booster vs none

christineka · Aug 28, 2012

I know my 12 year old 5 steps. She loves her booster, though and I told her she could keep it until the fit is worse in the booster than without. I have trouble determining that point when booster fit is bad. My 11 year old still rides in the booster (only switched to backless full time a month ago). I think her fit looks similar to my older dd's, so I'm really not sure what's the best way for them to ride. The child in the purple is my 12.5 year old. The one in pink and blue is 11 year old. What do you think? Is the booster fit still okay for both? Belt fit okay for both or just 12 yo?

Brianna · Aug 28, 2012

It's hard for me to judge exactly where the lap belt falls, but I do remember talk not too long ago about what a too low lap belt looked like, and I was able to find this. HTH!

An effective lap belt position allows the belt to engage the bony pelvis during a frontal crash. If the belt is located above the pelvis, it will load the vulnerable abdominal organs. If the belt is too far forward on the thighs, the body will undergo excessive excursion, and the pelvis may begin to rotate and increase the likelihood of submarining (lap belt passing above the pelvis and loading the abdominal organs).

http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/boosters/pdfs/IIHS_Booster_Rating_Guidelines_0811.pdf

joolsplus3 · Aug 28, 2012

I never really think about bad lapbelt fit for big kids, for us it's much more a matter of the body being raised up so high that the shoulderbelt starts falling off the arm instead of staying on the shoulder, for me. Your lapbelts look fine on both girls.

Brianna · Aug 28, 2012

Jools- for my own understanding, can you elaborate a bit? I don't see myself dealing with this in the immediate future but I'd like to be able to judge on my own whether a pre-teen I'm transporting needs a booster or not if I don't have time to post a pic here first.

I can see in Christine's pictures that the shoulder belt appears to fall correctly both with and without the booster, so let's assume that we're dealing with the same situation. Do you think that the lap belt fit on her girls is within the acceptable range that the IIHS measures from? Or is it that you think that it's outside of the IIHS range but still acceptable? Or that any lap belt fit is okay in a backless so long as the shoulder belt is where it needs to be?

Kat_Momof3 · Aug 29, 2012

For the 12yr old - the fit is identical in both... I'd let her choose as long as she has plenty of head support in the booster, cause a happy kid doesn't distract you as much when you are driving by complaining.

For your 11yr old - I like the lapbelt fit on the booster better... it's totally on her thighs... the other fit isn't bad at all, it's good, it's on those hips and touching the thighs... but the booster fit is better.

for the shoulderbelt, both are good, so as long as it's in the center of her shoulder, not too far to the side, not rubbing her neck, you have a good fit.

I'd leave her in that booster as long as she's willing to ride, the shoulderbelt still fits her shoulder, and she has the head support.

joolsplus3 · Aug 29, 2012

I had to look again to even really register that both girls had both booster and boosterless shots for me to consider, since the lap belt fit was so good in every picture I saw (and I can't see the shoulderbelts well, I assume they aren't off the side of the arms). Anyway, I'm just not sure I've encountered that an older child somehow gets bad lap belt fit in a booster, it's something that's more a function of the booster (Nania Uno/Polo comes to mind, and some other really ancient foam booster with huge armrests...ie, it's been a long time since I've seen this issue where it's like, obviously really too far forward on the legs) or maybe forward-of-the-bight-belts.

safeinthecar · Aug 29, 2012

joolsplus3 said:
I had to look again to even really register that both girls had both booster and boosterless shots for me to consider, since the lap belt fit was so good in every picture I saw (and I can't see the shoulderbelts well, I assume they aren't off the side of the arms). Anyway, I'm just not sure I've encountered that an older child somehow gets bad lap belt fit in a booster, it's something that's more a function of the booster (Nania Uno/Polo comes to mind, and some other really ancient foam booster with huge armrests...ie, it's been a long time since I've seen this issue where it's like, obviously really too far forward on the legs) or maybe forward-of-the-bight-belts.

There was a point with my kids where their legs were thick enough that some boosters made the lap belt go up and down so much that there was a lot of slack introduced.

Carrie_R · Aug 30, 2012

I found with my Z (my former charge Z, not the Zs I'm watching now lol) that there was a point at which the booster just looked... wrong. I could see that it just made the fit not right, and that it was time to retire the booster (at least that particular one.) The fit truly was better without the booster than with. From that experience, I would say you'll just... know.

I'd be okay with your girls either way.

booster vs none

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