UPPAbaby Alta Highback Booster with Rigid LATCH Review
UPPABaby’s new ALTA highback booster is a sleek, premium booster with some fabulous features. Installation is a dream! This is probably the easiest booster seat I’ve ever installed from the way the rigid lower anchor connectors release to the way you shift the booster into place once attached. I also love that you can slide the booster away from the back of the seat while keeping the lower anchors attached to make it easier to adjust the height, then slide it right back in place. Last but not least, it’s one of the tallest and widest boosters on the market which makes ALTA a great option for bigger kids.
ALTA Weight and Height Limits
- 40-100 lbs.; 38-57”
- No age minimum is listed on the ALTA label or in the instruction manual but UPPAbaby recommends that children be at least 5-6 years old and mature enough to stay properly seated in a booster.
ALTA Overview
- 7-position height-adjustable headrest
- Rigid lower LATCH connectors
- Lined with energy-absorbing foam
- External Side Impact Pods absorb and disperse crash forces
- Optional SecureFit™ lap belt positioner helps position lap belt properly
- Zip-off seat base fabric for easy cleaning
- One removable, dishwasher-safe cup holder
ALTA Measurements
ALTA is very tall in its maximum height setting. It’s also very generous in its seating area width which makes it a good option for taller and/or wider kids.
Shoulder belt guide heights: 14 ¾”-22”
SecureFit™ lap belt positioner: 7.5″
Inside shoulder width: 13 ½”
Inside hip width: 13”
Seat depth: 14”
External widest point: 18 ½”
Seat weight: 16 lbs.
Assembly
Attaching the back to the base is standard assembly for boosters and it’s an easy task. The ALTA is a sturdy booster so it stays together when you carry it. The cup holder may be placed on either side of the base.
2022 Alta Fashions
Jake/Black, Lucca/Teal, Morgan/Charcoal, Sasha/Gray & Pink
Fit to Child
We were able to achieve a great fit on all of the kids we tried. From our youngest who is right at 40lbs and 44″ (he’s still in a 5pt harness) all the way up to our 9-year-old who is right at 57″ and 62lbs. It’s a bit narrow in the shoulders for the 9-year-old but it didn’t seem to bother him.
The SecureFit™ lap belt positioner is optional but recommended. It’s also not removable, so you may as well use it. Its purpose is to turn the 3-point lap and shoulder seatbelt into a 4-point restraint system by adding an extra point of attachment. The SecureFit™ lap belt positioner reduces the possibility of “submarining” during a crash. Submarining refers to the movement that occurs in some crashes where the occupant slides under the lap belt during deceleration.
Fit to Vehicle
The ALTA fit nicely in Erin’s vehicles—2012 Acura MDX and 2016 GMC Yukon XL—without any issues. We also tested it in a Honda Odyssey and the fit was great.
However, in Heather’s 2016 Tesla Model X and 2018 Tesla Model 3, we ran into the usual Tesla issue of the booster not making full contact with the vehicle seat. Since Tesla vehicle seats are C-shaped, most boosters fit this way in these vehicles.
After consulting with our contacts at UPPAbaby, they approved the fit so this is one of the very few highback boosters that is approved to be used with Tesla vehicles! Our younger model, age 6 and 51 lbs., who usually rides in a harnessed seat, had trouble buckling in the Model X because the buckle is very close to the booster. However, his brother who is 9-years-old and 62 lbs., found it easier to buckle.
We did find that shoulder belt retraction could be a problem in some vehicles if the shoulder belt was pulled forward vs. toward the seatbelt buckle. You can see this in our video review:
Center LATCH installations with Non-Standard Spacing:
Due to the standardized spacing of the rigid LATCH connectors, you can only secure ALTA with LATCH in designated LATCH seating positions.
Inflatable Seat Belts:
Refer to the vehicle owner’s manual if there are inflatable seat belts.
Head Support:
Head support is not required from the vehicle and if the vehicle’s head restraint is pushing the booster forward it should be removed or the booster seat should be moved to a different seating position.
Cover/Maintenance/Warranty
The base seat cover zips off for a quick wash if needed. All pieces of the cover may be machine washed in a gentle cycle, but spot cleaning is recommended to keep the fabrics looking nice for the long haul.
