Sometimes I wish I was just an average parent, happily putting my kid in a backless booster straight out of a convertible seat and going about my business. But I’m not. I’m a Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor and have been in the field for 10 years this spring. I like to analyze the decisions I make for my kids and make sure I’m making the safest decisions. Why? Why do I overanalyze these decisions? I’ve always prided myself on giving others the same advice I follow myself. So why am I so uncomfortable following this advice I’m giving myself?
We just bought a new vehicle. Oh boy! You know what that means! New seat opportunities! Awesome! OK, well, let’s be practical. Let’s start with the old ones first. My previous vehicle was an ’05 Sienna and my 8.5 yr old dd sat in the passenger’s side captain’s chair where the seatbelt came from directly behind her shoulder (What?! An 8.5 yr old is still in a booster seat? Yep, she still needs one.). In our new vehicle, the shoulder belt is mounted to the C pillar that’s located next to the vehicle seatback; I’d say it’s a fairly neutral position. But, for our van, I was careful to obtain highback boosters (Cybex X-fix, Combi Kobuk, Chicco KeyFit Strada) where the shoulder belt guides are located on the back of the seat to accommodate the “behind the seat” geometry. Guess what? They aren’t working—the shoulder belt is catching up in the belt guide. Argh! The 
only other highback I have for her (old style Britax Parkway) is in dh’s Lexus RX 330 and she needs that one there because the shoulder belt is so far forward of the vehicle seatback. I could try to talk ds into trading his Monterey with her for one of our myriad backless boosters hanging around. . . hmmmm. He’s pretty possessive when it comes to carseats, though.
After a different booster nearly every day since we’ve gotten it, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and just put dd into the olli. It LATCHes so it won’t slide around on the slick leather and get tossed out of the car as they get out of the car when I drop them off at school and it solves the shoulder belt problem.
But ACK! My youngest is going into a backless in one of our vehicles! I know, she’s old enough and she hovers around 53-55 lbs., but holy cow! When did she get big enough to do this? She’s my skinny minnie! Does this mean I’m . . . old? I’m still trying to come to terms with this.
The new vehicle has side airbags that come halfway down the inside of the doors (according to the graphics on their website) and going backless means she’s a few inches further back on the vehicle seat so that gives her more head excursion room to the front seat (plus I’ve moved the front passenger seat forward a few inches to give the kids room to disembark at school). These are valid safety points I keep reminding myself of as I imagine the look on her face as she finally gets to ride in the one seat I’ve denied her for so long.
I know it’s been a few years, were you happy with your olli? I’m thinking about purchasing it but on the insurance institute site it has “check fit” and I was trying to stay with best bet ones.
We did like it. The check fit comes from the arm rests being so high that it might cause the lap belt to ride a bit high on some kids. It didn’t happen in our vehicles.
Hi Amy. Most kids don’t need harnessed seats at 6 and 8. Some might if they’re wiggly and get out of position, but you’ll need to decide that. The PWSG and SGL are pretty much the same seat except that on the SGL, they tweaked the shoulder belt guides some and of course, added LATCH. Darren’s got a review here that shows the differences: https://carseatblog.com/8193/britax-parkway-sgl-booster-a-photo-review/ .
jumping in here… i have been recently researching new options for my kids. my son (just 8- 60lbs) is in a frontier. i like it b/c of the 5pt harness, but it is bulky and the straps are ALWAYS twisted. i like that my boy is strapped in! my daughter (just 6-55 lbs) is still in her marathon. she complains about the baby seat and gets comments sometimes from friends… like i care! i do want to move her to a booster and i am frustrated w/ my son’s… what about the parkway sg or sgl? whats the diff btwn the 2? do they really need the 5pt harness at these ages? like i said, i like them strapped in, but i want something that is going to work properly and the frontier i have, just isn’t. we’ve had this one for 2 years- maybe they have changed it. thoughts?
Thank you – yes, it was very helpful!
