Backless Vs High-back boosters

[Momof4Girls]

What is the deal? I KNOW in my heart of hearts that backless are not good, especially for younger booster seat riders, but why, exactly?? What is the logic there? Is it the SIP? Comfort? The HBB helps remind them where to sit properly? Something else entirely?

We are trying to convince my ILs to buy a seat off of us and we replace it with a Regent in our car. The seat has about 3 years left in it (the one they'd buy), at which pt dd could go into a booster seat safely and easily. She'd still have the Regent in our car. ILs want to buy backless boosters, and I won't let my kids ride in one (ages 5 and 3). MIL is having a fit about dd2 (3 y/o) not riding in a booster seat, when she was, at one point. She demonstrated that she is NOT mature enough, after all, to handle a HBB. So, we have one HBB (Parkway) in ILs' car for dd1, and another HBB (Monarch) in ours for dd1. In ILs car, dd2 is riding in a RA (Yes, she still fits in it, and yes, she was in a booster seat for a short while), in our car, she's riding in a Wizard. The ideal situation is to sell ILs our Wizard and replace it, in our car, with a Regent.

ILs don't understand why we won't put the girls in backless boosters, and I don't know all the details. Help me out here!

Raechel

 

[MomToEliEm]

For frontal crashes, the main reason to have a high-back over no-back booster is if you did not have head support for your car. If your car does not have a headrest, then you need a high back booster for your child. Note that some booster seats such as the cosco apex 65 (or safety first apex, or a few other names like that) requires a headrest behind the seat so if you had that seat, you must have a headrest at all times. Make sure to read the owner's manual to verify that a highback booster you might have can work without a headrest (many can, but a few cannot).

The main benefit for a high back booster over a no-back booster is for side impact crashes. The child's head could hit the car door (or some other object) during a side impact crash if their head is not contained within a high back seat without good wings.

Video of High Back Booster with deap side wings:
http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/html_...ideos/test2002/seitencrash/concordliftpro.mpg

Video of high back booster with shallow side wings
http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/html_seiten/kisitest_2002/videos/test2002/seitencrash/htsbesafe.mpg

Video of a no back booster
http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/html_...1/seitencrash/Baby_Sunny_touring_P3_vorne.mpg

If your car has side curtain airbags in the backseat, then a no back booster would probably be fine, but if not, the added protection of a good highback booster would be very benificial.

 

[sfeitler]

Thanks, I've been wondering the same thing myself! We have a 2004 Prius with side-curtain airbags, and we carpool some of DD's 6-year-old friends (who are in boosters in their own cars, and are over 40 pounds), and I think it would be easier if we could use a backless booster, because we're doing 3-across.

-Sarah

 

[scatterbunny]

Previous poster covered it well, but I wanted to add a few things: a booster is NOT an acceptable choice for a 3yo, period. Not a highback, not a backless, no booster at all. Age 4 and 40 pounds is the bare minimum, but harnessing longer is much safer. Tell your family that EVERY STEP UP IN CHILD RESTRAINTS IS A STEP DOWN IN SAFETY. It is not something to look forward to, a sign of a child "growing up", not something to get excited about. We should look forward to the graduation from each step in child restraints with a sense of dread, because we are really demoting our child's safety when we go from rear-facing to forward-facing, from harnessed to highback booster, and from highback booster to backless booster.

 

[skaterbabs]

Absolute. A booster is fine for your older child, but a three year old has no business in a booster, period. The brain synapses that govern impulse control don't develop until 5-6 years old.

A booster doesn't restrain a child the way a harness does, it simply lifts the child so the vehicle seatbelt sits properly on the child's body.

 

[Mom to a few]

I think this video demonstrates the differences better than most. I know it really changed my thinking about SIP.

Crash test video

 

[joolsplus3]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php
"The risk reduction provided by booster seats in side-impact crashes varied by booster seat type: 4-to 8-year-olds riding in high back booster seats were at a 70 percent reduction in injury risk, while those in backless boosters did not experience a statistically significant risk reduction as compared with seat belts alone."

(my note, this data encompasses all cars, it's *possible* that side curtain airbags would add a large margin of safety, but until more data come out, highbacks are considerably safer, period)

 

[Victorious4]

The page titled "Preschool -- Preteen" in my website explains, too....

 

[chrisben]

I think this video demonstrates the differences better than most. I know it really changed my thinking about SIP.

Crash test video

Just curious: this website recommends avoiding the Recaro Start. Anyone know what the problem was? It claims that the Recaro Start, along with the other seats to be avoided, "use the adult seat belt for a 9kg child (around 9 months), which means they don't provide adequate protection." Surely that's not the case? I'm sure Recaro doesn't approve of using a booster for a 9-month-old!

 

[skaterbabs]

It's common practice in some parts of Europe (the UK comes to mind.)

 

[joolsplus3]

Just curious: this website recommends avoiding the Recaro Start. Anyone know what the problem was? It claims that the Recaro Start, along with the other seats to be avoided, "use the adult seat belt for a 9kg child (around 9 months), which means they don't provide adequate protection." Surely that's not the case? I'm sure Recaro doesn't approve of using a booster for a 9-month-old!

Yeah, they do recommend it, always have... but... a 30 pound 9 mo is fairly hard to come by, at least (limiting the number of kids who would be in it that young)! (The EU version also has a foam body shield to use instead of the belt as an aftermarket accessory for kids under 40 pounds, and those are exceptionally safe). But the biggest difference is that the US version has a top tether that MUST be used, the EU version doesn't have it...it's a heavy seat and the crash tests show how much it loads the child in a crash. I think the US version is almost a completely different seat, owing to that top tether, I'd love to see crash testing with the top tether in place, but I have faith it's better, and happily put both my kids in them

 

[Mom to a few]

Just curious: this website recommends avoiding the Recaro Start. Anyone know what the problem was? It claims that the Recaro Start, along with the other seats to be avoided, "use the adult seat belt for a 9kg child (around 9 months), which means they don't provide adequate protection." Surely that's not the case? I'm sure Recaro doesn't approve of using a booster for a 9-month-old!

Well, it's not a US site, so all the seats (and their recommendations) wouldn't really be applicable here. I just thought the video was a great comparison of how well the various seats protected the kids--especially during side impact. Some make it sound like as long as the booster seat has a high back, that they all offer the same level of protection, but there was clearly a big difference between the seat with shallow wings--and the one with deeper ones like Britax makes.