Vent Not loving Britax ATM

DD's at that awkward stage where her harnessed seats are falling by the wayside and yet, I'm not happy with boosters.

Barely 3 weeks ago, a growth spurt put her out of her trusty Radian 65. :crying:


I discovered today that her Frontier Harness no longer fits. Seriously. :jaw:
Neither in dh's BMW seats or the Passat. The seat lean puts the strap slots below her shoulders by an uncomfortable smidge. I re-installed in both cars to make sure. Heck, I was even going to swing back the 'wedge' until I figured that the seat would no longer fit in dh's car, and was uncomfortably upright in mine with her still above the slots. Grrr!!

She's 48.5" & down to 47lbs. In the manual, it says it is preferred that a child remains harnessed until 80 POUNDS!. She's barely half that and it's outgrown! :thumbsdown: She even has a short torso for her height. She's nothing but legs. Somehow though, she's too tall for it. :scratcheshead:

Since I tried it LATCHED & noticed the connectors + double tightners were pushing the seat away from the back of the vehicle seat, I really don't know what I'm going to do with it. I don't want to disassemble the harness & the screw on the headrest only to find out it doesn't work in the Passat as a good booster. :hitselfonhead:
I put it away for the day after all the frustration & wrangling I experienced. That seat was only used ONCE in harness mode!


My solution for the moment -- Move the Parkway to dh's upholstered seat from the Passat. Yeah, yesterday, a friend of dd's was riding in it in my car. The seatbelt was snug, but on the corners, the leather seats were making the Parkway tippy. Scared me.

Then while I"m dealing with the Parkway in DH's car & checking dd's fit, the Headrest won't stay in place. Keeps slipping to the bottom. I have to fiddle with the plastic connectors to make them hold up. Honestly, could they have made those things any cheaper & flimsy?

I 'installed' the Monterey in my car so I can carry one of dd's friends. Seems to fit better & not slide as the Parkway did. I wish it had a top tether. The bottom clips at least keep it from moving. :shrug-shoulders:

But I"m definitely pissed about dd not making it anywhere near the "80" category in the Frontier. Even if she had made 65-70, I"d be a bit more gruntled. But this was ridiculous. :thumbsdown:
At the moment, I am not eager to say anything nice about Britax except for my pre-(BS)'enhanced' Regent. Oh, and that the Parkway was nice for a 4 year old.

I'm just really frustrated because I didn't expect sudden changes like this, especially from the Frontier. It was going to be a 'long term' seat. Didn't realize with all the forced slanting that I'd get the same height range as the Radian did -- which earned its respect these past 3-4 years.
:soapbox:

Josef will outgrow his Regent before he hits 45lbs, and that too is an 80lbs seat with TALL top harness slots. He was pushing, could have even said, he was 42lbs and yesterday when I had to take him to the ER he was BARELY 39lbs We bought the Regent in late May 2007 and he will be out of it around his 6th birthday and only 10ishlbs heavier.

We our Parkway, I was sooo to find one on swap. I have had zero problems with it-so far, installed outboard in my 2005 Honda Accord. Josef prefers the Parkway over the Monterey because it is softer

We both the Monterey and Parkway, both for different reasons. I am not impressed with ANYTHING else on the market currently. I want a spare booster, but I just don't like what is out there-even the Turbo or Vivo :duck:

Interesting how 2 different children fit the seat so individually. Do you use t he Recline bar with your Regent? I don't. No room & not a requirement. DD's taller than your son, but she has plenty of room in the Regent. She turns 6 next month.

She could still be on the 2nd slots down on the Regent, but I moved them up to the top slots the last time I had it uninstalled so I wouldn't have to deal with it in a month or two. I changed them 3 weeks ago. In fact, I ended up using the Radian shoulder pads because they were cutting into her neck.

You can kind of see what I"m talking about here.


She likes the Parkway too. But it's an extra seat for travel & friends than daily use. I didn't think it would slide around like that in my car. Oh well, it fits dh's car better for the moment. :shrug-shoulders:

Well, our Regent is special It is a pre-advisory Regent, but when the "fix" came DH took it upon himself to "fix" it Well, since the "non-slip" pads were starting to bunch and come off anyways, they "accidentally" got tore off when I was cleaning out my car. So, it is installed with the long-belt path and no recline bar. When I give it to a very good family friend it will be installed pre-advisory LBP with the seatbelt, I am even thinking of cutting the LATCH straps off since her DH is a LATCH junkie and using the LATCH straps currently on it is the ONLY "fix" left on it. Told ya it was special

I am not sure how well I will like the Parkway in the center position of my car. Honda has that lovely "hump" in the middle where I DO think the Parkway will become tippy.