Molly, the lap belt holds the backless booster at the arms, right where the child’s hips are. So the whole thing stays with the child in a crash. There’s always been concern about boosters and kids engaging the seatbelt in a crash: a highback will push into the child, adding more force against the child in a crash, the child needs the booster behind him to get the seatbelt to engage the belt’s locking mechanism, etc. Essentially in some Euro studies (since the US doesn’t do this type of testing), rigid LATCH on highback boosters may provide some extra protection in side impact crashes. It won’t do a lick of good on a backless, lol, other than hold the seat in place. The LATCH straps we have here in the US are simply to hold the booster in place on a daily driving basis so it doesn’t club the driver and passenger in a crash when the child isn’t sitting in it. Does that help?
We have a Britax Frontier booster for my 6 year old son. I feel most comfortable keeping him in the 5 point harness as long as possible. We are interested in an extra seat for riding in friends’ cars, etc. My concern with boosters using the seat belt, is that it just doesn’t seem safe to me for the booster to not be securley attached. There just seems to be too much wiggle room and chance the belt won’t be positioned properly. We don’t have LATCH b/c it is an older vehicle. Do tests show that a backless booster stays in place in an accident? Also, I read some place that LATCH is not a good idea for boosters b/c the seat should give with child to engage the belt. I am so confused of what is exactly safe…help! Thanks
Thanks, Heather, for the additional info about LATCH. That totally makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to write this BLOG and to reply to my question.
JulieP
JulieP., LATCH weight limits for belt positioning boosters are a moot point. Since boosters are positioners only and don’t restrain a child during a crash, the lower anchors aren’t load bearing, just the vehicle seatbelt. So, the only weight the lower anchors are holding for the olli is the 5 lbs or so of the booster seat. More and more manufacturers of combination seats are coming to this realization and are allowing their combo seats to use LATCH when they are converted to bpb use. Does that make sense? I waited until my kids were doing their homework and all was quiet, but they both started talking at me at the same time, lol.
cool! I only asked because it confused me to think you might have him in a highback booster and her in a no back… but I figured that was not the case.
Kat, he miraculously (at 5′ tall now, lol) fits without a booster in my new car and in dh’s, he rides in a backless Monterey. He probably fits fine without the Monterey in dh’s, but I haven’t looked in a couple of months.
just curious, Heather… what is your son riding in in each car?
I was trying to be really nice, since my daughter just recently packed on (for her that’s packing on) 5 lbs and shot up another inch, and asked her if she’d like to try her brother’s combi dakota yesterday, as he wasn’t going with us.
Her answer… “How about I just use my seat, it’s more fun, because if I get sleepy, it has these great pillows for me to be comfy with. I can use that when I get too big for my seat.”
I swear, after all her asking last year about when she could go backless, I had thought I was being overprotective (in her dad’s car, backless boosters don’t yet work for her narrow shoulders, but she’s TECHNICALLY fit in the van since last year… I’ve just discouraged it)… but now I don’t feel so bad… because she’s telling me I was right, that she sees now why Mom chose a highback.
I enjoyed your post! I feel like my kids will be in the Radian until they are 16 🙂 I like the thought of them being safe.
I have a question and a verification about the Olli. A lot of cars with the LATCH don’t specify a weight limit. I have heard that a general rule to follow, then, is to stop using LATCH when the child is 40 pounds. I like the Cleks, but have always been a little worried about the “unknown” weight limit. For you as a tech, could you weigh in on that — or let me know what you know about the weight limits with LATCH.
Thanks!
Julie
I hope she enjoys riding in her new seat. I bet she will do great in the backless. I have been debating putting my oldest who is 8 years old in a backless, but it just seems strange for her to be riding in anything but a high back. Maybe I will just do it anyway because she has asked for a no-back. I don’t want to think of her growing up (or maybe I just don’t want to think of me growing older).
Thank you for posting this thought… I feel your pain.. I have an 8.5 yr old too. She rides in the Frontier 85 or a Nautilus, and we just ordered a Monterey for when she rides with family/friends.
It is hard sometimes when people look at CPSTs like we are way tooooo safe, but… kids can’t be replaced! Its worth the fuss to get them secured correctly.Way to go!