S/O When did you put your child in a backless booster full time?

We aren't there yet, dd has been in a backless maybe 8 times now, for a few days after getting her ears pierced, and twice in my BFF's car because it was just easier to grab instead of unlatching her Monterey or getting the Parkway from the 3rd row of my van (yep, sheer laziness). BFF does have Side Curtain AirBags - but so do I, so I am not sure...

Is age or size more important to you?

What was your criteria for moving to a backless?

Does the presence (or lack) of Side Curtain Air Bags influence your decision at all?

I think I might move dd to a backless full time in my van after we move, when school starts. Although, if she is riding a bus, I may just leave the high back in place and let her ride in the 3rd row (where she passes the 5 step test) when she has a friend with us (who I will make sure also passes, or will be required to use a booster), if she is embarrassed anyways - I won't change anything unless she expresses a desire to do so, she will be almost 9 then.

I'd make sure she used the high back though if we were traveling.

A is 6.5 years old, 40lbs, 47" tall. He rides in a Parkway full time.

I also have an Oto in my van for the occasional friend that comes home from school with him. We had this happen last week and the Oto got moved to the captain's chair (with LATCH and the seatbelt comes out of the vehicle seat so it hits the shoulder perfectly) and the Parkway got moved to the 3rd row.

So, A has ridden to/from school in the Oto part of this week because I've been too lazy to move seats around... school is a 2 minute drive on 30mph roads.

Although today he informed me that he *needs* his Parkway back because it's too hard to buckle the Oto... it has belt guides to route the seatbelt through and apparently he's been spoiled by the Parkway. Those belt guides take him an extra 10 seconds to buckle up.

I am sooo going to be crying when the Parkway expires on October 31, 2012. :crying:

I think I'd be fine with a backless full time around 8 years old, but we also have side curtain airbags... so yes, that definitely plays a role in my thinking.

I was wondering the same thing. Though, my son will be in a HBB till he outgrows it(which will be sooner rather than later since he is growing like a weed torso wise)....(i am guessing he will be 8).
He is already 51 pounds and I think around 50 inches. He will be 6, Nov. 7th.

My 11 and 9 yo's are still in HBB's in the third row of my van, because there are no curtain airbags. They ride in no-backs in the center of the van (with shoulderbelt, of course!) or in our Escape with curtain airbags. If my 11 yo has a growth spurt before I can afford a car with curtains in all rows, I'll get a boyish cover for the Frontier and make him sit in that (it's a lot bigger than the Recaro he's still in). He's fine with it, we've discussed how we don't want his head to go flying out the window in a side crash

Ryan has been in a backless booster full time since he was 7. I think he weighed around 50 pounds. He went back into a HBB for a while this summer (when he was 8) because he wanted to. Now he is in the backless and sometimes his new Ride Safer travel vest, but only when the mood strikes him. He likes switching up which seat he rides in.

My kids will be in hbb till outgrown. So far my oldest will be 9 in a month and has 2+ inches of torso to grow out of her turbobooster. We also have no headrests, so backless is not an option right now. We will be purchasing a sienna in a few months, but I prefer the safety of the high backs. My kids will be in them till about age 14 or so I think. I suppose I'll let them have low backs in other people's vehicles should I ever let them ride with someone else. Just because all other kids have not been in a seat since age 5.

You already know my :twocents: , me being the BFF and all but I'll post it anyway.

My biggest issue is whether the shoulder belt fits properly without the back, because the stupid little strap with the router-thingy for backless boosters just sucks.

Also, side curtain airbags do make a difference IMO.

I don't remember when I removed the back from Sam's Turbo, but I remember a bit more about removing it for Fighter's. I wanted to give the HBB to my sister to use for my niece, which meant moving Fighter to a backless, so I checked him for fit. I think that was 2 years ago, when he was 8? Also, when I got the Mazda5 I checked the shoulder belt in the 2nd row for fit as well, before taking the back off the Air.

Oh, I think another important consideration is how long it's been since the child fell asleep in the car. Macha will still fall asleep on the way home from Boise pretty routinely, so I want her in a HBB for all the longer trips.

So yeah - I pretty much completely agree with you.

Greg is going to be 8 in Dec, and I recently debated hbb vs nbb for him. I ended up deciding to get him a Monterey to replace our Parkway (not enough butt room in the PW, makes him slouch and the lapbelt rides us). I just couldn't go to a backless quite yet. And when I asked him, he said he wanted one with wings on the side like his PW so he could rest his head on them when he got tired. I was quite surprised! I don't think he has realized that many of his friends are out of seats altogether.

Not sure if this is helpful at all, but right now, I'm not planning to need a backless booster for our vehicle. by the time dd outgrows the GN harnessed, she will essentially be tall enough to use the regular seat belts. I'll still use it as a hbb though, for as long as i feel necesary but I can't see a backless offering anything in our vehicle...it would be like...why?
for travel/use in other people's cars....I'd probably get a lighter hbb for that once she reaches booster age..say 6? Maybe a turbo or something like that...light and easy to transport, but still a decent booster.

I'm hoping never. We don't even own any backless boosters. My kiddos are/were in Huskies until they are outgrown, and then in Parkways. Hopefully by the time they outgrow the Parkways they'll be big enough to pass the 5-step test. DD was harnessed until just after she turned 10, and she's still in her Parkway at 10y9m. DS is top of the charts, and should be in the Huskies until about age 8. I'm so hoping that we'll be able to get a newer car with side-impact protection before DD outgrows her Parkway, because I'm not thrilled with the non-protection of our current car.

I put my 10 yr old DD in a backless this past spring when she outgrew the Monarch. But - if I could find a decent HBB, (not a cheap Cosco,) that she would still fit in - I'd put her back in in an instant!