Yeah, my former foster son, J, was 4 years 2 months when I got him. He was 44 inches tall and 57 lbs and had already outgrown the Frontier. He was on the top slots of the Nautilus and the XT, and was on the 2nd from top slots of the Regent.

I have no advice. Sorry

It's pretty well known that kids won't make it anywhere near 80 lbs in the Frontier, since it has the same harness height as a Nauti, which most kids won't get to 65 in. But it is strange that your DD has outgrown it already. My DS is the same height as your DD--and has a very long torso--and has room in the Nauti still. It is pretty amazing how different cars/situations can change a seat so much.

I had to comment on your photo, though. It's wonderful that you buckled in the doll, but it looks like she put the shoulder belt behind her back. If she can't sit properly, you should put her back in a 5-pt harness.

LISmama810 said:

I had to comment on your photo, though. It's wonderful that you buckled in the doll, but it looks like she put the shoulder belt behind her back. If she can't sit properly, you should put her back in a 5-pt harness.

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LOL, actually, the seatbelt is holding LUGGAGE in place. She just insisted her dolly had to be secured.

DD1 won't make it anywhere near 80 in her Regent because is that silly post-advisory. I have no choice but to use that ... recline bar and it makes it so reclined, none the less hard to install. Bethany made it to 54~lbs and 49". She is even with the top slots if she actually sits correctly. She would have outgrown the Frontier at about 48# (she was pretty close to even with the tops slots when I tried her at the BRU test bench.)

I can see some kids getting a lot closer than yours did....my grandaughter is solid and short-torsoed....at 44 lbs, 5yo, she JUST outgrew the titan! I can see her getting to 60 in the frontier. DD, at 4, has only 2 clicks left in the frontier. I believe she'll oitgrowaround when your dd did..in about a year, and I foubt dd will be heavier than 47 lbs then..I'e actually not liked the frontier for a while...while it's top slots might measure close to the nauti, due to the recline block and just how it instals, it does not have ANY more growing roon in it than the bigger convertibles like the rn, tf, 50 lb aoe/ca, etc.

My son who is on the top slots of his Marathon still has 4 clicks to go on his Frontier (that I just bought yesterday!) He is on the 2nd to top slot on the Regent (Post-Adv).

bobandjess99 said:

..I'e actually not liked the frontier for a while...while it's top slots might measure close to the nauti, due to the recline block and just how it instals, it does not have ANY more growing roon in it than the bigger convertibles like the rn, tf, 50 lb aoe/ca, etc.

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I really believe that if I had known more about the recline block, I would have tested it out more when I first got it when I could have returned it.
I hope it works better as a booster more. I just don't have the desire at the moment to go disassemble the thing.

That sucks but can I jsut say I am playing with your Froniter AND Monterey in Oct. I want both seats.

Hope you can find a solution.

mykidsmylife said:

That sucks but can I jsut say I am playing with your Froniter AND Monterey in Oct. I want both seats.

Hope you can find a solution.

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Okay, so I'll hold off on taking apart the harness until you can do it.

BTW -- when are you planning on coming out? DD's on Herbst Ferien (Autumn Holidays) from 10-26 Oct. DH & I are figuring out going SOMEWHERE (dang it!) over Columbus Day weekend through the 13th or 14th. We'll be home after that.

We're rather vehement about it because he'll be working long hours until then. Hopefully, not as bad as this previous week. His worst day was Thursday. 5:15am - 9:30pm He was back at the office by 5:30 on Friday. Thankfully, he's had a fairly normal quiet do-nothing weekend. He's needed it. He does not function well on 2-3 hours of sleep per night.

Morganthe said:

Okay, so I'll hold off on taking apart the harness until you can do it.

BTW -- when are you planning on coming out? DD's on Herbst Ferien (Autumn Holidays) from 10-26 Oct. DH & I are figuring out going SOMEWHERE (dang it!) over Columbus Day weekend through the 13th or 14th. We'll be home after that.

