FF Harness seat recommendations please

I am looking to turn my 5 year old FF, and am unhappy with my Foonf and MyRide65s in FF. Kiddo is 42" tall, 41lbs, 16" seated shoulder height, he turned 5 a week ago.

Vehicles are:

2009 Chevy Silverado 2500, crew cab 4WD...HAS to go in the middle rear, I have no idea if I have access to a tether point there. Will wander through the manual when hubby gets home with the truck tonight.

2013 Toyota Sienna, 8 seat, would LOVE to use that pissant 8th seat for him, but not even sure a carseat can be installed in that position. Currently he rides middle row, driver side outboard, RF in the Foonf. FF I would *prefer* he be 8th seat or middle row, passenger side outboard, BUT...that 8th seat is a pain in my butt...I hate the way the van looks without it installed (that plastic on the floor annoys the crap out of me. BUT...if he cannot be in the 8th seat, I do "need" access to the 3rd row. ("Need" meaning most of the time my 16yo goes in through the trunk, but I prefer access from the door if possible) Kiddo is starving when I pick him up from pre-k, but I don't like him eating in the car if there is no one to see him. If he's passenger outboard or in 8th seat, I can see him from the driver's seat FF. Seems all the rear seats *except the 8th* have tether points in the Sienna. Does anyone know if the 8th seat can be used for carseat installation? I cannot seem to find an answer in my manual.

2013 Honda Civic (2 door)...I do need one of the seats to fit this vehicle if at all possible. If necessary, i can buy a cheaper seat to use in this temporarily. He will have to ride in this vehicle for a couple of weeks while hubby and I are driving the truck and van cross country.

Mainly I need good seats to fit the Chevy and Toyota. Worst case, I can use a BPB for the Honda and my 17 yr old can sit with him and make sure he sits correctly for the short amount of time he will be in it. He is NOT ready for a BPB full time and we have two cross country trips coming up that he will likely fall asleep during, so he must have a harness seat.

I do NOT use Diono products, I have a Radian XTSL being used as a door stop in my basement, they will never get another dime of my money.

My son has the same stats as yours. We own a Britax Frontier, Graco Nautilus & Evenflo SureRide. I don't know about your vehicle compatibility but DS is very comfortable in his Britax Frontier. He sleeps well in it, doesn't have much head slump and has plenty of room to grow. I like the ease of the ClickTight install (I'm OCD and uninstall our car seats about once a month to clean - the Frontier is a dream to install/uninstall!) The harness is a little difficult to adjust but that doesn't both me too much.

In the Nautilus he complains about the crotch buckle and admittedly there isn't much room there even with it in the outer position. The head slump is also AWFUL in the Nautilus. I do like the smooth harness adjustment though!

The SureRide is our newest seat (bought for travel) so I don't have much to say other than I love how light and narrow it is! It's a great fit for DS with room to grow as well and he seemed comfortable in it for the few minutes we tested it out this weekend.

Thanks Allie, I have a Frontier arriving tomorrow for the truck, and I'll see if I can figure out a way to use it in the van. (Need to scrub the manual some more, wondering if the center seat can use the outboard seat tether points, hmmm)

I think I'm going to hang on to the Foonf (was going to sell it now) for the cross country trips, I'm thinking he may be more comfortable RF in it for when he falls asleep? (We'll be in the car about 10 hours a day for several days)

I do have side curtain airbags in my Sienna, I'm trying to decide whether I should go for a Frontier or a Pinnacle if he has to sit outboard.

I really like the ease of Clicktight, which the Pinnacle does not have. That being said, I'm pretty frugal so the price difference between the Frontier & Pinnacle tempts me to get a Pinnacle for DD when she's ready.

AllieK said:

I really like the ease of Clicktight, which the Pinnacle does not have. That being said, I'm pretty frugal so the price difference between the Frontier & Pinnacle tempts me to get a Pinnacle for DD when she's ready.

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Are you talking about the Pioneer? The Pinnacle does have CT, and is more expensive than the Frontier, not less.

(I think she does mean the Pioneer, I was tempted to get it, because DS is so small, I'm not sure if he'll even need the 90lb harness limit)

Question about ClickTight....I've never used it, actually I think the last Britax seat I was able to fit in my vehicles was the Husky that I used for my 16 and 17 when they were younger LOL. (LOVED how that thing installed, doesn't look like ClickTight is at all like that!)

Anyway, reading various threads, some people don't like the ClickTight because it stretches vehicle seatbelts??? Is that true?

Ignore below, seat arrived 5 minutes ago, so I'm checking the manual!!!

***Can I install the Frontier without using ClickTight, like in a traditional seatbelt install?*** I can't seem to get to the manual on Britax's website without a date of manufacture and my seat isn't here yet.

No, you can't do a seatbelt install without the Clicktight. You can install it with LATCH but it's subject to pretty low limits since the seat is so heavy.

Cnidaria said:

No, you can't do a seatbelt install without the Clicktight. You can install it with LATCH but it's subject to pretty low limits since the seat is so heavy.

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LATCH appears to use ClickTight, as well. (I have never trusted LATCH anyway, i always seatbelt install)

Not sure I love the Frontier, even not installed the harness seems to be a pain in the butt to tighten. I'll see how it goes once it's in the truck. It's also a lot wider than I thought it would be, so I need to see if my teens have room with it installed, as well.

Any other high harness weight suggestions besides Britax?

Catalytic said:

LATCH appears to use ClickTight, as well.

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Yep, the LATCH strap goes through the Clicktight compartment - but it doesn't use the seatbelt, regarding your question about people who are worried about their seatbelts getting dents in them.

Cnidaria said:

Yep, the LATCH strap goes through the Clicktight compartment - but it doesn't use the seatbelt, regarding your question about people who are worried about their seatbelts getting dents in them.

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Oh gotcha! So the concern is over dents in seatbelts, not over it stretching the seatbelt and possibly reducing it's safety?

Catalytic said:

Oh gotcha! So the concern is over dents in seatbelts, not over it stretching the seatbelt and possibly reducing it's safety?

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Yeah, people are nervous about dents in seatbelts, there's no evidence they are harmful (I've seen locking clips leave more permanent dents, no one ever seems bothered by that, so...)

Well, I gotta say, Britax has once again exceeded my expectations with their customer service. They offered to replace the Frontier, but I suspect from what I'm reading that they're all a pain in the butt to tighten. Anyway, DH and I went out and played with it, put it in the truck (ClickTight is freaking amazing! DH was astounded) DH swears he will tighten it enough, so we're going to see how it goes. I'll probably order a Pinnacle for my van next week, if it's easier to tighten, then I'll take Britax up on the offer to replace this Frontier.

(Diono, if you're reading this, TAKE A CLUE FROM BRITAX!!!!!)

I'm not concerned over dents in a seatbelt (wth, people are really concerned about that?!?!)....I'd be mildly concerned about stretching the seatbelts, but honestly by the time kiddo is out of the Frontier, the truck will be 10 or more years old and it'll be time to think about replacing all the seatbelts anyway.

lgenne said:

Are you talking about the Pioneer? The Pinnacle does have CT, and is more expensive than the Frontier, not less.

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Oops, yes I mean the Pioneer! The Pinnacle is the even more expensive one... hahaha.
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Catalytic said:

Well, I gotta say, Britax has once again exceeded my expectations with their customer service. They offered to replace the Frontier, but I suspect from what I'm reading that they're all a pain in the butt to tighten.

Click to expand...

Wow maybe I should call Britax. Our Frontier is a beast to tighten but I just assumed that's how it was designed. Has there been a change that makes newer ones easier to tighten?
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