree Protection with Revolutionary Head Safety Technology that
dramatically reduces the risk of head injury and provides complete protection
from all sides in the event of a vehicle crash.
Head safety is critical because even tiny increases in head excursion — the
distance the head travels forward during the crash — can exponentially increase
the risk of head injury. Head injury is the leading cause of death for children
up to 12 years old involved vehicle crashes and comprises 65 percent of injuries
in both frontal and side impact crashes, according to Child Injury Led Design
and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. With this in mind, Britax designed its
new line to help prevent real world injury for children and make it that much
easier for parents and caregivers to use their children's car seats correctly
each and every time.
Unprecedented Head Safety
Britax Revolutionary Head Safety Technology incorporates features that lower the
child's center of gravity, strengthen the child seat and manage crash energy.
Together, they reduce head excursion and offer the most advanced protection to
children. These include:
A re-engineered lower center of gravity that allows the child to sit lower and
creates stability in the event of a crash.
Integrated steel bars that strengthen the connection to the vehicle and reduce
forward flexing of the child seat during a crash.
Patent-pending Britax SafeCell™ Technology with SafeCells that are designed to
compress in a crash. This significantly lowers the center of gravity and
counteracts the forward rotation of the child seat, which normally propels the
child toward the front seat.
Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether® with a two-point attachment and staged-release
tether webbing to anchor the top of the car seat. This minimizes
forward-rotation and reduces crash forces reaching the child.
Enhanced side impact protection, extended weight capacities
Britax designed its new line to improve upon its Side Impact Protection (SIP)
and True Side Impact Protection® (TSIP). The car seats feature deeper side walls
lined with energy-absorbing EPP foam that distribute crash forces, shield from
vehicle intrusion, and contain the head, neck and body. Britax TSIP car seats
also offer a head restraint that creates an extra layer of energy-absorbing EPP
foam, keeping the head, neck and spine "in true" or aligned. This protection is
imperative, as approximately one in four of all motor vehicle crashes that
involve children occur from the side, and these result in a significantly higher
injury rate than frontal or rear impacts, according to the Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia.
In addition to enhanced side impact protection, the new line offers higher
weight capacities to keep children rear facing longer and to allow for extended
use of a five-point harness. The convertible car seats can accommodate children
from between 5 and 40 pounds rear facing and up to 70 pounds forward facing, and
the mid-capacity convertible allows children to sit forward facing up to 55
pounds. The new seats offer a harness position that helps position the harness
at or below baby's shoulder, and an infant insert is available separately to
properly position the infant and protect the airway.
Installation and Ease of Use Features
The new convertibles also include features that make them easier to install and
use properly and consistently.
Non-handed premium LATCH connectors allow the seats to easily transition from
rear to forward facing, while an easy access cover and access to belt paths from
the front of the seat reduce the time needed for installation. Built-in
lock-offs ensure a tight lap and shoulder seat belt installation with minimal
effort.
Ease-of-use features include: a quick-adjust head restraint, a no-rethread
harness (available on all convertibles except for the line's mid-capacity
convertible), buckle adjustments and multiple recline adjustments.
The revamped line includes the Roundabout 55 (SRP: $199.99), Marathon 70 (SRP:
$279.99), Boulevard 70 (SRP: $309.99), Boulevard 70 CS (SRP: $329.99) and
Advocate 70 CS (SRP: $369.99). They will be available in a variety of fashions
at independent and mass retailers in August 2010.
Additional information including product pages, video clips and user guides will
be available on
www.BritaxUSA.com starting July 1, 2010.