The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ranks boosters as a Best Bet, Good Bet, Check Fit, or Not Recommended
Just a few years ago, the list of belt-positioning boosters that fit kids really well was on the short side. Now the vast majority of boosters fit children well in a variety of vehicles making it easier than ever before to keep the “forgotten children”—kids who are prematurely transitioned to seat belts before they’re big enough to fit well—comfortable and safe in boosters. This year, the IIHS evaluated 53 new booster seat models and 48 earned the highest rating of “Best Bet.”
What is a “Best Bet”? The booster should correctly position the seat belt on a typical 4-8 year old child in most vehicles. But remember, your vehicle may not be “most” vehicles and may have a different belt geometry. Always try before you buy, if you can, and hold onto the box and receipt in case you need to return the booster.
A “Good Bet” means that the belt fit will be acceptable in most vehicles and these boosters shouldn’t be automatically shunned because they aren’t “top tier.” “Check Fit” means just that: it may fit a larger child better than a smaller child in some vehicles or vice versa. I’ve used “Check Fit” boosters quite successfully before with my kids in my cars—it definitely doesn’t mean you should chuck the seat out with the bathwater.
Here’s an excellent example of a Best Bet booster, the Graco 4Ever in backless mode, that fits well in one vehicle but not in another. You can see that in the vehicle on the left, the shoulder belt fit is poor whereas in the vehicle on the right, the shoulder belt fit is excellent. The lap belt fit in both vehicles is excellent. We need to have excellent fit for both shoulder belt AND lap belt in order for the booster seat to be safe.
What does good belt fit look like?
What about that new Internet sensation, the mifold Grab-and-Go Booster? IIHS didn’t evaluate it because they felt it wasn’t a true belt-positioning booster. A booster lifts a child up 3-5″ and essentially makes them bigger to position the seat belt properly over the hip bones whereas the mifold repositions the seat belt, so IIHS researchers felt it wasn’t comparable to boosters for ratings purposes. You can read more about that here.
New Best Bet Boosters Tested in 2016
(this is not an all-inclusive list – many boosters were rated in previous years)
Check Fit Boosters |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer and Model | Can Use LATCH | CarseatBlog Review | CarseatBlog Recommended Seat |
| Britax Parkway SGL (backless mode) | Y | Review | Y |
| Lil Fan Club Seat 2-in-1 (highback mode) | Review | ||
| Peg Perego Viaggio Flex 120 (highback) | Y |
Not Recommended Boosters |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer and Model | Can Use LATCH | CarseatBlog Review | CarseatBlog Recommended Seat |
| Cosco Easy Elite (highback) | |||
| Cosco Highback 2-in-1 DX (highback) |
For the complete 2016 IIHS Status Report with listing of all previously ranked boosters, visit the IIHS website: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/sr/statusreport/article/51/9/1
There are a total of 118 Best Bet boosters available right now, 9 Good Bet boosters, and 27 Check Fit boosters. Odds are high that the booster you choose for your child will work well, but it’s always best to check the fit in every vehicle you use the booster in since seat belt geometry varies so much.
Please note that many very good boosters are not included in our Recommended Carseats list. This may be simply because we have not yet reviewed them. In other cases, we may feel they were very good products, but just didn’t offer quite as much as others we did recommend. Even if a product is not listed as a “CarseatBlog Recommended Seat,” it may still be worth consideration if it works well with your child and vehicle.
It’s so disappointing that the Cosco Highback 2-in-1 DX makes the Not Recommended list only because it is usually the easiest/cheapest locally available option for low income parents with alternate care providers who are not so safety savvy (which too often means the kids are basically in charge of their own safety)
None of the Britax boosters are a “best bet” in backless mode? That is interesting. My son is in a pioneer and we don’t plan on switching out of harness mode any time in the near future but that is definitely something to think about.
Raina, it’s not necessarily a problem, especially with backless boosters. Oftentimes it’s because backless boosters don’t position the shoulder belt well across the child’s shoulder and that’s why so many of them rate a “Check Fit.” Having a back on a booster helps place the child forward in cases where shoulder belt geometry is forward of the back seat and makes it easier to place the shoulder belt just right, for instance. Many backless boosters get around this fit problem by including a shoulder strap, but I don’t believe Britax does.