Lizzie is 5 years old, around 45 inches tall and between 45-50 pounds. She is tall and skinny. And she is precious to me so I always make sure she harnessed in my car. September 16-22nd is Child Passenger Safety Week and when I think of safety, the name Britax comes to mind immediately. Britax is safety. In fact, browse the Britax Facebook page this week. There are a ton of super helpful photos and tips listed that I hope you share with your friends.
This is Lizzie in the Frontier 85 seat. I drive a 2003 Acura MDX and it fits perfectly and easily in my car. (Please read further in my post to see the mistakes I made and how you can avoid them). What I love about the Frontier 85 is that it is made for Lizzie’s sizeand beyond!
She is a growing girl. To keep her in a 5 pt harness and eventually a high-back booster, I needed a seat made for a tall, big girl.
The Frontier 85 safely holds in the harness children up to 85 lbs and 57 inches tall (or 20 inches seated shoulder height). The high back booster protects up to 120 lbs and 65 inches tall. Lizzie is staying in this seat for quite awhile.
You can read about all their outstanding safety features – the side impact protection, energy-absorbing tethers, tangle free harness, and more – but something I’m really excited about are those pieces of rectangle around the shoulder strap clips. You can see them in the picture below.
They are the Harness Ultra Guard System (HUGS™). Basically, these add friction to your child, preventing more movement in a crash. This is pretty genius and I wonder when they will start selling them so I can use them on my seat belt too.
And that arrow I drew on Lizzie’s pic is pointing to another favorite feature of mine. I do not have to re thread her entire car seat to adjust her harness!! So the fact that her straps are below her shoulders because she grew like a weed is not difficult to change.
I honestly wondered if I was going to share this picture with you. I was never able to find a local Child Passenger Safety Tech who was willing to set up a meeting with me to check my car seat before this post was due. (I emailed a few local ones that either didn’t respond or kept saying “sure” but refused to set up an actual date).
So I did it myself. And this is how it turned out. Not too bad, (her chest clip is in the right spot!) but there are a few mistakes I am remedying. And after watching the super helpful videos on Britax, I am confident that Lizzie is safe and when I find a car seat check they will pass me with flying colors.
Please! If you have a Britax, visit their user guide section. Read the manual. Watch the videos. Make sure you follow it all precisely. Britax focuses on every minute detail to make sure your child will be safe and failure to follow the directions could lead to a catastrophe.
Frontier 85 installation mistakes:
- Incorrect shoulder straps position. Lizzie’s shoulder straps are a tiny bit below her shoulders. All forward-facing children should be harnessed at or above their shoulders.
- Failure to attach the versa-tether. I thought, incorrectly, that I only needed to use the seat belt. However I saw in the videos that the versa-tether must always be used, whether the LATCH is hooked or the seat belt is hooked.
- Head rest/side impact is too low. According to her user manual, her ears must not be above the top of the head rest. Right now, they are not, however they are really close.
Thankfully, these are the only mistakes I found. So far. I am going to re-watch all the videos again as I install it. And in the video they continually state “adjust the shoulder straps to your child prior to installation.” So I am going to do that too. I will have her sit in the seat here in the living room floor, make sure it is perfect, then install it in my car.
If you have other questions about car-seat safety, I interviewed 2 CPSTS (Child Passenger Safety Technicians) last year and they gave me some valuable car seat tips.
And read this amazing post from my friend Sili of My Mamihood. She reminded me to find a car seat checking station this Saturday, the 22nd! “Car seat inspection stations nationwide will provide car seat checks and hands-on advice to parents and caregivers about selecting the right car seat for a child’s age and size as well as installation tips.” Thank you Sili!!
Thank you Britax for supplying this seat for my review. All opinions are 100% my own. Please find a Child Passenger Safety Technician to make sure you are using your seat correctly. Get it check out today!
The seat looks like it would be comfortable and perfect for a road trip with kiddos. And that HUGS feature is so awesome!
It really is fab on road trips. I didn’t even mention it has cupholders! LOL! I love the cupholders. They are not safety-related, but I still adore them. What a huge help they are. I love that there are 2 holders cause my other seats don’t have cupholders so she can let her sister use one of them.
Thanks for the recommendations! My son is also tall and thin and it is hard to find a seat that fits him well and will stay with him as he continues to shoot up. At 5-years old I still want him as safe as possible.
I know what you mean! I had Lizzie in a regular convertible seat but she got much too tall for it. This seat she is in should last her for at least another year in the harness and much longer as a booster.
Excellent post! It is awesome that Britax has instructional videos on their site. My 5 year old is in a similar seat and still in a 5-point harness, but I don’t think his seat grows quite as tall as the Britax. He’ll have to go to the seatbelt in another inch or two.
The height is what I love the most about this seat! I really love that my tall 5 yo can still be harnessed for another year at least. I tried to let her wear just the seat belt once but she put the shoulder strap behind her back – totally not safe. Until she is big enough and mature enough to keep that strap across her chest she has got to be harnessed 🙂
I think a lot of people don’t realize how important it is to install and use a car seat correctly! I know I am always confused when I am babysitting my nieces and nephew and have to figure theirs out. I didn’t think to check out the company’s website, thanks!
Jenn, I am not sure if all car seat brands have this info, but I know Britax does! What I love most about the videos and manuals being online is that I am constantly losing my manuals. And the info in the manual can save a life so I am glad it is easy to load and find 🙂
Great!
Both of children have a Britax Frontier 85. LOVE them. My daughter is 4 years old, 41ish lbs and 40 inches tall in the pink one and my son is 3 years old, 36 lbs and 37 inches in the blue one. I posted about my love for Britax on my blog too. 😉
**Another note that I didn’t know too much about is that the LATCH system in vehicles have a weight limit. Be sure to check your vehicle’s papers to figure out if you need to LATCH or use the seat belt. Different makes/models have different weight limits.
Thank you Heather! Great point about the weight limits with LATCH. That is another reason I was using my seat belt. But even with a seat belt that tether needs to be connected (which I fixed this morning)
I’m off to see your post! Love to see more love for Britax!
We have the Britax seat for my son and I love it! I feel he is totally safe! One hot topic for me are children that are improperly buckled into carseats – drives me crazy! That is a great video!
Thank you Melissa! Yes, I hate it when I see children in unsafe situations in car seats. That is why my nearly 2 year old is still rear facing. She will stay rear facing till her car seat weight limit too 🙂
This looks like the perfect seat to keep children safe. I’m sharing with my sister. My niece is still itty bitty, but I want my sister to plan ahead and have some ideas of what to expect and look for in car seat safety.
Great tips and reminders. I always have our local fire station check our car seats when I take them out. I also re tighten the straps every month if I haven’t taken them out to clean in a while. I too love the Britax!
Looks like a great ride and super comfy too!
That looks like a great seat. Not only does it have many great safety features but it looks comfortable for her too. It’s always so difficult to buy car seats, I’m glad to hear more awareness is being brought to how to install and use them properly.
We are big fans of our Britax car seats! It won’t be too much longer and we’ll be moving to the next size up. Thanks for all the great tips!
I love my Britax seats too. The safety features make me feel like I chose a quality product.