how often do your older kids sit poorly in boosters?

singingpond

New member
DS#1 (will be 7 y.o. in July) rides in a Parkway booster, and usually sits pretty well. We're also in the habit of locking the seatbelt (in our primary car, anyway), so that helps. He still falls asleep pretty easily on longer drives, and the Parkway generally works pretty well for that, with the headwings keeping his head in place.

The other day I knew he was sleeping, saw his head in my rear view mirror, but didn't really take a close look at him until we got home. He had turned partly sideways in the seat, with the free shoulder (the one that doesn't have the shoulder belt crossing it) rotated forward quite a bit. It really didn't look safe, and I imagine in a crash his torso would have kept rotating/moving right out from under the shoulder belt. Anyway, I'm off to search for some of the threads I remember seeing a while ago, along the lines of 'are boosters really as safe as you think they are'.... I've occasionally thought of trying to harness him a bit longer. That's if I can fit any of the taller harnessed seats in my car (three kids in a small car). It would have to be a Nautilus or Frontier -- absolutely no way to fit a Regent. He does have two younger siblings to pass seats down to, so I don't have to feel guilty if he can only fit for another year or so in a harness. Also have to measure his torso again, to see if this idea is even worth pursuing.

Anyone else have moments like this, when the booster just doesn't look very awe-inspiring in terms of safety? Are some HBB better than others for tending to keep kids properly positioned with respect to the shoulder belt? Maybe I should just write it off as a fluke, and keep a better eye on him when he falls asleep in the future....?

Katrin
 
ADS

christineka

New member
Last week we drove home late. My 8 year old was fine sleeping in her booster, but 6 year old had her head hung forwards and was leaning forward out of her seat. If I had the spare cash I'd got buy some harnessed seats right now. My big kids have 16 inch torsos. Unfortunately, I don't have the money.

Christine
 

mamabear

New member
We don't really use a booster for DD (5yrs 3mos) but for on occasion.

The other day I took her to the store in DH's car with her booster, it's 8 blocks away, and half way there I turned around and noticed she was leaning sideways onto the armrest causing the shoulder belt to be off of her shoulder. I corrected her and told her that's why we don't use boosters full the time yet. She did it even though she KNOWS about sitting correctly, and is very safety minded.
So, it's going to be while longer until she's ready................
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
My DS, though pretty small in general, is quite leggy. I've found that the Parkway doesn't give him great leg support, and oftentimes he'll put his feet up on the vehicle seat, where it's exposed in front of the Parkway. That's a big part of the reason I bought him a Nautilus when he requested a harnessed seat for our secondary car, where he had been using the Parkway.

These pics show the difference in leg support between the Parkway and the Nautilus. It's quite a difference!

Parkway-side.jpg


Nautilusfromside.jpg
 

melniemi

New member
I put my 7.5 yo in his parkway after he got carsick the other weekend. He has been complaining about feeling sick since I got him a regent 4 months ago and I thought I'd try a booster to see if it would go away - and I didn't feel like cleaning it up again any time soon.

He does fine for shorter trips, but we went 1.5 hours away yesterday. He did great on the way there but not so great on the way home. Made me think he isn't ready to be in a booster full time - which is why I got him a regent to begin with. Not sure what to do next.:(
 

canadianmom2three

Active member
DS 5.5 does horribly in the parkway, which I just bought since he is outgrowing the Radian. He is all over the place, and I can't get my belts to lock up. The ONLY time he is sitting properly in it is when he is sleeping! I re-installed the Radian this weekend.....
DD 8.5 just got the oto for my car, and she does great in it, except when sleeping. She slumps right over against the door, the leather seats are way more slippery than our old van. She will have to use her confidence, or maybe the parkwa, for trips that might involve sleeping...
 

TerisBoys

Well-known member
Josh (12yo) does fine in his. He's had booster safety tattoo-ed on his skull since he was 3 though!

William (8.5yo) does good in the Vivo, but not-so-good in a backless. One thing I'm noticed with him is that he tends to hunch way forward while reading.

