Am I the only one who wouldn't want to put their LO in a trial seat?!
Trial doesn't mean that it hasn't passed FMVSS standards. Heck, I know someone here on this board that had a pre-market release of the Britax Blvd CS.
It makes sense to have a small release prior to mass release so that if the seat has major issues, you can redesign the seat and re-test it prior to producing the inventory. Yes, certification & design is expensive, but so is releasing a seat that doesn't sell. This stage could also be about things like padding and colors - type of cupholder, if something needs to be clearer in the instructions...
Thinking of the Advocate, Britax even did pre-sales on it, but then scrapped it before it went in to full production. No clue why, but they must have found something prior to marketing. :shrug-shoulders:
But you can be certain that in order for it to be used in the vehicle it has already passed FMVSS standards. The seat just isn't available to the public yet.
eta: The harness adjuster positioning doesn't look problematic to me. If you look at it in relation to where the bend in the seat is, it's actually pretty high up and close to the bend. I wouldn't expect that area to be squished in to the seatback.
I am curious how the harness is removed for booster mode - maybe it gets stored behind the cover somehow or something? I think the biggest reason the EFTA harness isn't removable is because of the knobs - the harness tightens around a mechanism under the seat- I'm guessing like a spool. That part would be impossible to remove and then replace & rethread. With this seat having a front adjuster, I'm guessing the hip straps are anchored and will come up through the shell somehow leaving the top of the harness the only part I can't really speculate on.
I'm sure the red tabs would cause problems for fewer kids if they just made them a little narrower and not as thick - or even made it red fabric like a heavy duty clothing tag type thing. (Thinking the fabric that Britax uses for it's name on their covers.) It would have the same effect, but wouldn't add extra height or an edge on the top of the harness... the red tabs have never bothered ds, but since they bother others, they would do well to address it.