MANY Booster Questions -- Sooo Confused!

brainycrunchy

New member
Boosters?!?!? I have not felt this confused since moving to FF.

I have a 6 year-old, 47" tall, 52 pounds in a Britax Boulevard in my car and grandparent's car (she went FF very late, so these seats are not too old).

However, in Auntie's car, she's at the upper limit for her seat and we need to replace. Her car is a 2004 Toyota Corolla and has no center latch. Current car seat is in the center.

I was browsing previous posts and I thought I was clear, and then I got confused again. Please help!

What I learned:
1. There is no data showing that 5 pt. harness is safer than booster for above 4/40 lb kids who booster correctly.
2. Kids should be "booster ready" (I found that term in dozens of posts without anyone explaining what it meant ... I slowly gathered it means sitting still (??) I guess to not overstretch the seatbelt so that it will still pull tight in a crash (??).

What I'm so confused about:
1. Backless vs. Highback. Pros? Cons?
2. Attached versus not attached (e.g. latch)?
3. Seat belt positioning??

It seems like of course you would want the second three, but I'm confused about that. Is it really just as safe to have a booster seat that is not attached? Doesn't it go flying around in the event of a crash?

And, for my specific situation, Auntie's car does not have center latch (2004 Toyota Corolla), only outboard. I assume that center is still the safest place, regardless of all else.

So, at the end of the day, what booster do I buy?

I know this was a long and bewildered post, and truly thank you any kind souls who can elucidate any of this and give me a recommendation to boot :).
 
ADS

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Hello! I know how you feel about the world of boosters being confusing!

Booster readiness involves not only the ability to sit still, but also the maturity to follow directions and also stay in position even when sleeping. At your daughter's height, weight, and age, she is a good booster candidate, but you know better than anyone whether she is responsible and follows directions.

High back boosters are generally preferred for new booster riders. They provide a bit more support and help remind the child to stay in position when they are first learning.

An occupied booster without LATCH shouldn't go flying around in the event of a crash -- it is held in by the seatbelt, just as the child sitting on it is. However, an *unoccupied* booster could fly around in a crash and be a projectile to the driver and other passengers. Unoccupied boosters need to be bucked in with the seatbelt every time the child gets out of the car...unless they are equipped with LATCH. Because LATCHing the booster saves you the time and mental energy of having to buckle the unoccupied booster, I would recommend a latch-able booster unless your budget does not allow for it.

The seat belt should rest on the child's upper thighs or hips and the shoulder belt should be centered across her shoulder and chest. You want her to be comfortable so that she isn't tempted to hold the belt away from her neck or lean out of position.


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aeormsby

New member
Welcome, for something that seems so much easier than a harnessed seat boosters can be tricky.

What I'm so confused about:
1. Backless vs. Highback. Pros? Cons?

Highback may provide more side impact protection (research tends to vary, most accidents have a forward component also so the child will move forward even in a side impact and may not be back in the seat as much as we think). One thing that Highbacks do provide is a headrest if kids tend to sleep in the car. My DS would often fall asleep if it was more than an hour in the car even at age 7, so I like keeping him in the Highback longer. Personally I like using a highback until age 8, at least for the full time seat and longer drives.

2. Attached versus not attached (e.g. latch)?

Personal choice, like PP said, it's generally a convenience thing so you don't have to buckle the booster in every time it's not in use.

3. Seat belt positioning??

You definitely want the booster to position the belt correctly (this is a great visual: http://www.carseat.org/Boosters/630.htm It's for when a booster isn't needed, but the belt fit should apply to using a booster also).

One thing that many people don't realize until they buy a booster is that there's a wide variance in how the different boosters work in different vehicles. You want to make sure the shoulder belt slides freely though the belt guide on the headrest (highback boosters). The belt guides are sometimes more on the side of the headrest or toward the back, the position combined with where the seatbelt comes from in the vehicle and the height of the headrest sometimes means the belt catches and doesn't retract at all. So if the child moves at all it could leave slack in the belt which means it may not protect in an accident.

I really like the Britax & Recaro boosters. Recaro doesn't turn into a NBB (those are cheap in the future, my favorite is the $13 Harmony Youth Booster) but it might mean you don't use the seat for it's entire life. If you have someplace to try them out locally that would be a good place to start, otherwise ordering from someplace that has free returns is a good option.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Carseatblog had a response to Britax's "bin the booster" campaign: http://carseatblog.com/34332/bin-the-booster-campaign/

Very interesting read and Heather goes into some more details about high back vs backless boosters.


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Has anyone inquired to them about using different dummies? Id like to see a response from them rather than just a comment from someone. Regardless, which represents my child? If the high back produces better results with the "improved" dummy, wasn't the dummy "improved" for a reason? i.e. to be more like a real kid?

Also, as for the several inches closer to the front seat, several to me is at least 3 (else you'd say about an inch or a couple), and I'm pretty sure our Parkway isn't putting a kid a minimum of 3" (since maybe "several" is more?) closer to the front seat. I'll check out of curiosity tomorrow.

Anyway, not saying the high back is definitively better, but if they CAN sell backless in the UK (which would seem they can, else saying the high back is better is a useless campaign if that's all that's allowed anyway), but are choosing not to, perhaps there is a reason more than marketing? I can't recall if the seats can be used backless in Canada (Canadian Britax web site won't load for me right now and my manual is in garage in car) but I see the USA website doesn't promote it as a feature in either the description or the video for the Parkway. (I am not saying it's not allowed, I am saying they don't promote the backless option)

It's unfortunate more people in USA/Canada don't use high backs longer (or at all) as if they did, maybe it would promote more crash testing for comparison in either country.
 
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