how old would this seat be?

elbee

New member
Thanks in advance, I don't post here a lot, but I come here all the time for information and catching up on the latest car-seat info.

A (very good) friend asked me to ride with her somewhere the other day. (I have a 3.5 year old and a 23 month old). She told me it was no big deal because my son could use her son's (he is also 3.5) Maestro, and she had an extra seat for her son. (I also installed one of our Marathons rear facing for my younger son).

Well....the "extra seat" to my dismay was a Fisher Price high back booster. It seemed very old to me, but I wanted to make sure I checked the facts here before I made an issue out of it. It was a navy blue color and had lines on it that said MIN and MAX (assiming shoulder height?).

The fit was honestly not that terrible, but his usage was awful at best. I turned around and told him to leave the belt on his shoulder multiple times.

Background info - I had to practically beg her to buy the Maestro for him when he was 2.5 because she was going to buy him a high back booster back then. So regardless of the fact that he normally rides in the Meastro, she told me she uses the HBB as a back up a lot for other kids. I want to let her know if it's expired (and I can only assume that it is).

She is a very good and dear old friend of mine (like since pre-school) so I don't want to hurt her or anything. I just want to find a way to nicely tell her that it's not safe.
 
ADS

Brigala

CPST Instructor
Depending on where you live, it may also be illegal for her to use it (or any other belt positioning booster).
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
it's very very expired... at least have her get a new hbb if you can't talk her into another combo seat (I don't pretend to know what range of ages the other kids are)
 

Brianna

New member
If you're looking to save face, you could tell her you tried finding it online because your DS might like it when he's old enough for a booster, and much to your dismay you found out not only aren't they made anymore, they're all expired!
 

elbee

New member
Oh, and the other kids she uses them for are older, I believe. They aren't her kids, so I'm not exactly sure, but maybe 6-8.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
Illinois law requires all children to be properly restrained in a child safety seat or booster seat until age eight. After age eight, Illinois law requires everyone under the age of 19 to be properly restrained anywhere in the vehicle.

So it is illegal for her to use the booster because it's expired, and therefore cannot be "properly" used. It is also illegal for her to use a booster seat with any child that doesn't meet the minimum age or size requirements of the booster, which should be clearly visible on the side of the booster. For most boosters, that is 40 lbs; for some boosters it's as little as 30 lbs.

Improper restraint of a child is a "primary" offense. So if she gets spotted by an officer who is familiar enough with car seats to notice that the booster is antiquated, she can get pulled over and ticketed even if she isn't doing anything else wrong. Some officers are CPSTs as part of their job and work at car seat events; I know the cop who taught my CPST class said he routinely pulled people over for improper use of restraints (it's a primary offense in my state also).
 

elbee

New member
So it is illegal for her to use the booster because it's expired, and therefore cannot be "properly" used. It is also illegal for her to use a booster seat with any child that doesn't meet the minimum age or size requirements of the booster, which should be clearly visible on the side of the booster. For most boosters, that is 40 lbs; for some boosters it's as little as 30 lbs.

Improper restraint of a child is a "primary" offense. So if she gets spotted by an officer who is familiar enough with car seats to notice that the booster is antiquated, she can get pulled over and ticketed even if she isn't doing anything else wrong. Some officers are CPSTs as part of their job and work at car seat events; I know the cop who taught my CPST class said he routinely pulled people over for improper use of restraints (it's a primary offense in my state also).

Thanks so much for the info. I will pass it along.

I think it would be very unlikely to find an officer where we live that knew anything about car seats. I know from personal experience (2 family members in LE) - one of them had a nautilus in the past installed with both latch and seat belt and a phone book underneath. And the other one only knows what he does because I tell him about it all the time. I don't think he has ever ticketed anyone for it.

My friend's son is over 40 pounds, as my son is 40 pounds and he is bigger than my son. That is the main reason she was trying to buy him a booster a year ago - she looked up and down the isle at Target until she found a booster that said 30 pounds on the box....sigh.
 

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