Ryan (5.5yo) will sit very nicely for the 3 blocks he's allowed to ride in the Vivo (to/from daycare) - beyond that he's harnessed.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
My kids both sit outboard in the third row and usually sit pretty well (in dh's car they just can't be out of position... there's a door on one side and a Roundabout in the middle!)... but when they are trying to play something (they play lots of make believe) or show something on the nintendo ds, they both lean totally out of their seats towards the middle! Drives me bonkers reminding them to knock it off and sit back properly in their seats :eek: (I might even see if Kar passes the five step test in the middle of that seat so they can sit next to each other sometimes...he loves his Recaro, but I can't fit two of them side by side).
 
U

Unregistered1

Guest
I have to remind M to sit back in her seat a lot. She likes to lean forward to see around the head wings or play with A. I don't have switchable retractors so there's nothing I can do as far as that goes.
 

ginny4

New member
my kids have their good days & bad days on booster use. one just turned 9 yo today & the other is turning 8yo & i feel that i have to remind them ALOT abotu sittting properly. drives me bonkers! usually short trips it's easier for them to stay relatively perfect but for longer trips it's more of a challenge. tho i have to say that the monterey i believe is helping with staying put. the turbo forget it -tooo easy to lean over

& a backless are useless if they fall asleep. leanign totally out of position
 

bethng

Active member
DS#1 (will be 7 y.o. in July) rides in a Parkway booster, and usually sits pretty well. We're also in the habit of locking the seatbelt (in our primary car, anyway), so that helps.=

I just finished my CPST class and they were pretty adamant that you NOT lock the seat belt when using a booster. Just thought I would throw that out.

And yes, my dd who will be 7 next month is always messing around in her booster....which is why she sits in a regent 99% of the time!
 

AnnD

New member
I am new to boosters so read a lot of posts (especially when I have a baby asleep in my lap!).

Locking the seat belt - really, just a question - isn't that the wrong approach as if you were in an accident, the kiddo would be 'flung' to the extent of the lock unless, really tight (i.e. tight like a five point harness, and thus really uncomfortable for most of the trip). I would imagine any 'gap' in the tightness would just make the kiddo a pseud-projectile that would be reefed back when they hit the locking point. (I am thinking of a dog running on a leash, when he hits the limit, it is a tremendous jolt backwards.)

Again - I am new to boosters (just started using a Britax Parkway with my 6 year old), and am not really liking them because they are flimsy compared to my five points but did think about locking the seat belt to make it easier for my daughter to attach (but then thought about the above scenario).
 

Wineaux

New member
You shouldn't be locking the lap/shoulder belt when using a booster. The main function of a booster is to position the seatbelt so it fits properly. The seatbelt still needs to function as normal. Locking the belt totally defeats this. You will get little or no ride down in a crash, and most likely end up seeing a very bad case of seatbelt syndrome.

The only time we lock down a booster is to keep it from becoming a projectile when not occupied.

Posted via Mobile Device
 

singingpond

New member
You shouldn't be locking the lap/shoulder belt when using a booster. The main function of a booster is to position the seatbelt so it fits properly. The seatbelt still needs to function as normal. Locking the belt totally defeats this. You will get little or no ride down in a crash, and most likely end up seeing a very bad case of seatbelt syndrome.

The only time we lock down a booster is to keep it from becoming a projectile when not occupied.

Since when?? Locking the seatbelt on boostered kids is recommended on here all the time, and by some very senior people :confused:. Is there some recent new information on this issue? Oh, and to the other poster who suggested the seatbelt was probably locked at a loose setting, and that the child would then hit it (like a dog hitting the end of the leash), we lock it up as snug as it will go, so it is pretty close-fitting to begin with. DS has no objections to this, so I imagine it is not uncomfortable. His frame of reference, of course, was coming from a snug harness in a harnessed seat.

I really don't see how locking the seatbelt 'totally defeats' its normal function. As far as I know, the seatbelt will still perform its emergency locking function in a crash. And I thought 'ride down' mainly has to do with the stretching of the seatbelt fabric. How does locking the seatbelt ahead of time change this behavior of the material?

