Considering new car seat for four year old, what do you have?

[Pheefifofuckthisshit]

We've used a Joie stages from birth for youngest, and I've used them beyond that before with older kids but I'm falling out of love with it. I find it awkward to tighten most of the time, I often check the straps mid journey and find I can give them a tug tighter which I find a worry. :-/

I'm considering buying a new car seat but wouldn't know where to start with looking really. If you have a four year old what car seat do you use?

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If you’re short on time, here’s a round-up of the best car seats for four-year-olds Mumsnetters are recommending on this thread:

Axkid Minikid 4 - £480

BRITAX RÖMER KIDFIX 2 Z LINE - £177

Joie Bold - £175

Maxi Cosi Titan Pro - £190

Cybex Solution Z i-Fix - £175

For a deeper dive into car seats for older children, check out our guides to the child car seats, and the toddler car seats, that Mumsnetters recommend.

MNHQ

How heavy and tall is your 4yo, this will restrict your choice of seats.

Do you think they are mature enough/sensible enough to sit with a seatbelt rather than using a 5 point harness yet?

Are you using the Stages rear facing or forward facing?

In terms of the tightening, that's normal and you'll get this with any seat because children will relax into the seat over time, but personally I'm not a fan of the Joie belt fitted seats used forward facing as they are pretty basic (which doesn't matter so much for rear facing).

At four you basically have four choices of seat that you could pick:

You could go straight for a high backed booster, if your child is at least 15kg + 100cm (better closer to 18kg / 105cm) and if you think they are mature enough to be sensible and not lean out of the seatbelt constantly. This is the cheapest and longest lasting kind of seat as well as being the last one you'll have to buy which does make it an attractive choice. Joie, Britax, Cybex, Recaro, and Maxi Cosi make well-rated high backed booster seats.

If you would still prefer the security of a 5 point harness or your child is under 15kg or 100cm and they are still a way off 18kg/105cm, then you might want to go for a 123 type seat such as Britax Advansafix, Britax Evolva, Recaro Tian Elite. This is a good compromise if you just need another 6-18 months or so for your child to mature a bit more or grow that last little bit until they are big/sensible enough for a seatbelt, and then the seat will transform into a booster seat when you're ready.

If your child is already over 105cm or 18kg or very close to this and you want to keep them in a 5 point harness, then what you need is an extended harness seat, there are only about 4 on the market and they all need isofix and top tether. These are Joie Bold, BabyAuto Dupla, Cozy n Safe Excalibur, Cozy n Safe Hudson. Like the other 123 seats these all transform into a high backed booster for later.

Lastly if you are still rear facing and want to continue you can buy larger rear facing seats for up to 25kg / 125cm which is approx 6-8 years depending on the specific seat model and the size of your child. You could look at Britax Max Way, Besafe Stretch, Axkid Minikid. This is the safest option but of course many people prefer to forward face at 4.

(To answer the question: My 4.5yo is in a Britax Advansafix and we have just removed the harness as he became too tall for it at approx 107cm tall, so it's a high backed booster now.)

Thanks BertieBotts, for some reason I didn't get a notification of your reply! So I've only just seen this and it's super helpful.

DS isnt big for his age. I'm gonna go weigh and measure him after I've replied here. 🙂

He was (and still is to a lesser extent) an absolute nightmare passenger in the car. He HATED his baby seat, and hated rear facing, and hated being more than an inch away from me etc etc. 🙄 I kept him rear facing until nearly three then admitted absolute defeat and forward faced him. So he is now forward facing. 🤷

I want him to be safe and comfortable. I'm not sure how he'd behave with a "regular" seatbelt. That's one to ponder. He's an absolute second born child and I suspect he may push his luck without a five point harness. Hmm.

Right! I'm off to find scales and a tape measure ha ha.

It was nice to see your name, I recognise you as a long term poster and I don't see many around anymore! Probably name changing more often I guess same as me.

Our 4.5 yr old has been forward facing in a Cosatto Zoomi for almost a year now. She likes the seat, although she's quite petite and not too far off outgrowing the harness already, so that's something to consider. She is sensible and risk averse though so we are confident she would try to open a seat belt, she's never even tried to open her harness even after we have stopped! Hah.

