Question How close to the weight limit do you go?

Ninetales

New member
Elsa is getting close to the weight limit on her Myride. She's kind of wavering between 36 and 38.5 lbs. This is fully clothed, with shoes and a diaper.

When she outgrows it I have to turn her. Our financial situation has only gotten worse and another seat is absolutely out of the question. She is currently almost 2 yrs and 4 mos.

I want her to RF as long as she can, but I don't want to take unnecessary risks re: the weight limit. At this point I weigh her before every trip. Would you be comfortable pushing to the very limit because of her age or do I need to be more conservative?
 
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lorismurph

Senior Community Member
I personally would dress her in sandals/light clothing and weigh weekly or something. When she gets to 39.5 lbs, I'd probably turn her. At only 36-38, keep going as long as you can.

Take her running. JK. Keep her super active so she won't gain that extra 3lbs too fast :p
 

T4K

Well-known member
I think I'm going to need a see a picture of her in order to provide my best judgement ;-)

But :yeahthat: to what the PP said. She may even hover around this weight for a while!
 

danivdp

New member
The dummies are exactly 40lbs, right? I wouldn't have a problem keeping a kid in a seat until they were consistently over 40lbs.....I'd probably stress out more over the 1" rule above the head, as that seems like it would be more problematic...IDK though, I'm not a tech.
 

Ninetales

New member
It was touch and go for awhile whether she'd outgrow it by height or weight first. Height would have been better because I do have a CA that she could have used at that point.

We already do sandals and light clothing, it's gotten hot here. And she's a super active girl, I'm hoping it won't be an issue for awhile yet. But better to be prepared.
 

bnsnyde

New member
I've always changed main seats before it's been outgrown for one reason or another. Like, baby goes to convertible simply b/c he got so heavy to carry in his infant seat, and awkward to put in it.

I keep our backup seats to use to the limit!
 

oddduck

Active member
I go to 1.5lbs. I weigh in the bathroom - no shoes, light clothing. The 1.5lbs gives me a little wiggle room. I'm also not 100% sure of the accuracy of the scale either :)
 

Ninetales

New member
Yeah, mine tends to be either 3.5 or 4 lbs over. I have a ten lb weight I use to see how off it is on a given day.
 

Brianna

New member
J is a little older than yours and he's been holding at 36 pounds for months. He's grown taller and thinned out. I weigh him once a month and if he still fits by height when he gets to 39 pounds then I'll probably start weighing once a week.

Sent from my DROID4 using Car-Seat.Org
 

gsdguenter

Well-known member
DD2 has been at 33 lbs for months and months it seems. I continue to have her rfing in a TF in my car. When she hits 35 lbs. I'll switch her to a different seat (we have many to choose from :p).

I'm not worried about missing the 35 lb. mark when she hits it because she's always at the doctor - in fact we're in the hospital right now recovering from surgery. Plus, the girls like to get on the scale every morning after I do :D
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
The dummies are exactly 40lbs, right? I wouldn't have a problem keeping a kid in a seat until they were consistently over 40lbs.....I'd probably stress out more over the 1" rule above the head, as that seems like it would be more problematic...IDK though, I'm not a tech.

No, there's no such thing as a 40 pound dummy. The 3 year old dummy is about 35 pounds, the 6 year old dummy is about 48 pounds. Somehow they do some math on the 3 yo dummy and give us the 40 pound limit (at least for FF, someone will correct me if I've forgotten that they put the 6 yo dummy in the higher weight RF seats...)

I go right up until the limit. So, on a 40lb seat, then 40 lbs.

Yeah, pretty much. If it says 40 pounds, I go to 40 pounds. (my last seats were 33 pounds, shows how old my kids are, I went to the limit on those, for sure, without any hesitation).
 

NatesMamma

New member
I'm OK going to the max on the weight limit. If anything, I'm more likely to stop using a seat slightly before it's maxed out by height, but even then, if I didn't have another seat that could be used to keep a 2yo RF, I be good pushing either limit.

I trust my carseats to protect my kid. Therefore, I trust the manufacturer to let me know how long it's safe to continue using the seats.
 

mumof2

New member
for me it depends on the age for eg my 4 year old is hovering around 43 to 44lbs.

I turned her around 4 years 3 months she is now 4 years 7 months.

I wasnt going to weight her each time I needed her to get into her carseat.

I figured she got to 4 years which is a lot better than most parents whereI live.

my 2 and a half year old is around 35 to 36lbs so hopefully we can get him to 4 years
 

krfogle88

New member
I would weigh her weekly and then switch at 40 lbs as pp's stated. i know when dd1 hit 2 growth almost hit a stand still. she really didnt grow until this year (4). i also know with dn and dd weight gain doesnt normally happen in summer from them just bc they are constantly active and eat tons of fresh fruit and veggies bc of the heat.
 

Pixels

New member
No, there's no such thing as a 40 pound dummy. The 3 year old dummy is about 35 pounds, the 6 year old dummy is about 48 pounds. Somehow they do some math on the 3 yo dummy and give us the 40 pound limit (at least for FF, someone will correct me if I've forgotten that they put the 6 yo dummy in the higher weight RF seats...)

For a 40 pound limit, FF or RF, they just have to pass with the 33 pound 3yo dummy. Any math done to determine the 40 pound limit is strictly "above and beyond" research testing, not required by federal standards at all.

They only have to use the 6yo dummy (53 pounds) if the seat has a weight limit higher than 40 pounds or a height limit greater than 43 inches.
 

gsdguenter

Well-known member
Pixels said:
For a 40 pound limit, FF or RF, they just have to pass with the 33 pound 3yo dummy. Any math done to determine the 40 pound limit is strictly "above and beyond" research testing, not required by federal standards at all.

They only have to use the 6yo dummy (53 pounds) if the seat has a weight limit higher than 40 pounds or a height limit greater than 43 inches.

So does this mean that seats that rf to 45 lbs are tested with a 53lb dummy? Well, duh you just said that lol. I mean, if they are using the 53lb dummy do they have to pass with it? If so, why can't they just rf to 53 lb then and not 45? Does that mAke sense? I feel like my thoughts a jumbled today :p
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
I am generally pretty cognizant of the tech stuff, but I have the exact same question!
 

danivdp

New member
For a 40 pound limit, FF or RF, they just have to pass with the 33 pound 3yo dummy. Any math done to determine the 40 pound limit is strictly "above and beyond" research testing, not required by federal standards at all.

They only have to use the 6yo dummy (53 pounds) if the seat has a weight limit higher than 40 pounds or a height limit greater than 43 inches.

Good info :) Thanks!!!
 

Pixels

New member
gsdguenter said:
So does this mean that seats that rf to 45 lbs are tested with a 53lb dummy? Well, duh you just said that lol. I mean, if they are using the 53lb dummy do they have to pass with it? If so, why can't they just rf to 53 lb then and not 45? Does that mAke sense? I feel like my thoughts a jumbled today :p

40 pounds is a cutoff point for dummy selection in FMVSS 213. The next cutoff is 50 pounds. Above 50 pounds they have to test with another dummy (6yo dummy weighted to 63 pounds). If they wanted to, technically any seat that has a 45 pound limit could be labeled with a 50 pound limit and they wouldn't have to do anything different as far as compliance testing goes, BUT the manufacturers have chosen not to and I assume that they have a very good reason not to. Weight limits drive seat sales, and a seat with a 50 pound limit would be very appealing to the masses, yet so far no manufacturer has gone there.
 

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