Katrin
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I really don't see how locking the seatbelt 'totally defeats' its normal function. As far as I know, the seatbelt will still perform its emergency locking function in a crash. And I thought 'ride down' mainly has to do with the stretching of the seatbelt fabric. How does locking the seatbelt ahead of time change this behavior of the material?
This has always been my understanding.... We don't have comprehensive enough comparative data to suggest otherwise & the issue was not mentioned at all during the curriculum update workshop during my last regional NHTSA conference.

Unless the carseat/booster or vehicle manual explicility says not to engage the locking retractor, then it's fine -- if doing so means it keeps the kid properly positioned, then it may indeed be prefered.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Unless the carseat/booster or vehicle manual explicility says not to engage the locking retractor, then it's fine -- if doing so means it keeps the kid properly positioned, then it may indeed be prefered.

:thumbsup: Locking a switchable retractor doesn't impede the performance of the seat belt and it helps keep wiggly children in place. It's been done for years and I think that if there were any problems from it, we'd have seen them by now. Here's what SafetyBeltSafe's technical encyclopedia says: http://www.carseat.org/Technical/tech_update.htm#switchable .

My 8.5 yr old ds used to sit OK in his booster in the beginning, but is generally terrible. If he wasn't too big for every harnessed seat out there, I'd threaten him with putting him back in one. He actually does better in a backless booster, but in his SIP boosters, he constantly strains to lean out of the headrests even though he claims they're comfy.
 

Chameleon

New member
In the handful of times my daughter 5years old has ridden in her Recaro young style, she has ridden perfect every single time. I'm not sure why I am so lucky, but I'm not going to complain. I guess I've drilled into her head so many times about carseat safety/ booster safety that she just does it.
 

Wineaux

New member
I can say I remember we were told not to lock the belt. Part of the ride down, in my understanding mind you, is also including the travel of the seatbelt until the emergency locking occurs. If the seatbelt is already in a locked position, then this cannot happen. I in no way claim to be perfect, and may have misunderstood this one, but I don't think so. We're no longer using the harness of the CR to do this function in a booster. We lock down the CR into a pre-crash position so the harness can do its job from a solid base. I'm going to check on this one when I get home via email, as it's important to me that I have this correct, however it falls.

Albeit, if I have to admit I'm wrong, my DW will never know this thread exists... ;)
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I can say I remember we were told not to lock the belt. Part of the ride down, in my understanding mind you, is also including the travel of the seatbelt until the emergency locking occurs. If the seatbelt is already in a locked position, then this cannot happen. I in no way claim to be perfect, and may have misunderstood this one, but I don't think so. We're no longer using the harness of the CR to do this function in a booster. We lock down the CR into a pre-crash position so the harness can do its job from a solid base. I'm going to check on this one when I get home via email, as it's important to me that I have this correct, however it falls.

Albeit, if I have to admit I'm wrong, my DW will never know this thread exists... ;)


Well.... let's talk pretensioners, then... they lock the belt up before the crash... :rolleyes:. And how is a locked belt any different from a static harness...? :whistle: And recaro has those shoulderbelt lockoffs...surely they have some expertise in seatbelts.... Anyway, we won't get into anyone being 'wrong' (no one will call your wife, rofl), but really, it's perfectly ok to lock the belt...they MAY have advised you to educate parents that a child that wiggly would be safer in a harnessed seat, however, which is definitely true (back in the 'olden days' before HWH seats, it was one of our best recommendations to keep those 40 pound 2 yo's sitting still in a booster....now there are better choices).
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
In the handful of times my daughter 5years old has ridden in her Recaro young style, she has ridden perfect every single time. I'm not sure why I am so lucky, but I'm not going to complain. I guess I've drilled into her head so many times about carseat safety/ booster safety that she just does it.

It's gotta be luck ;) My kiddo was knowledgable enough by PreK to lead a lesson on proper booster use -- at her request after watching her best friend pull away in the front seat in a backless booster with the belt behind her back.... Still, now about 2 years later, when riding with friends, I do have to give her reminders (only when the vehicle doesn't have Switchable/Automatic Locking Retractors).

She will be riding in the Monterey soon on a regular basis in my parents' vehicle, but her primary seat is actually the Ride Safer Travel Vest because we only carpool, rideshare, walk + bus: we don't own a vehicle & our friends have a very wide variety of vehicle types.
 

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