what is safer - a 5 point harness of a seat with a shield?

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My 3 year old DD is no longer comfortable in her ERF seat and as much as I would like to leave her rest facing I think I will have to now move her to forward facing.
I am looking at either 5 way harnessed booster seats or booster seats which use safety shields.

Does anyone have any idea which is safer? Some of the shield seats have very good which? reports, but Britax and Maxi-Cosi both say they think harnesses are safer.
She seemed happy with the shield when we tried it out in the shop, so I have no preference.

Sorry for the numerous typos!!

There's probably reports to support both options being safer

I chose a shield type seat (cybex pallas) from around 13 months old. DD is almost 4 and we're happy with it. Never been in an accident though.

Can you get hold of a Which? report?

Difficult, I don't think there is a definitive answer. Which says shields, Britax don't make shield ones and say harness!

The idea with the shield seats is that the spine curves around it which spreads the strain so it's not directly on the neck like in a 5ph.

It's difficult because I think there is more variance in shield seats - I know in the US they were banned because there was a popular type which was nothing more than a lap tray really, and those are very unsafe so you can find a lot of anti-shield seat stuff online but from about 10/12 years ago. I wonder if this is why Britax and Maxi Cosi are not manufacturing them.

Certainly the Cybex Pallas and Kiddy seats seem to have very high safety ratings and crash test data, and just from looking at pictures of the older American seats vs these seats, I think the newer ones are much better designed, with deep grooves to hold the impact shield in place and very robust seatbelt guards, which the older type didn't have.

The other issue would be how wriggly your child is. The shield seats can work loose over long journeys if the child is fidgeting and moving a lot in their seat because of the way a seatbelt mechanism works (it will always get looser if you push it slowly, but it will only pull back when it's free to move). But it does give them a lot more freedom of upper body movement which can be more comfortable. On the other hand, children can always get their arms out of a 5 point harness because if they suck their tummy in it creates a gap which they can push their arms through.

Personally I preferred the shield seat but at the time it seemed like a definite safer option, I'm not sure based on things I've read since then.

This is an up to date, UK based article which is against shield seats but it's by Britax so might not be totally unbiased.

babyworld.co.uk/2013/03/britax-shares-concerns-over-car-seat-shield-systems/

This is the video Britax released of a crash test which is a moving car which rolls over. The Which? Rollover test is static, apparently. It's not in English but I can't find the English one - but you don't need to listen, just see.

That may be of more concern if you drive a landrover as they are known to roll more easily in a crash.

Kiddy's response:

www.kiddy.de/blog/uk/2013/03/impact-shield-v-harness-which-is-safer/

They claim that roll over impacts are very rare and as such not really worth focusing on.

I'm so confused! The cynic in me automatically questions Britax rubbishing a seat type they don't manufacture and I also have memories of Which? not supporting ERF seats by testing them as FF, so I treat Which? reports as opinion rather than fact!
My DD is very slim and can always get out of her harness, she seemed to like the shield though. I've also read about crash test dummies not having instruments to measure abdominal pressures exerted by shields, so its hard to tell which is safer.

We could do with some figures on types of accidents too.

If rollovers only account for 2% of accidents which result in passenger injury, while 90% are front or rear impact, then maybe shield seats are safer.

Totally made-up figures to illustrate a point there. Please don't think they're accurate.

I've been researching this more now (car seat geek). I have found talk of a case in Germany where a child died in an accident in a Kiddy seat (although I think it and they stated that a child who has fallen asleep with their head resting on the impact shield is "out of position". Well, that's news to me! Perhaps not at 3 years old, but DS was in that seat from 18 months to about 3.5 and every time he fell asleep his head would loll forwards onto the shield thing.

It all seems to be to do with variables - the age of the child, their weight and height, the type of crash, etc...

I looked into this a while ago for myself, and found references online to a couple of children who had come out their shield car seats in a crash. There was at least one american law suit in progress, but it hadn't yet been proven whether (1) the shield was not on correctly, (2) it was one bad make of car seat and not all shield car seats, or (3) crash tests can't be relied on to fully simulate all real life crashes - the shield could have a weakness which wasn't uncovered in crash tests but comes into play in a small number of crashes. I believe Britax also hinted towards number 3.