Question does Britax Marathon have side impact protection?

[lrmb]

Hi! apologies if this question appears elsewhere...

I'm trying to decide between the Marathon and Boulevard. I've read conflicting statements about whether the side wings and protection on the Boulevard are significantly better than on the Marathon.

Does anybody know the real deal about the difference between these models? We have our three-year-old son in the Boulevard in my most-used car, and a Marathon in my husband's less-used car, but are trying to decide whether we should just get two Boulevards for our 14-month-old.

Thanks!

 

[jjordan]

Welcome to car-seat.org.

There are no universal standards in the US for side impact protection. So if you're comparing seats, you basically have just your own observations to go on. Is the boulevard better than the marathon? No one knows for sure. If you *think* it is better, and if it is worth the extra money to have a seat that you feel better about, then there is no harm in that.

The Advocate, according to Britax, does reduce energy in side impact collisions by 45% (although I'm not sure if this is compared to a boulevard, or what).

If your 3 year old is forward facing, then you might consider an option that you didn't list, which is to pass the 3 year old's convertible seats down to the toddler and get new, forward facing only, seats for the 3 year old.

 

[jkrkmama]

I'm personally don't like the headings so I just stuck with roundabouts and marathons. I don't feel that my baby is less safe without them. It's a personal choice IMO and one I didn't feel was worth the extra money since there were no official standards.

 

[henrietta]

I agree w/JJordan.

Also, depending on if your 3 yr old is rearfacing, how long you want to continue rearfacing him, and his size....you may want to consider a taller rearfacing convertible to move him into and hand his seats down to the younger one. Diono Radians, Learning Curve True Fit, Safety First Complete Air, and the Maxi Cosi Pria may all keep him rearfacing longer than his Britax.

If he's forward facing already, esp if he's on the larger percentiles, I'd look at the Britax Frontier...or Graco Nautilus/Argos, Recaro ProSport, or Evenflo Secure Kid 300/400. I just installed the Secure Kid for my just turned 4 yr old...and I feel the side wings are very deep and protective. (And we handed down his Blvd to my niece, who's just over 2 and forward facing...I wanted her in that Blvd! LOL) We've had lots of Evenflo's and lots of Britax....I feel the side impact protection is comparable when I'm playing around w/the seats. They are deep seats, and when you add in headwings, they are even more so.

And fwiw, all rearfacing seats have significant "side impact protection" just by way of being rearfacing. That's part of why rearfacing is so, so protective in a side impact. Even in carseats w/out special headwings and extra EPS foam. A rearfacing harnessed carseat is excellent protection in all types of crashes.
hths

 

[Unregistered]

Thank for the responses - they are much appreciated!

My 3 (almost 4) year old is forward facing so there are a few options for him too. We had hoped to keep him rear-facing, but he had complained of back pain over a number of months, and the pediatrician told us to turn him and see if it made a difference. Lo and behold, no more back complaints, so I guess he had somehow not been fitting well into the seat anymore. (We'd hoped he would just pretzel up like other kids I'd seen but he has super long legs and it was a Britax with little room, so who knows, maybe it was just a bad combination.)

I think we're going to put a Pavilion (aka Boulevard CS, yes?) in the main car and a Boulevard in the second - there are good prices right now so we'll just stick with gut instinct.