Well I've measured him. He's 100cm, and 14.76kg.

I'll do some more reading tomorrow ....

@BertieBotts
How easy are you finding it using the Advansafix with the seatbelt?

I haven't long converted my small 6 yos and I'm finding it really awkward to reach round it and get the seat belt plugged in. It's in an Ecosport

We've just brought our 4 year old the joie bold, link below.

Join the motoring club and you get it for 199.49 plus an extra 10% off on top of that. It's isofix and 5 point harness. Drive dd to Paris and no complaining x

Most people just use a high back booster once they outgrow the toddler seat don’t they? We just bought high back boosters with lots of side protection from 4. Time to let him know who’s boss re not messing with the seatbelt!

Yes most people do, but OP's DS is not actually big enough to use a high backed booster yet. They need to be at least 15kg. And even though he is nearly 15kg, it's not a good idea to jump straight to high backed booster at just 15kg / 100cm, it's better to wait until they are a bit bigger in stature and closer to the maximums of the harnessed stage. Which is fine, because with those stats he will have a little while longer in any Group 1 type seat as they usually go up to 18kg/105cm ish.

So you could keep him in his current seat if you want to. Otherwise I would look at the Britax Advansafix, Silver Cross Balance, or the newer style Maxi Cosi Titan Pro. You might be better off with the older, non i-size Advansafix because the i-size one technically has a 102cm restriction on the harness. The older one is just 18kg / no height restriction. DS outgrew it at about 107cm. These all need isofix and top tether. The Maxi Cosi was a bit shorter in the harness IIRC, although it's the older version I am thinking of, I haven't tested the newer one, so might be best to do a fit test if you can.

If you need one that fits with seatbelt only, or you have isofix but no tether, the Recaro Tian Elite is the best rated for safety, followed by Britax Evolva or Recaro Young Sport Hero.

All of these options have really good deep side protection for when you move into the booster mode, which is important.

I would not go for the Bold because you do not need the extended harness capacity, and the other options around the same price point have better safety ratings. The Bold is good if you need the extra harness time but if you don't, then it's not worth it.

If you want to compare the safety ratings, you can view all the ADAC results here - these are the people who supply Which? etc. It's not always a totally helpful comparison but if you're comparing like with like, ie one harnessed seat to another, then it works quite well. If you click on "Kleinkind und Kind" on the left hand side it shows you all of the options which cover both the 9-18kg (harnessed stage) and 15-36kg (booster stage) so you can easily compare. Then for more detailed safety info search the specific model name on OAMTC. It's all in German but google translate helps - if you want it in English then you have to pay for a Which? subscription and view through there.

I think I am a bit stuck in my ways sticking with one name but it's nice to be recognised!

It seems OK in our car Sugar. You are allowed to use it without the isofix in booster mode, so you could try shifting it slightly to see if that's better? Or try the opposite side of the car. Sometimes the positioning of the buckle is slightly different and it helps. We do lean in to plug DS in but he unbuckles himself when we get somewhere.

That might be something else to check OP if you decide to look in person for seats and do a fit test - check it not only in the harnessed mode as you'll be using it initially but also do a quick check of how the seatbelt goes when you move into booster mode as well. Because all cars are slightly different shapes you can find that different seats fit better or worse.

@BertieBotts I'll maybe try it in the opposite side of the car. I'm loathed to have it without the isofix as its a huge lump of a seat to have it potentially flying loose in an accident.

@Pheefifofuckthisshit Are you removing big jackets before you put your LO in the carseat? They could be compressing and making the straps seem loose

Yes agree that it's heavy, probably better to have it secured with isofix! You do get a tiny bit of play in isofix connectors so you could try shifting it to the side. You get about a centimetre of movement.

DS has the cybex solution z i-fix has been in it since just over 4, he rear faced until then but was rapidly growing, I like that the shoulders widen as you increase the height and the head bit tilts back for longer/evening journeys. Not sure if your child might be a little small for it yet though.