Toddler seat help!

My daughter will be 3 in December, and she's 40" tall and 30lbs. She is currently in a Graco ComfortSport, which is 20-40", so we need a new seat. We just bought a Cosco Summit, but just tried it out on her and her shoulders are above the top harness slots, which means she'd need to do the belt-positioning booster thing, but that just doesn't seem safe for a 2.5 year old! What do you reccommend? We want something with good safety ratings, but are hoping to not have to spent hundreds of dollars! Is there anything out there? Thanks!

The cosco summit carseat you picked out only has a top harness slot of 15 inches. This is extremely short when comparing it to other seats out there (this is common of almost all cosco seats).

I think for your situation, you really should look at the seats that harness past 40 pounds. It might take your child a while to reach 40 pounds, but still, it is better to buy the seat now to last you a while. Harnessing a child in a carseat for as long as possible is much safer then moving them to a booster. I don't really like to see kids in boosters fulltime until 5 years old.

For your situation, you may want to look at the Evenflo Triumph Advance (don't confuse this with the regular triumph as it has very low harness heights). It harnesses up to 50 pounds and has a top harness height of 17.5 inches. Your child might even still be able to rearface in the carseat (rearfacing is safest at any age).

Another seat to look at might be the Cosco Apex (aka Safety 1st Biltmore) which has a top harness height of 17.5 inches and harness up to 65 pounds. It is a wide seat and doesn't always work in a situation where carseats must sit next to each other in a car. It also requires a headrest in the seat position.

For the more expensive options, you could look at the Britax Marathon, Boulevard, Decathalon as those have a top harness height of 17 inches and harness up to 65 pounds.

The Sunshine Kids Radian has a top harness height of 17.5 inches and harnesses up to 65 or 80 pounds depending on the model chosen.

Recaro Como/Signo - top harness height is around 19 inches (Signo is 18 inches, Como is 19 inches) and harnesses up to 70 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age.

Fisher Price Safe Voyage - top harness height is 17 inches. Can hold children up to 55 pounds. This seat also rear faces so it can be used for babies up to school age.

Britax Regent - top harness height is 20 inches. Can hold children up to 80 pounds. This seat will last you the longest of all the regular carseat. It is big seat and very heavy. It doesn't move around well from car to car. It also isn't airline approved so you might need another seat if you travel by airplane.

Safeguard Child Seat harnesses to 65 pounds. Top harness slot is 19" high.

SafeGuard Go Child Restraint harnesses to 60 pounds. It's harness is a little different and it depends on the seat back.

IF you think your daughter would be fine on weight wise here are 2 other seats with high slots 16-17 ish Graco Cargo makes a bad booster thoug and also Evenflo Generations which makes a good booster. Those are both around $100 or so.

The ComfortSport has lower strap settings than the Summit, I thought?

You are correct that a 2.5-year-old should not be in a belt-positioning booster; in fact, she could still be rear-facing in many seats -- and the shoulder straps should be below the shoulders rear-facing.

Well, the Summit is definitely short compared to other 'combo' seats...the Comfortsport wins the shortest slot prize for convertibles...