I’ve decided to document how various combination (harness/booster) seats fit my 4 year old, 41 lb, 43″ tall son in booster mode. He’s at the size where most parents would be switching from the 5-pt harness to the vehicle’s lap/shoulder belt in booster mode if they had a combination seat with a 40 lb limit on the harness. In each case I’ll use the same seating position in my van – driver’s side captain’s chair in a 2005 Ford Freestar.
The IIHS booster study compared the fit of various boosters using the 6-year-old Hybrid lll dummy who weighs 51.6 lbs (23.41 kg) and has a standing height of almost 45″. I thought it would be even better to show belt fit on a child who was just over the 40 lb weight limit for the 5-pt harness. I’ve decided to focus exclusively on combination seats because of their popularity with parents of children in the 2-5 age group.
First up – the 
Evenflo Chase/Express/Vision/Traditions combination seat. The model shown is the Express. It is almost identical to the Chase. The only real difference is that the Chase has little add-on arm rests. The arm rests on the Chase can easily be removed and reattached (almost like a cup holder), so there is no structural difference between the 2 models.
In the first picture you will notice that the shoulder belt is a little too low – too far towards the edge of his shoulder. That was caused by using the lower belt guide on the side of the seat. In the 2nd and 3rd pics I’ve moved the shoulder belt up by routing it through the upper belt guide. This improved the angle of the shoulder belt on him but also prevented the belt from making contact with his collar bone which isn’t ideal. This also creates a comfort issue since the belt rubs against his face if he moves in that direction.
The good: Honestly? Nothing good I can say about how this booster fits my child in this vehicle.
The bad: The lap belt is placed too high – positioned dangerously over his soft abdomen instead of low across his strong hip bones. Ideally, it should be touching the tops of his thighs.
Bottom line: Lap belt fit is horrible and shoulder belt fit is far from ideal.
Heather and Kecia – I had a chase that, when Jeffrey first hit 40lbs, he used as a booster… I can verify that the guides DO pose a problem with shoulderbelt slack… and he was too short (though his torso height was about the same or just a TINY bit taller than the handsome young man pictured) to use ii without the guides, as they are optional.
I also found the same problems with the lapbelt.
It was why I chose to get a second turbobooster instead.
Of course, thanks to Heather and the rest of the bbc board, it wasn’t long after that I switched his sister’s seat for a Marathon (she was in the evenflo triumph), got a spare scenera, and then ended up giving him the marathon and then getting him a husky and the rest is history.
I do think it fits older booster riders who don’t need the guides and who are tall enough that the lapbelt fits well properly. I’ve seen a kid as big as Jeffrey was at age 6 riding in one as a booster where he didn’t use the guides and it worked perfectly… he was much thinner and was only 40lbs. So I think the issue is that they didn’t consider it needing to fit a variety of builds of children in booster mode.
awesome! i have that same seat for dd,who is 4yo, 40lb, 40 inches, and would NEVER consider letting her use it as a booster, but no one else understand why…..
Great idea for a blog series! I’m often a little sick to my stomach at seat checks when I have to switch 40# kiddos to booster mode of many combination seats. The lapbelt fit is often very poor, riding too high up on the soft tummy, and sometimes the shoulderbelt does not touch the chest/shoulder at all.
Heather – I think it’s just the camera angle but I’m not 100% sure. I borrowed the seat and don’t have it anymore so I can’t recheck the situation. At the time, I didn’t notice a problem so my guess is that it’s just the camera angle.
In the 2nd pic, it looks like the belt guide creates a lot of slack in the shoulder belt by pulling it back around the seat. Is that just a camera angle thing or a real concern?
Oh, this is going to be GREAT! Now I will have a place with PICTURES to link for my recommendations. 🙂