Please explain how belt positioners work on boosters

My boys are 39.5" tall/35+ lbs, and their shoulders are about 1/2" to 1" from the top slot on their Evenflo Triumph. They are also a few months shy of their 3rd birthday so the fidget factor is huge. Looking at many of the car seats on the market (the Marathon etc), it seems that the kiddos will be outgrowing the height limit at about the same time or before they reach the weight limit. It does seem that the Regent is the only one to fit the bill though I'm not crazy about the fact that there's neither support for a sleeping child nor side impact protection for the head area. And I also hear that the straps are very twist-prone. And of course, I need to buy 4 plus a new car (our only car just pooped out). So I'm trying to look into an economical solution. Though, safety is first so if it's necessary, I will spend the money.

I was looking at some high back boosters while I was looking at the other seats at the store. I'm curious to know, since I've never actually used one before, how tightly the belt positioning slots up top hold the belt in. In other words, does it offer any resistence or can you just pull it in and out? I looked at the Graco Cargo and it seemed like it would be pretty tight. Does the belt slide through too easily? I'm just thinking that if there's any resistance at all, my guys may not try to move around. If there's little or none, it wouldn't be worth it. Can anyone explain? I'm assuming there's very little resistence, hence the recommendation for kids age 4+, right? Just need to be sure I didn't leave any stone unturned.

Thank you.

I think you'd benefit from my booster article. LINK
Booster seats are not supposed to hold kids still - all they do is "boost" the child so that the adult seatbelt fits that child properly. If your children are not mature enough to sit properly AT ALL TIMES, then they are not ready for a booster and should still be harnessed.

Seats that do not allow the seatbelt to move freely are not recommended because they can allow dangerous slack to be introduced into the seatbelt, but not allow it to retract fully.

Thank you for the quick response! Good thing I checked! Very informative.

If you have headrests in your vehicle, you might want to try them in a Cosco/Safety first Apex. It harnesses to 65lbs, has higher slots then your triumph's and becomes a booster after. It might work for your boys and it doesn't cost as much as the other seats you mentioned.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/inde...2255957&origkw=apex&kw=apex&parentPage=search
HTH!! Jen

First off, it could be awhile before you need to buy new seats. 1" of torso room is a lot! They could grow a couple more inches before they grow 1" in their torsos.

The Triumph top harness slots are 14.5" high. Seats like the Marathon, Fisher Price Safe Voyage, and Cosco Apex have harness slots that are 17.5" high. While, yes, they will outgrow the seats by height before weight (almost all kids do), they will definitely be able to be harnessed a lot longer than the Triumph. My 4.5yo is in a Marathon with 1/2-1" of room to grow. My nephew is almost 6 and still has 1" of room to grow in the Marathon. He's not short, but most of his height is in his legs.

At not-yet-three (or even at 3) your kids are too young to ride in a belt positioning booster and need to continue in a 5-point harness.

Although the Regent doesn't have wings that tout "True Side Impact Protection" it does offer excellent side impact safety ~ just based on the fact that it's a 5point harness + it's overall width + a unique hollow double frame shell made of a stronger grade plastic than other carseats + it's lined with EPS foam ... if you can afford it, I personally consider the Regent the safest seat for bigger kids (other than the SafeGuard Childseat which is very expensive), however we don't have data comparing one seat's safety against another ~ they all pass the same Federal standards.

The Apex is a more affordable seat that is comparable to the Regent, but it lacks the extra side impact features described above & just feels flimsy (it does require adjustable vehicle headrests while the Regent requires top tether anchor after 50#)

Sleeping support is no less of an issue in the Apex than it is in the Regent (only the Boulevard or Recaros provide really good built in sleeping support), but this has not been a major issue for any of dozen+ kids in my family & daycare ~ just give them a crib pillow or stuffed toy or blanky

IME, the Regent harness is no more or less twist prone than any Dorel Juvenile, Graco or Evenflo ~ if you simply take a few extra seconds upon buckling to pay attention to how it's used it should not be an issue

Do you have just 2 boys?

The CarGo in particular has the pros of 17" high top harness slots (comparable to the Apex, but the Regent = 20") & it's narrow (Apex & Regent are both wide) & is FAA approved (Apex is, too, but Regent is not). The major cons are that it only harnesses to 40# (Apex = 65# / Regent = 80#) & it is no more dedicated as a booster than the Apex, although it does have more risk of causing slack in the seatbelt as Rebekah described ~ if the shoulder belt lies correctly across the middle of the chest & collar bone without the belt guides then you would not need to use them anyway....

