Replace RYS with Regent?

kam · Sep 7, 2007

We recently bought an Odyssey and so now can fit a Regent with ease. I'm considering switching our Recaro Young Sport for a Regent to get the harnessing advantage, but I have lingering questions.

1) If the child stays well positioned in the seat all the time and the belt is ratcheted every time, is there evidence for a harnessed seat being safer? The ratcheted belt seems so secure....

2) Because Recaros are tested in Germany where there are standards for SIP (unlike in the U.S.), can we trust that Recaro's safety with its SIP may actually rival the Regent's safety with its width and harness, even though that testing data from Recaro is not available to the general public (proprietary information? I forget)?

3) Am I over-thinking this issue, and should I just feel good about the Recaro we have and leave it at that?

wendytthomas · Sep 7, 2007

How old and heavy is the child, and where in the Ody would the Regent be going? It has compatibility issues on the captain's chairs with the new installation instructions.

Wendy

southpawboston · Sep 7, 2007

as wendy said, if we know the age/height/weight of the child, we can get a better picture of your situation. without knowing this info, i would say to keep your kiddo in the RYS until she outgrows it by height or weight, before thinking about a replacement seat. a 5-pt harness is better than a booster, all other things being equal.

and re: your question about SIP, yes, even though US seats are not tested for side impact protection, the recaros comform to a "proposed" international standard known as ISO/DIN 14646, which is standards for side impact protection based on load limits on the head and chest in a side impact collision. that standard was rejected based on reproducibility problems, so it's not an "official" standard, but recaro claims to conform to it nonetheless. i don't know what germany's or other european countries' standards are for SIP, but i would imagine the YS meets them.

kam · Sep 7, 2007

Meg is 5 1/2 years old and in the 85%ile for her age. She is about 46" tall and 47 pounds, so no more LATCH for her. She's got a long way to go in the YS, and loves it. She's obssessive about ratcheting that belt and sitting upright, so I don't worry about maturity issues. I just wonder whether she'd be safer in the Regent regardless.

She sits either in the captain's chair driver's outboard or passenger outboard in the back of our '05 Odyssey, but with a new baby coming in Dec/Jan, I assume both sisters' positions (one in the RYS and one RF in a RA, which expires next fall) will change. We're flexible, if you all have suggestions.

Thanks for the information about the SIP testing, southpaw. Sounds a little fudgeable for Recaro to claim to conform without any binding laws or reproducible data, but I know European standards are high.

arly1983 · Sep 7, 2007

So she has already outgrown the harness on the RYS....

Gosh, it would be according to how long I wanted her harnessed....If I had my heart set on extended harnessing, the regent would be great.

If not....maybe a Como or Signo to be passed down to baby sis when the RA expires next fall (using the RYS as a travel seat) Then you could buy big sis a dedicated booster and pass RYS to little sis (when she starts FFing) and give como/signo to the new baby...

Victorious4 · Sep 7, 2007

You may find this thread helpful > http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=9384

Replace RYS with Regent?

kam

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kam

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arly1983

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