Britax Frontier in booster mode; child has trouble buckling self

My child is 6 yo, 47" tall, 42 pounds. Seated in middle row, right side, of a 2008 Honda Pilot, using a Britax Frontier. Harness is in highest position, but in a few months he will be too tall for it, so we are preparing to switch to booster. We tried out the Frontier in booster mode just to see how it would go, but found that DS cannot buckle himself. First problem, he has to reach back over his right shoulder and around the contoured head restraint to grab the shoulder belt, but he can't reach that far--he'd have to be a contortionist. Then, he is not able to feed the shoulder belt through the belt guide (marked in red plastic), and even if he could, then he has to pull it down to his lower left to somehow buckle it. He can't do that because the car's buckle-latch thingy is behind him to the left, is almost out of reach, and he can't see it because of the molded head restraint again. So basically, I or another adult have to buckle him in, and I just can't see going back to that. He's been fastening his own harness for quite some time now. Second problem--performing the above operation results in pulling the shoulder belt out quite far, and then it locks up. We have to let the belt retract completely and then start again. It doesn't seem like it should be this hard. Am I doing something wrong, or should I just get a booster-only seat? I like the side-impact protection of the molded head support, but he can't buckle himself into it. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Well, the shoulder part of the belt should be able to be threaded through the shoulder belt guide by you in advance so that it's right near his shoulder for him.
But if he can't reach/see the female part of the buckle then it's going to be hard for him to be independent with it.
You may wish to try a more narrow high back booster that doesn't sit practically in top of the buckle.
But honestly, some cars with short/recessed/hidden/floppy buckle stalks are just hard for booster riders to handle independently.
And they can manage to pull the seatbelt out too far and lock it no matter which booster they use, but it probably happens more often with a larger/wider booster like the frontier makes. That truly is a pain because then we have to undo the shoulder belt from the guide to retract the belt enough to unlock it.

I had this problem when we went from a van to a small car. My daughter had been buckling herself into the Frontier in booster mode for a couple of years without issue. Then in the car, the female end of the buckle was just too short and hard to get a hold of. We were having to reach in across her to help. Not easy either. We ended up getting a booster that she was able to buckle herself.

Keeping the belt threaded though the guide helps with the first part of the problem, but with how wide the Frontier is, there are just some seat belts set ups that are going to be very hard to buckle in booster mode.

I agree about the shoulder part (keep it in the belt guide). My DS took about a year to figure out how to buckle his booster on his own (different but still wide booster). Honestly, I'm not sure he can buckle himself in our truck at all because of the long floppy buckle stalks and pretty much needing two hands to buckle it. So trying a different HBB or keeping him harnessed for now if you want him to buckle himself. Or just deal with helping until he figures it out.

So many people think moving to a booster will make life easier, it's often times harder though IMO (both for kids to buckle themselves and dealing with compatibility between the booster and vehicle).

I would try a different HBB. The FR is really hard to use in booster mode

Thanks to all of you for your insights and comments. I guess I was one of those people who thought going to booster mode would be easier, but I see now that is not necessarily the case. In a few months I will probably move my younger son (who will turn four in January) into the Frontier and find a different booster setup for my older child. If any of you have a favorite booster that you'd recommend, I'd love to know.

landofenchantment said:

Thanks to all of you for your insights and comments. I guess I was one of those people who thought going to booster mode would be easier, but I see now that is not necessarily the case. In a few months I will probably move my younger son (who will turn four in January) into the Frontier and find a different booster setup for my older child. If any of you have a favorite booster that you'd recommend, I'd love to know.

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I think that sounds like a good plan. I've been pretty happy with the Britax Parkway SGL. I have an older one but the newer ones sound even nicer, from what I have heard. They extend nice and tall as a HBB or can also be used backless.
For backless boosters, there are plenty of good and very inexpensive choices. My boys like the harmony youth booster.

Thanks, I will check those out.