Is your 11 year old still in their HBB?

[sillysossidge]

Hi all,

I've just become the owner of a car for the first time and have been doing research on car seats for my 11 year old.

He's of average height (I think) at 143cm (56 inches) and of slim build at 32 kg (70 lbs).

Is your 11 year old still in their high-back-booster, or now using a simple booster?

Thanks a lot x

I'd be interested to see a comparison of injury/death rates of children over 135cm tall not in HBB versus in a HBB. As others have commented there are adults 140/145cm tall, why aren't we making all adults sit in high backed boosters? Or in fact, why are the seats in cars not designed with much more side moulding to give impact protection??

I've just been looking and while it's easy to find information about the level of protection given by a HBB nowhere can I find actual statistics of how many children or adults are being injured in car accidents and how many of those injured were in HBB or not? Why is it so hard to find out? Like surely somewhere there's a stat?

I know your question is about hbb, but I have to add that using a booster (or adjusting the height of the seat itself) is not just about safety in a crash, it's about comfort for passengers. And for drivers, clear visibility of the road.

I'm a short adult with a short torso, and some car seats are incredibly uncomfortable for me. I can think of times when the back moulding is in the wrong place for a short person, hurting my lower back and pushing my neck forward uncomfortably. Or when the seat belt is really high (with no adjuster), hurting my breasts and chaffing badly against my neck. Or I have been forced to sit forward to see the road well enough to actually drive. Or sit on my jacket to get some height.

Most modern cars have lots of adjustment (for drivers, at least), and the first thing I do is raise the seat to the highest setting so I can see and not have the seat belt chafe.

You can't be dropping a kid off at secondary school in a booster seat ... he'd get ripped to shreds!! I know that's preferable to being in an accident but you have to draw the line somewhere.

My children are still in harness seats (4 and under) so I'm not on the high back booster stage yet but I saw this image shared in a Facebook group on car seat safety. Looked quite useful

As an aside, I’m a 5ft 4 women and a lap belt has never gone across my thighs as per the 5 point challenge - it’s always across my belly. Assume that’s because default man 🙄

My 9 year old is still in a HBB and although she’s 135+ I’d like her in one for longer. That’s unusual round here but she’s never complained.

I thought the lap belt was meant to cross your hip bones rather than legs.

My 11yo DS is 5'8 and has swimmers' shoulders. I don't think he would physically fit in a HBB.

I can't say yes to all 5 of those and I've been driving for 24 years! It's the seatbelt across the lap, not stomach, that's the odd one out really. Don't think I've ever had a seatbelt sit 'properly'

My son is 12 and 153cm (but very very slim build) he is still on a booster cushion because he finds it comfier and the seatbelt does sit better on him. I have told him we can get rid of it but he is comfier so as long as it doesn’t impact the seatbelt position then I will leave him to it.

My 11 year old is a couple of centimetres shorter than me only. If she needs one then so do I.

My 10 year old is dot on 135cm but keeping him in the HBB as he's still happy to use it. I'd like to keep him on a booster of some sort until 150cm as when he hasn't used one the seatbelt is across his neck rather than shoulder, but suspect he'll refuse when he starts high school next year.

I'm only 152cm tall and the lap belt definitely doesn't go across my lap, it's always on my stomach. I should probably still be in a booster seat. And tbh I'm not sure I can even be trusted not to play with the seat belt and slouch. I definitely wouldn't pass this!

The EU standard is 135cm, car seats that pass the standard only have to go to 135cm. The majority of Europe it’s 135cm, a handful are 150cm. Germany has always had higher standards for car seats, they were compulsory there before they were here.

You're not mad at all for considering it. Have a look how the belt fits him in the car, does it cross his pelvis nicely or is it up on his tummy? Do his legs bend neatly over the edge of the seat when his bum is all the way back or does he need to slouch forwards to bend his legs with a gap behind his bum (this tends to push the lap belt up onto the tummy)

You don't want lap belt on tummy as it can cause submarining injuries known as "seatbelt syndrome" in a crash. If the belt is on his tummy, he would be better off on a booster. A booster cushion is better than nothing at all but a full high back is often more comfortable and will give better head protection.

Depending on the car and the build of the child they'll get there somewhere between 135 and 150cm. UK goes for the attitude of let parents make the decision (in practice this means a lot of people stop using them before they should) and Germany goes for the attitude of it doesn't cause harm to keep using one, better to use it until it's definitely no longer needed. (Insert other country guidelines here). That's the reason there are two different limits. Nothing to do with one being safer than the other. Just a different approach.