Woohoo! After stalking my mail lady all week awaiting the arrival of the anti-rebound bar (ARB) available upon request to all registered Britax G4 convertible carseat owners in Canada, it finally arrived while I was outside enjoying the sunshine (full review of G4s here). I’m impressed. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and straightforward to install. From my very brief test it takes up a tiny bit more front-to-back space (maybe 3/4″-1″ at most, quite possibly less if a person was motivated to gain that space back by compressing the vehicle seat back with a lot of enthusiasm), but the benefits far outweigh that minor issue. It’s already a very compact seat so that 3/4″ isn’t likely to be a make-or-break situation for most people.
Why is it such great news? Until now, Canadian G4 seats must be tethered rear-facing, a marked difference from the G3 seats, and also from American seats (Canada has an anti-rebound standard in our testing process, the US does not). Britax responded to concerns from techs and parents not keen on having to rear-face tether, and this ARB removes that requirement. In Canada we may only tether Swedish-style (down to a fixed point forward of the seat, using the provided D-ring) if the vehicle manufacturer expressly permits it, and to my knowledge, none do. So Aussie-style it is, meaning straps in the way when loading and unloading, and potential incompatibilities if the tether anchor is too far away. Britax does make a tether extender but in the moment that doesn’t work for a lot of people, and the development of the ARB is a much better solution in my opinion, both as a tech and a parent. Please note that these will not be shipped automatically to current owners. You must contact Britax Canada at 1-888-427-4829 to request one free of charge. Please be advised that supplies are limited and may be subject to shipping delays.
We hope to have more information soon on if/when the ARB may begin to ship with Canadian models or if Britax will approve the ARB for use on American G4 seats (Roundabout, Marathon, Boulevard, Pavilion, and Advocate) convertible carseats.
As my three year old would say…”two thumbs up wide” Britax, well done!
See a full tour including attaching and detaching it (easy!) here:
Will it work with G3’s?
*jelly*
I’m jealous of all the cool Canadian ARBs. I want a Canadian Peg convertible. I don’t WANT to tether rf, I want ARBs!! So much easier.
So.Totally.Awesome. I hope they come to the US, though it’s too late for that product to save me from all the fruitless digging I’ve done in some cars (cough, BMW, cough) for a good place to tie the D-rings for RF tethering.