pioneer in booster mode belt slips

[squishles10]

We recently switched my 6 yo to booster mode in our pioneer. Frankly, I hate it. You have to pull the belt out so far to get it clicked that the locking mechanism kicks in and half the time the belt gets stuck on the armrest and we have to wrench it out. Also, the shoulder belt slot opening is on the bottom so the belt is always falling out. Can I tape the hole shut? Any suggestions on the ridiculous amount of belt needed to buckle the belt? We're about to get a new car so Im hoping the locking problem will go away but the slot is a real issue. I'm pretty annoyed since we bought this for long term use. We also have a frontier but haven't switched it over yet. Am I going to have the same issues there? That one is in a brand new car so it is what it is. I hate to switch him to a backless already, for no particular reason I guess, but I will if it'll work better. The only backless he's ever been in is a bubblegum which is far from how a regular booster works so it's not helpful with that.

Assuming the britax's are just terrible boosters, any suggestions for an alternative? He's tiny. The bare minimums for booster mode in the pioneer (47" 40lbs? I double checked before I switched it). Latch is a must, cupholder or two are pretty important as the new car doesn't have a close cupholder and I don't want him leaning all over.

I appreciate any help you can give me!

 

[squishles10]

After popping over to amazon reviews- lots of cushion is also important. We do road trips and he's boney. The new car is the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which I can't find much info on boosters since it's brand new. I won't buy the booster until I get it to check fit but the bumblebee fit just fine in the test drive. Not helpful I'm sure- that thing fits in everything.

 

[Dillipop]

The britax combination seats don't tend to work really well with smaller booster riders. They tend to start working well right around the time a child is ready to outgrow the harness. Any reason he can't just remain in the harness a little longer?

If you are sure you want a booster, there are many highbacks that fit smaller kids pretty well- most of the Graco highbacks for sure and the Affix has latch. The britax parkway and recaro performance boosters are a bit more dependent on body type but should work much better than the pioneer.


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[squishles10]

For the summer he could go back, but next year drop off is different from kindergarten and he has to be able to get out on his own or I have to park and get him unhooked, which means I'll have to park and get out and walk around. There's not really a place to do that that doesn't block everything.

How does him being bigger make the strap work better? I don't have a bigger kid to try it out and see, and I exceed the weight limit I think a big part of the issue is the belt locking. It's a horrible design. I lean forward a couple inches and it locks and I have to take it off and reset it ALL THE TIME. It's ridiculously dangerous. It'll tighten so much it's uncomfortable. The other day I couldn't get it to loosen and we had to pull over and fiddle with it. I hate it. I'm guessing the back seats are similar so hopefully that part goes away with the new car but the strap falling out the bottom seems like a bad design. The Chicco and Graco have the slot on top. My husband has the same brand car and his belts don't lock like mine. I've never been in a car that does this.

 

[lgenne]

Can he unbuckle himself if he's harnessed? My 6 year old unbuckles himself and his 4 year old brother. (And the forbidden toddler if I'm not fast enough. We're working on it...)

I'd re-harness him until you get the new car at least, then reassess.

We love our Parkway SGL, and it seems to meet all your requirements.

 

[squishles10]

No he can't unbuckle himself. The crotch piece is really hard to click. I have to push hard from the front. There was a very sad situation in which some kids got stuck in their seats because they couldn't get out so we tried for weeks to get him to get out. I think given enough time he could loosen the bottom and wiggle out, but no unclicking.

Our plan right now is to install both a booster and the frontier in the minivan. For drop off he can sit in the back in the booster. For daily use he can use the frontier and we'll have the frontier for friends. The pioneer can go in dad's car. We got a Chicco Kidfit Zip yesterday on Amazon for $103 with free returns so hopefully that will fit in all our cars.

I still don't have a solution for the shoulder strap popping out. I can't see why tape would hurt but any thoughts on that?

 

[ketchupqueen]

Often belt geometry plays a part. If the seat is at a higher setting that may improve. If not, some belts just don't work with that belt guide. (When that's so, generally only a few boosters don't have this problem- Kiddy, Maxi-Cosi Rodifix, and sometimes Chicco Kidfit.) Adding tape would be modifying The seat. You'd have to speak to Britax about that as it hasn't been tested that way.

If you want to get more use of the seat you could consider a Buckle Bopper to aid him in unbuckling though.

 

[squishles10]

The new car comes tomorrow so fingers crossed its better. This transition to boosters is terrible. Something is wrong with every single one of them. For DH it's definitely his car but I have different issues in my car
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