.

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SERIOUSLY??? UGH! I would be coming up the weekend of the 10th. I will take Johnathon out of school Fri and drive up Thur afternoon.
So we could meet for a bit on the 9th but I will be leaving Sunday morning to come back.

Hopefully we can get together.

It there any way the headrest on the Frontier got lowered?

Morganthe said:

Didn't realize with all the forced slanting that I'd get the same height range as the Radian did -- which earned its respect these past 3-4 years.
:soapbox:

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La-la-la-la, I didn't just hear that.

I, too, get about the same amount of room out of the Frontier as the radian in my van.

J has 3/4 of an inch and I am trying to tell myself that I will get at least a year more out of it and that the next growth spurt will all be in the legs. I am not panicing. I mean, I have no reason to panic. He does wonderfully in his vivo despite his young age.

He has started eating massive amounts again and his feet are growing...early signs of another growth spurt.

safeinthecar said:

It there any way the headrest on the Frontier got lowered?

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I made sure that the harness adjustment was as high as possible within the clicky frame. :shrug-shoulders:
Several times because I couldn't believe that she went from having a notch below to completely OUTGROWN within a month's time.

mykidsmylife said:

SERIOUSLY??? UGH! I would be coming up the weekend of the 10th. I will take Johnathon out of school Fri and drive up Thur afternoon.
So we could meet for a bit on the 9th but I will be leaving Sunday morning to come back.

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The 9th would actually work out rather well. DD has school until noon. Then we're free. We won't leave until Saturday morning. We're thinking of going up to Archeon in the Netherlands if it's open. Spend a few days there including Amsterdam's museums. Have to work out the details.

DH had the wild idea of going to another Open Air Museum in Denmark on one of its islands, that has actual archeology going on at the same time. True North for Autumn in October???? Nope. :thumbsdown: Early winter could hit up there on the North Sea at any time. Not my idea of fun.

arly1983 said:

La-la-la-la, I didn't just hear that.

I, too, get about the same amount of room out of the Frontier as the radian in my van.

J has 3/4 of an inch and I am trying to tell myself that I will get at least a year more out of it and that the next growth spurt will all be in the legs. I am not panicing. I mean, I have no reason to panic. He does wonderfully in his vivo despite his young age.

He has started eating massive amounts again and his feet are growing...early signs of another growth spurt.

Click to expand...

I'd rather take feet growing than the screatching uber-whine that goes on constantly around here. EVERYTHING is to be fussed about. (sigh) I swear I'm going to use earplugs.

But keep telling yourself that 3/4 of an inch will last a long time. :2thumbsup: :evil grin:
DD was on the second click down. It fit... She grew. I moved it up -- no more fit. It sucks. :thumbsdown:

bobandjess99 said:

I can see some kids getting a lot closer than yours did....my grandaughter is solid and short-torsoed....at 44 lbs, 5yo, she JUST outgrew the titan! I can see her getting to 60 in the frontier. DD, at 4, has only 2 clicks left in the frontier.

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Holy crow. My not yet 3yr old had outgrown the titan by around an inch when I tried him in it at 2.5yrs old. (the new 47lb titan )

My now 5yr old and 44lb dd was using 2nd from top harness height in May when we were visiting friends. She'd definitely outgrow the frontier long before the Canadian 65lbs, never mind the US 80lb limit. If I was to guess, she'd probably outgrow it around 50lbs or so. Then again, who knows how she'd fit in our vehicle because our seats are much more reclined than my friends vehicle... She's using the top slots in the Nauti right now with almost the full distance between the 2nd highest and highest for growing room, so definitely more growing room in it than the Frontier.

Sounds like it must be so dependent on the car . Bitsy fit in the Marathon till 6, Radian till 7, Frontier till 8. And it installs tight in our captain's chairs or flat bench seat beautifully in harnessed and booster modes

Good excuse to buy a lovely german booster?

A wiggly tippy parkway used to bug me, but after 5 years I don't notice it anymore

I think it is dependent on the car. My (former) Marathon installed very reclined in my (former) Forester, which my daughter adored but it cost us lots of torso room -- she was long-torsoed but not exceptionally so and she was out of that seat at 42".