CHP told me Britax is safest seat/but which Britax is the safest?

I just got back from my appointment with the CHP. My husband had installed our child seat in our car but I had a feeling it wasnt done properly because it seemed to move too much plus my son has been getting bigger so I wanted to have the CHP adjust the seat belts on him etc...

So anyway, he said that the Graco Safe Seat that we had was the best infant seat to buy in his experience with child seats and when he outgrows it the Britax seats are the best seats over all the rest in terms of safety and ease for installment.

He was a really nice guy. When I asked him what he reccomended for when Nicholas grows out of his infant seat. He said,

"Well as a CHP officer my official answer that we are supposed to tell you is that you should get a seat that fits your car the best. But my non official answer with my experience in seat installations and car accidents is that Britax is the best in safety and the easiest to install."

He also said that those seat protectors are not really safe. They make the car seat slide. So he removed ours. And he said that the center is the safest place and then behind the passenger is the second safest.

But I forgot to ask him which Britax seat is the safest? Any reccomendations?

I agree with him. Officially, the best seat is the one that fits your car, fits your child, fits your budget, and will be used correctly 100% of the time. Whether it's a Cosco Scenera for $50 or a Britax Decathalon for $299, they're both safe. If one will be used incorrectly, then don't get that one.

In my limited experience, Britaxes have been easiest to install. But they're not always the best seat. Please don't go shopping with, "I need a Britax seat, and I need this one" in mind. They may not fit in your car. And depending on your son's age/weight, you may not need one for a long time (the safeseat goes to 30 pounds, about 18 months, and you didn't say how old/heavy your child is). So even if you do decide on a Britax, wait to buy until closer to the time you'll need it. They have a six year life span, so if you buy it now and it sits in your closet for a year then you can only use it for five years (assuming that the date of manufacture was near the date of purchase).

Go and touch a bunch of seats. Babies R Us will let you take them out to your car to install. See what you like best, what fits your budget best, and what your son fits in best.

Britaxes do have a lot of good features, don't get me wrong. They are generally very easy to install, they have straps that don't twist, they have side impact protection, they have EPS foam, they have fairly easy harnesses to adjust (or in the case of the Boulevard an infinitely adjustable headrest and harness), they have padded covers, velcro to hold back the straps, easy harness tightener systems. Lots of nice things. But those are what you pay for, not much more safety, if any. Maybe the side impact protection, but that certainly isn't exclusive to Britax.

HTH

Wendy

You are paying for more time in the seat than most convertibles, too. So even though the upfront cost is more, I would have saved $ going w/ a big Britax when my dd outgrew her baby bucket. Instead she needed 3 different seats in 3 years and one Britax would have done the trick (she's always been at least 75%). The first convertible I bought my dd (Graco Comfortsport) I didn't find out until she was 24 months old and outgrowing it, that it has the lowest top harness slots of any convertible seat. There are issues like that which make research worth doing! Top harness slot height is VERY important since this is why most kids outgrow seats (before reaching the weight limit) Don't go by "This seat harnesses to 40 inches", etc. That's what the Comfortsport claimed, but my dd was 36" tall when she outgrew it. Height guidelines have to be listed, but 2 kids that are both 40" will fit in a seat different because of their torso. Since buying so many different seats for my dd, I have a "prepare for the worst" attitude. You don't want to own a seat for just a year or two and find out you need another seat cause your kid is getting too big for it! This is the approach I took with my youngest dd that's never been above the 25%, I hope her Marathon expires before she outgrows it!

Yes after talking to the CHP officer, we are definitly going to buy a Britax when our baby outgrows his infant car seat. If a CHP officer says that in his experience with accidents Britax is the safest then I will take his work for it.

And I realize they are more expensive than most others but it is worth my baby's safety to pay more money.

But now I am wondering which Britax is the best seat. Any suggestions?

wendytthomas said:

I agree with him. Officially, the best seat is the one that fits your car, fits your child, fits your budget, and will be used correctly 100% of the time. Whether it's a Cosco Scenera for $50 or a Britax Decathalon for $299, they're both safe. If one will be used incorrectly, then don't get that one.

In my limited experience, Britaxes have been easiest to install. But they're not always the best seat. But those are what you pay for, not much more safety, if any. Maybe the side impact protection, but that certainly isn't exclusive to Britax.

HTH

Wendy

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Well according to the CHP officer, he found that in the accidents they have had to deal with they found the Britax seats to have the highest safety. This is not to say that other seats are not safe but that if he had to reccomend one he would reccomend Britax.