If I were you I would try to save towards the Regent, but the Apex is still a very fine choice (we have one & like it, especially since we'll be traveling tomorrow!) ~ if you have Automatic Locking Retractor Seatbelts (check the vehicle manual) + side curtain airbags then it would be less important to spend the $ on a Regent: ALR belts can help keep children properly positioned in a booster. Without ALR, the Recaro Start has built in shoulder belt lockoffs, but it's also quite expensive.

If you might have another child in the future you could also look into the Sunshine Kids Radian, which is narrow, folds for travel, is FAA approved, reasonably priced, has 18" top harness slots & 65# weight limit ~ it can be used RF or FF ... so when the boys outgrow it you can hand it down & by then the boys should be mature enough for a dedicated booster (preferably something that has deep head wings with EPS foam like the Turbo or Parkway)

At your boys' size and age, there's no way I would recommend a belt positioning booster seat. When a child is in a harnessed seat the responsibility of being safely restrained is on the parent--we must make sure the seat is installed and used properly. When a child moves to a booster seat the responsibility of being safely restrained moves to the child. Is a 2-3 year old mature enough to handle that responsibility at all times? Or is it likely that a 2-3yo would move out of position some of the time? Honestly, the bare minimum to safely move a child to a booster is both 4 years old and 40 pounds. Lots of kids aren't truly ready, maturity-wise, until age 5-6, or older. My dd is 5.5 right now and uses her booster (spare seat) properly most of the time, but I still have to remind her to sit back and quit leaning around. Enough that I'm not comfortable with her using a booster full-time just yet.

My dd was the same size as your boys when she was 2 years and 8 months old. She had outgrown her convertible carseat by height already at that point with a torso height of 14.5-15 inches, about what your boys are if they have 1/2-1" left in the Triumph. We did choose a Husky (same as Regent) at that time, however, she would have lasted in a Marathon until around her 5th birthday.

Yes, it's true that most kids will outgrow the Marathon by height before reaching 65 pounds. It's true of almost all harnessed seats (that they will be outgrown by height before weight). Most kids will make it to 45-50 pounds and 4-6 years old in the Marathon, and a safe age and size to use a booster seat.

Other options are out there, though. There's the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe ($150-$180) which is made by Britax and based on the Marathon. It has the same top slot height (so will be outgrown at the same time) and a 55 pound weight limit. No built-in lockoffs and no rear-facing tether like Britax.

There's also the Sunshine Kids Radian. This is also a convertible like Britax and Fisher Price, but it sits flat on the vehicle seat instead of up on a base (a plus for older kids who are already forward-facing, IMO). It's also narrower than the Britax and Fisher Price seats and has taller top slots by about an inch. An inch of torso height can take a year or more to grow, so the Radian offers great longevity. It has more installation issues than Britax though, so if you aren't sure what vehicle you will end up with I'd lean more towards a Britax or Fisher Price.

The Britax Regent has the tallest top slots and highest weight limit and will last most kids to age 8-10. It is a very wide seat though, so a three-seater backseat will usually be down to a two-seater with a Regent. LIke I mentioned before, my dd got a Husky at 2 years and 9 months old, same size as your boys, and it has been her favorite seat we've owned, by far. She slept just fine in it. Oh, and while we're on the subject of the Regent, I'll talk about side impact protection. Any five point harness provides good side impact protection simply because the child is held in place so well. There is more chance for the body to shift out of place when it is restrained with just three points of protection (a lap/shoulderbelt). The sides on the Regent aren't small by any stretch, either.

The last higher weight limit harnessed option is the Safety 1st/Cosco Apex/Alpha Apex (lots of names, Dorel is wonderful about that ). It is a combination seat, meaning it harnesses to 65 pounds (but has the same top slot height as the Marathon, maybe a quarter of an inch higher, so it will be outgrown by height around 45-55 pounds for most kids) and then converts to a booster seat. The downfalls of this seat are that it is wide (almost as wide as the Regent) and flimsy (the headrest bends right back, so in order to provide adequate head/neck/whiplash support this seat must always be supported by vehicle seatback or headrest at least up to the tips of the child's ears; so it's not a good choice for most older vehicles).

There's also the pricey ($400) SafeGuard seat, but I rarely recommend it. It has pretty high top slots, about 19 inches high, so it will amost certainly get all kids to the full weight limit of 65 pounds, but IMO $400 is too steep for a forward-facing only, harnessed to 65 pounds seat.

If you have younger kids to pass seats down to, or if you don't mind only getting 3ish years out of the seats, I'd go with the Britax or Fisher Price.

If you know what vehicle you will have in the future and can try before you buy, I'd go with a Radian.

If you want to harness as long as possible and have the space, I'd go with Regents.

If you want to stay on a budget and have vehicle head support I'd go with Apexes.

For proper comparison be aware that the Triumph has 15.5"-16" top slots, not 14.5" as was previously stated.