untethered harnessed seat vs expired start with shield untethered?

fyrfightermomma

New member
So Sophia is untethered in a GN in our car. She is staying in that position. It's just the way it is. It will be that way until Spring when E is boostered and she can take that spot and Sophia can have a tether. There is no seat infront of Sophia and nothing to strike in a collision. And I feel good about the head excursion #s of the GN.

But I've been eyeing up my Recaro Start in the basement and wondering about it. Wondering if it would be better or "safer" which I know no one knows.


So a properly used untethered Graco Nautilus in a lap shoulder belt? Or an untethered (I think someone said it's not required) 2003 Start with Shield? Some people say it's a 6 year expiration. Some say 10. Some say never. It's Nov 2003.


Or does it not really matter? Probably the same safety wise?


ETA: She lost a little weight after being sick and is about 37 lbs now.
 
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andre149

New member
Iirc didn't the GN perform really well in head excursion untethered? I would go with that before I'd use a potentially expired seat :twocents:
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
I thought the Start required the use of a tether because of the weight of it.


I'd go Nautilus.



See that's what I thought too. But then I had a thread and somehow the Start with shield came up and I said how I can't use it because there is no top tether and someone said it wasn't required. But I thought it was! My Start didn't come with a manual either :eek:
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
My Start manual just says to use the tether if a tether anchor is available. I asked Diann and she confirmed it is not mandatory.

However, that was for a Start used as a BPB. Rules for using the sheild might be different.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I would feel really uncomfortable using the Start without the top tether. It's a very, very heavy booster and the tether was important enough when the Start was first made that it used to come with a tether anchor kit to install in your vehicle.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
I would feel really uncomfortable using the Start without the top tether. It's a very, very heavy booster and the tether was important enough when the Start was first made that it used to come with a tether anchor kit to install in your vehicle.

The original Start was quite a bit heavier than mine though.

My Start weighs 25#

For comparison,
Frontier 80=26#
Frontier 85=23.8#
Monterrey=20#
Prosport=28#
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
The original Start was quite a bit heavier than mine though.

Yeah, but it's still more top-heavy than most other boosters (though I thought the Cybex was pretty top-heavy when I saw it). It also folds, unlike the other boosters, and it doesn't lock in the upright position.

I dunno, I wouldn't freak if anyone else used it without the tether as long as their manual allowed it, but I personally wouldn't.
 

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