Seat belt extenders

I have a friend who wants to get some for her booster seats since they are so hard to buckle. I told her I didn't think they were safe but would check here for her. I tried to search but only found info about using them with harnessed seats and not a high back booster. Thoughts??

Janet
DD1 - 5yr10mos - Regent
DD2 - 5yr 10mos - Regent
DS - 3yr10mos - Regent

Why are they hard to buckle? Is the seat sitting over them, are the belts twisted? etc.
Here i would not recommend them.

No, they are generally not allowed or recommended for booster use (they can change the way the shoulderbelt goes across the child, making it less safe). (Some car makers won't sell them at all, in fact).
The way to fix the problem is to find boosters that are easier to buckle (boosters may look 'the same' to the untrained eye, but some are unbelieveably easier to buckle than others), or rearrange seats somehow, or re-harness a kid that's within the limits of a harnessed seat like the Radian, to make buckling easier.

Thank you!!! That's exactly what I told her but wanted to confirm that I was right. I appreciate the advice.

Julie,

I talked with her about keeping the kids harnessed longer(almost 6 yr old twins). They are in an Apex 65 but she is in Canada so she can only use the harness to 48lbs. It's what she was told when she purchased it plus has a letter from the Minister of Transportation. Her daughter is very close to hitting 48lbs so she needs to figure this out now. I guess the base of the seat is so large that it's almost impossible to reach the buckle on the seat. She'd prefer not to buy two new seats since she just bought these a year ago to keep the twins harnessed longer. She originally had AO.

Thanks!

Janet
DD1 - 5yr10mos - Regent
DD2 - 5yr 10mos - Regent
DS - 3yr10mos - Regent

Oh boy, it's so hard to give answers to people who already know them!
I'm going to move this to the Canadian forum so maybe they can help out with a better booster selection (Radian in the middle, Cleks outboard...? just trying to think, lol).

I am confused why she has a letter from the Minister of Transportation? for what purpose?

And the Apex 65 can be used in Canada harnessed up to 65 pounds, so I am confused why she is only using it to 48? Did she buy it before the 65 pound limit came into effect so her manual says 48 pounds?

She bought the seats almost two years ago so it was before the 65lb limit came into effect. She wrote the Minister of Transportation in January to see if she could use her seats past the 48lbs. Her manual says 48lbs. Can she now use it to 65lbs now that the new limit is in effect?

TIA!!

Janet

jdubsm said:

She bought the seats almost two years ago so it was before the 65lb limit came into effect. She wrote the Minister of Transportation in January to see if she could use her seats past the 48lbs. Her manual says 48lbs. Can she now use it to 65lbs now that the new limit is in effect?

TIA!!

Janet

Click to expand...

Ah okay, that makes more sense. This is a tricky question, so I will leave the answer to the experts here!

Just thinking aloud here, but if the seat is called the Apex 65, I would think all they did was label it to 48 pounds in Canada, and now they have it labeled to 65 pounds. I was thinking she could email Safety 1st and ask them if the seats she bought are identical to the current Apex 65 being sold. If so, perhaps they'd send her a new set of stickers so she could "officially" use it to 65 pounds.

jdubsm said:

She bought the seats almost two years ago so it was before the 65lb limit came into effect. She wrote the Minister of Transportation in January to see if she could use her seats past the 48lbs. Her manual says 48lbs. Can she now use it to 65lbs now that the new limit is in effect?

TIA!!

Janet

Click to expand...

No, she can't use the seat to the new weight limit. While it *might* be the same seat as the 65lb version in the US, no compliance testing was done on it in Canada to that weight limit. Additionally, if a problem did crop up with a kiddo who was 50lbs, there would be testing done to determine if it cropped up with a weight of up to 48lbs, and unless it did, there would be no information or recall issued.

Seats undergo continued compliance testing even after they're certified to CMVSS standards. Seats labelled to 48lbs won't be tested past 48lbs, so if a recall should be issued at a higher weight, we would never know.

All that being said, some parents make the parental decision to use their seats to the new 65lb limit. It is NOT something I would recommend, and NOT something I would do myself speaking strictly as a parent.

Not too long ago I was on the fence about if I would make the parental decision for myself, but the MA recall in the US with the problem only occurring at weights of 50lbs or greater has changed my opinion. There are seats in Canada that almost for sure would've been part of that recall had they been rated to 65lbs. But they're only rated to 48lbs and Britax only found the problem at weights of 50lbs or greater, so no recall for us. That sealed the deal that I won't use my 48lb stickered seats above the limit.

I know she's hoping not to buy new seats, but if she has to, the parkway is a nice narrow booster that should be easier to buckle. I think even the turbo-boosters are narrower. She may just have to try some out in her car. She can also check at TRU/BRU to see if they'll give her a twins discount if she purchases to of the same boosters from them. I'm not sure if they do that in Canada, but it's worth a try.

Aren't they supposed to be for larger people who don't fit the seatbelt. I wouldn't use one with a booster.