Frontier vs. MyFit for tall 5yo

Our 5yo has outgrown her Clicktight Boulevard. We have a Chicco MyFit, which we like except for the cupholders - both have ripped off with less than a year of normal use. She has maybe 1.5 inches of growing room in the MyFit (harness mode), which is less than I'd like to see.

So, this is a tall kiddo. And it isn't just a short term growth spurt thing. She's always been over the 95% for both height and weight.

I've been drooling over the Frontier for a long time - that harness height is exactly what this girl needs! But the recent Consumer Reports are freaky to me. I know they are still considered "safe". But a seat that breaks at 35mph doesn't cut it in my mind - we routinely drive 70mph around here. BUt the MyFit weirds me out, too - why isn't it on the Recommended Carseat list at the CarSeat Blog? And why isn't there discussion about it all over the forums?What is it that I don't know?

This sweet "little" gal has been through trauma, and has less impulse control/compliance than an average 5yo. I'd anticipate 7yo being a good time to transition to a booster. So, what seat to pick? What would you do if it was your little one?

How much does she weigh? The consumer reports test were done at faster speeds than the regular tests and they only had problems with the heaviest dummies. Here is the write up the Carseatblog did on the lastest tests.

https://carseatblog.com/46164/consu...finale-harmony-defender-receive-basic-rating/

She's about 52 lbs. The same weight as the dummy that broke the seat in the test...

I personally really like the chicco myfit. I prefer it to the frontier due to its size and also how cushy it is. If I had a five year old with 1.5 inches of harness height left in it I would probably wait a year and see where she is for harness height and maturity. Even a tall child is likely to slow in torso growth around her age and that might be enough to get you to age 6.5-7 in the myfit harness.

When I compared the frontier to the myfit with my kids the harness height didn't seem much different. Does it lose a lot of height in your car?

Don't worry that it hasn't made our Recommended Carseat list for nefarious reasons. We simply don't like to put seats on there that we either haven't reviewed (review is forthcoming) or haven't had a lot of experience with. I've never heard of the cup holders being ripped off or otherwise coming off with use. Have you contacted Chicco about that?

Chicco will replace the cupfolders. I’d just keep using the MyFit you have. 1.5” of harness height should easily get her another year of harnessing at which point I’d invest in a nice supportive high back booster.