WWYD Boulevard affected by recall/lockoffs

Hi everyone, I'm a mostly-lurker looking for advice.

I have one of the Boulevards affected by the tether recall. I tried to have the seat replaced when I first heard about it, and Britax said no. I know that lately they have changed their stance and are sending out replacement Boulevards to people who call.

I am not sure if I should get a replacement Boulevard or not because I have the old style FF lockoffs as opposed to the new ones Britax apparently now uses which cause severe stress on the seatbelts. Would you keep this seat for the old lockoffs or get a new seat, even though it has crappy lockoffs?

Part of me feels that since my tether is unusable after 50 pounds, and I can use the lower LATCH anchors up to 48 pounds in my car, that the foward facing lockoffs on my current Britax are pretty useless to me anyway. Maybe I should go for the newer model with the crappy lockoffs so at least I have the tethering-to-65-pounds option?

On the other hand, my daughter is almost 2, is tall for her age, and weighs only 23.5 pounds. I imagine she'll be rearfacing for quite some time and will outgrow the BLVD by height long before she even nears 50 pounds when she finally is FF. Plus, I am due in September with baby #2, so I could get another seat for DD and use this Boulevard rearfacing-only for quite some time (although what if kid #2 is heavier and shorter and I wished I had the option to use the tether past 50 pounds?).

I swear I am trying not to let the fact that Britax lets you keep the old cover (meaning I would have a spare cover for free) influence my decision, hee.

So that's the situation. Any advice?

I'd keep it in the box in my living room for several months and do nothing.

Oh, wait. This is what WOULD you do, not what DID you do.

I'm still torn. I, too, have one sitting in my living room, in a box, never even touched, that has the old lockoffs and the 50 pound tether. I don't know how I even got this seat, Britax just sent it to me one day as a gift. And I was going to keep THIS one, because I know almost beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will outgrow it by height before weight... but what *if* he doesn't? And see, I NEED that lockoff. I get a way way way better install with it than without (and I want him in the middle when FF, which is seatbelt only. He's RF outboard with lower anchors right now). But the new lockoffs are just so infinitely horrible....

MOST cars don't need them. Try installing it in your vehicle without the lockoff. It's rare to find a car that really NEEDS them. I don't even *need* them, but I get a much more secure install with them than without. If you can get a good install with the belt without the lockoff, get the new seat. If not, keep the old seat.

Splash said:

MOST cars don't need them. Try installing it in your vehicle without the lockoff. It's rare to find a car that really NEEDS them. I don't even *need* them, but I get a much more secure install with them than without. If you can get a good install with the belt without the lockoff, get the new seat. If not, keep the old seat.

Click to expand...

Thank you - I didn't even think to try it out by installing it FF in my car! I guess since I have it in there RF for my daughter it never occured to me to play around with it; I was trying to think this out on a hypothetical level (can I blame the pregnancy hormones?). Thank you so much for your advice!