3-in-1 as booster

unityco · Nov 19, 2008

I wanted to hear some more on the 3-in-1 seats being a bad booster. If the belt fits so poorly on the child in booster mode, how does it pass testing? Is part of the issue that the dummies don't have soft abdomens to realistically show "seatbelt syndrome"?

I wondered (but doubt) if it's possible that these seats only need to pass harness testing to get a sticker, and no testing as boosters has been submitted.

Just looking for some factual ammo against "well they wouldn't sell it as a booster if it was unsafe to use it!"

TIA!

LISmama810 · Nov 19, 2008

I honestly don't know how they test boosters. I don't know if they only use one size dummy (3 yo vs 6 yo), or what the criteria are. I'm sure someone can post that.

I would imagine they test for head excursion, maybe submarining, etc. I doubt there's a test to measure abdominal stress.

Keep in mind that ANY car seat can be a poor fit for certain kids at certain points. The most highly rated, respected booster out there could be a bad choice for a kid who is very tall/short/heavy/thin/etc. That's why it's important that parents pay attention to the way EVERY booster fits their particular children.

The 3-in-1s just tend to not fit a wider variety of kids very well. The shell isn't very tall, the belt guides can be poor, etc. That's not to say it won't work for any kid, it's just that there are usually better options out there.

joolsplus3 · Nov 19, 2008

This study indicated that children still suffer abdominal injuries in boosters http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/esv/esv20/07-0441-O.pdf

IIHS theorized last year that belt fit could be better http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/child_restraints/default.html

And it seems they expanded this little piece into their big study where they compared all booster seats to rate them for best potential fit http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr100108.html ... looks like the combo seats aren't so hot

(the newest ones have lower hip cutouts to keep belts lower, and the Nautilus/Frontier/Symphony seem to be leagues better than the first generation seats, so I'd expect them to fit fine).
:twocents:

3-in-1 as booster

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