UPPAbaby offers a LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY on all their car seats and boosters. To receive this extended warranty, customers must register their product within three months of purchase and provide a valid receipt from an authorized retailer. The lifetime of the product is defined by its expiration date. For ALTA, that means a 10-year limited warranty for the original owner! It would be foolish not to take advantage of this so please register your UPPAbaby car seats soon after purchase.
FAA/Lifespan/Crash Replacement
- FAA approval: No. All belt-positioning booster seats require the use of lap/shoulder belts; ALTA cannot be used on an airplane seat that only has a lap belt.
- Expiration: ALTA has a lifespan of 10 years.
- Replace after any crash.
ALTA Advantages
- One of the tallest and widest highback boosters on the market
- 7-position height-adjustable headrest
- Rigid lower LATCH connectors
- Lined with energy-absorbing foam
- External Side Impact Pods
- Optional SecureFit™ lap belt positioner helps position lap belt properly
- Zip-off base fabric for easy cleaning
- One removable, dishwasher-safe cup holder
Disadvantages
- Shoulder belt retraction could be a problem in some vehicles
- Does not convert to a backless booster
- Made in China
The UPPAbaby Alta sample used in this update was provided by UPPAbaby. No other compensation was provided and all opinions are my own.
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My 4 and a half year old girl (43 lbs, 42 inch) is no longer comfortable in her Britax Advocate and I am thinking of moving her into her brother’s (he’s 7 and a half, 50 inch, 53 lbs) Britax Grow with you harness seat. I would like to move him into a proper high back booster and was debating between the Britax Highpoint booster, the Chicco KidFit and now the Uppa Alta. They are all within the same price range. For a skinny 7 year old, what would you recommend? The car Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross.
Hi Lily. These are all really great choices for boosters and you can’t go wrong with any of them. I would break it down by features and how your child will fit into the boosters. Is he tall in his torso? The KidFit is shorter by about 3″ when you extend it to its highest belt guide position. But . . . the KidFit and the Highpoint also convert to backless boosters, so if he grows too tall for the back, just take it off and use the base. The Highpoint and the Alta both have the lap belt positioners, which helps keep the belt low and off the belly; however, you can’t remove the one on the Alta, so if he gets sick of using it, he still has to sit on it no matter what (but just don’t tell him it’s not an option to not use it 🤷♀️). All the kid models we had in the boosters were pretty skinny, so you can see fit was very good. HTH!
Thanks! I think there’s a buybuy store in LA which has at least two of those in stock (the Britax and the Alta) and I will take him (now that it’s safer) and see which one fits best. He’s not the tallest but he is on the skinny side.
Could you share where else I can find the information that UPPA approves the gap in Tesla? I can’t find it anywhere.
Hi Melody. I spoke directly with their CPS representative for that information.
Many families have long been fans of UPPAbaby’s full-featured Mesa rear-facing only seat and we have, too. It has many easy-to-use features that make installing and using it correctly fairly painless. We’re pleased to see that the UPPAbaby car seat family now includes a booster seat — the ALTA high back booster.
Have you found any crash test ratings on the Uppa Baby Alta? I haven’t been able to find this information online. Thanks!
Hi Jessica, unfortunately there are no comprehensive crash test ratings anywhere for any USA carseat that can be used to compare overall safety from one model to another. Consumer Reports has very limited crash testing only for frontal crashes, but since they do not publish any information on their methodology, no one can say how useful they might be to compare one model to another. Other websites may do single frontal crash tests for a car seat, but do not have nearly enough repeatable and peer-reviewed information to do valid comparisons like we have from the IIHS and NHTSA for new vehicle safety comparisons. Most of these websites that have such testing are really limited to discovering major safety issues that could be revealed in crash testing, but unfortunately some deceptively portray them as a valid comprehensive safety comparison rating.
For belt-positioning boosters, crash ratings are even less useful. As long as the booster fits the child correctly, it is the vehicle seat belt and vehicle crashworthiness that are providing the primary crash protection for a child in a booster seat. Some boosters may tout additional protective features, but many of these may be mostly marketing. There is no crash testing available to confirm if these are effective or not.
This looks lovely! I love the “4-point” for younger booster riders especially.