Kiddo uses a backless on occasion & has since she was 4 -- usually only for short trips & in the center seat (when there's a head rest + shoulder belt of couse)

It's likely that she'll pass the 5 Step Test in every vehicle before she outgrows the highback version of the Monterey, though, so she'll probably never use a backless as her primary seat....

Is there any benefit in the increased distance to the seat in front that's created with use of a backless booster, for a child whose upper legs are long enough to bend comfortably while sitting all the way back?

Qarin said:

Is there any benefit in the increased distance to the seat in front that's created with use of a backless booster, for a child whose upper legs are long enough to bend comfortably while sitting all the way back?

Click to expand...

That has been debated by techs, but so far as I know only based on conjecture not actual data -- given that all boosters have the same head excursion limits, but high back boosters are proven to offer greater side impact protection ... I don't put much stock in the argument that backless is safer.

If there's less than 32" between the rear & front seats then a high weight harness or vest would be the safer choice.

Jacob went to a backless when he was 9 and didn't fit in the star riser anymore. I tried him in a parkway but with it tall enough for him it would hit the where the roof would start to curve on the side of the van and would tilt.


Daniel is 9 1/2 now but much skinnier and I have a monterey and parkway which are taller and have a new van and the sides aren't an issue.

I would leave a child in the highback booster until he is too big to use it.

Now, that said, I'd opt for an ezonpro harness or RSTV over a backless booster if the child was not able to stay in proper position the whole ride (some kids are serious car sleepers and if they can't stay upright during this, it's just not safe).

Now, my giant kids have been fine this way at about 6.5-7yrs old (which is when they outgrew boosters shorter than the Monterey)

BUT... the extra protection of a highback booster is nothing to shy from.

It is why I was so THRILLED that even though he had been in a backless booster for months (I had hoped Jeffrey would last in the shorter hbbs until the Monterey was released, but it didn't happen), when it came to choosing between the olli and the Monterey, he picked the Monterey because he WANTED the headrest and it's thick wings. He WANTED the sides so that the seat would "give him a hug" while he rode.

I didn't push him at all. He was doing fine, even when sleeping, so if he wanted the olli, I was fine. I just wanted a latchable booster.

Now, while we were waiting for it to ship, he did flop once... we did a u-turn and he flopped during that... so it could be prevented if needed, but having a highback just made me feel better about not having to worry about not doing u-turns, when they are so commonly placed and needed here.

Now, if a child was requesting to move to a backless full time, I would tell them I'd think about it, then figure out if and when I'd be comfortable with it based on that child.

For your daughter, being almost 8 and being plenty tall enough to use one, I wouldn't fight too badly, but I'd still see if there was a way to get her to feel better about staying in a highback, no matter what her friends use.

I was concerned when my nephew visited, as he has a backless booster, but instead of Jeffrey being self-conscious about it, when we were all traveling in my van, he instead was a little show off, bragging about his comfy "pillows" for sleeping, and how his seat gave him a hug to make him feel happy and (because I'd since explained the safety purpose) safer in a crash (yes, he explained the concept of them keeping him in position in the belt in a side impact).

Of course, it ended up balanced out anyway because, even though they are 4mo apart, my nephew can't even begin to buckle himself, so I had Jeffrey be the "big helper" and do it for him... making him feel more grown up in that aspect (of course, this was before he started bragging and any fear of him feeling like he was being treated as a little kid instead of a big boy went out the window)

Never. My dd10 went from a HBB to passing the 5 step test.

lucky duck!

Damian didn't because the Monterey wasn't out yet.

The parkway was outgrown and he didn't pass, so he had to use a backless... and even then, it was hard to find one that would take him all the way (had to get the thinnest booster to raise him up the least)

Now that we have the Monterey, I just keep wishing it had come out sooner... when we got it, Damian had a whole inch left, even though he had already outgrown his backless and now passed the 5-step test.

I wouldn't have bought it when he was in the backless already, but if it had come out when he was outgrowing the parkway, I would have bought it to keep him from moving to a backless until he HAD to (when it would have come to either putting him in one or buying a second Monterey for just those few months)

Of course, when I think about that, then I still think I might have ended up with two montereys and used one in dh's car (with Damian in the middle, it fits... though it's a tight squeeze) and saved for a RSTV.

But I have a booster for that car that works well and gives more space for whoever has to sit in the middle and it's not like I have tons of extra cash.

Never. By the time my short-torsoed log-legged kids outgrow a high back they pass the 5 step. I've also never had more than 1 riding in a booster regularly so I just put that child in the BG.

My kids are also big car sleepers. Even the 12yo still falls asleep on the way to or from school at least twice a week.

bobandjess99 said:

Not sure if this is helpful at all, but right now, I'm not planning to need a backless booster for our vehicle. by the time dd outgrows the GN harnessed, she will essentially be tall enough to use the regular seat belts. I'll still use it as a hbb though, for as long as i feel necesary but I can't see a backless offering anything in our vehicle...it would be like...why?
for travel/use in other people's cars....I'd probably get a lighter hbb for that once she reaches booster age..say 6? Maybe a turbo or something like that...light and easy to transport, but still a decent booster.

Click to expand...

I'm very confused by this. What type of vehicle do you drive? We have a Frontier and while it will keep my dd harnessed for a long time, I cannot imagine she will pass the 5 step test after she outgrows the harness on the Frontier.

My plan is to keep my kids in boosters as long as they need them. I would prefer for them to stay in a hbb if at all possible. If my dd gets older and really pushes for a backless, I will consider perhaps after age 8. I'm really not sure since we are just not there yet.