Britax can be considered safer because it has more ease of use features that generally make proper use more likely & they have EPS foam for added safety, but more carseats are coming out with this.... Rear-facing tether ability also helps keep the seat more stable during impact, which is nice But, if the seat (Britax or not) does not fit the vehicle or child correctly then it is not safe no matter how expensive -- sometimes certain carseats are just incompatable

• What vehicle year, make, model do you have?
  What is your child's weight & height?
  Is this your only child?

Generally, the middle is safest, but there are some vehicles that do not allow carseat installation in the middle under any circumstance! There is negligable difference between driver vs. passenger side safety & the data can fluctuate yearly so niether side is safer than the other in a crash -- it's a parental choice whether or not you need the carseat on passenger side to make it easier for the driver to see the baby or easier to buckle/unbuckle the child when parallel parking....

The Britax Roundabout has the same rear-facing weight limit as the other Britax convertibles, but it has a shorter seat shell & lower front-facing limits, so I suggest either the Marathon, Decathalon or Boulevard. The Decathalon & Boulevard are designed after the Marathon so the weight & height limits are the same for rear- and front-facing in all 3 seats. The Decathalon & Boulevard both have added infant/toddler padding, but the style is different. The Decathalon has 3 crotch strap positions while the Boulevard has head wings with a one-hand knob adjuster for height. All 3 seats are very safe, assuming they fit your vehicle & child, so it's just a matter of taking a look at them yourself & making a choice based on your own personal preferences

fairytalelover said:

But now I am wondering which Britax is the best seat. Any suggestions?

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Well, the Britax Roundabout is the smallest and least expensive of the Britax convertible seats. However, the seat-shell is shorter and it has a weight limit of 40 lbs.

The bigger Britax convertibles (Marathon, Decathalon, and Boulevard) all have the same seat-shell, which is taller than the Roundabout. These seats all have a 65lb weight limit. The Marathon is considered the original model, and the Decathalon and Boulevard are newer versions with different features.

For instance, the Boulevard (the most expensive) has Side Impact Protection (SIP) wings, as well as a knob adjuster for the shoulder harness straps. This means you will never have to rethread the harness as your child grows taller, you just turn the knob and adjust the harness straps accordingly.

The Decathalon (2nd most expensive) differs a little bit because it has a push-button harness adjuster, instead of the metal lever that the Marathon and Boulevard has. The Decathalon also comes with the infant pillow inserts, so some people think that unless you're using the Decathalon for a newborn or small infant, then its not worth the extra money to spend on pillow inserts that may never be used.

But all 4 Britax convertibles are safe, and you can't go wrong buying any of them.

The Marathon, Decathalon & Boulevard are more likely to keep kiddo harnessed until mature enough to use a booster correctly, so I suggest not considering the Roundabout

fairytalelover said:

Well according to the CHP officer, he found that in the accidents they have had to deal with they found the Britax seats to have the highest safety. This is not to say that other seats are not safe but that if he had to reccomend one he would reccomend Britax.

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I would actually guess that Britaxes aren't the safest, but the people who buy them are slightly more likely to use them properly than the average Cosco/Evenflo/Graco buyer (though I've seen some heinously misused Britaxes and some perfectly used Coscos, so you can't draw a lot of conclusions about what is actually safest in a crash...maybe the Britax buyers are even better drivers with better cars that are likely to perform better in his extremely limited sample size, but in another county or region, Eddie Bauer buyers are better off than Britax buyers...).

As Wendy said, you literally can't go wrong with any of them. Play with them, see which has the most favorable harness adjusters for you...ask yourself if your child can ever be TOO protected in a deadly side impact crash, or have too much comfy padding, or even too cute a cover (I know plenty of safety obsessed techs who buy plain jane Marathons instead of fancy Boulevards because the covers are cuter...seriously, they are all safe).

What are my three kids riding in? LOL, guess... do I have to say it? (I only own 21 seats now, mostly cheap backless boosters, but my kids are almost 9, almost 7, and 6 months and they are mostly in Huskies, Parkways, a Recaro Start, and a Chicco Key Fit, with a Sunshine Kids Radian and Roundabout waiting, probably a Boulevard in the future, unless something better comes out)

Those side wings on the Roundabouts look like they would block the child's view to look outside. That would drive my baby nuts. He loves looking outside when we are driving. That is the only thing that prevents him from crying or getting fussy while in the car.

The Roundabout doesn't have wings. The Boulevard does. We have the older version of the Boulevard, the Wizard (see photo in my siggy) and my daughter has no problem seeing around the wings. She loves them because they're so easy to sleep against. Before the Wizard we had an Advantage (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/CSR2001/csImages/Britax_Advantage.jpg) and those little wings never bothered her, but she was in it from birth. I don't think they're generally a big deal. They look big, but a child simply leans forward to look out of them.

Wendy