Harnessed seat for 4 ear old

[Kcoffecakebubs]

Hi, any experts out there know if there are any seats that harness to higher weights than what I can typically find 18/25kg? My just turned four year old needs a new seat and I think what I'm looking for may not exist 🤦🏻‍♀️😬.

Thank you!

Axkid, Besafe and Britax make rear facing seats that rear face to 25kg. Axkid and Besafe also have rear facing seats up to 36kg.

If you are on Facebook there are some good groups tha can advise you. Extended rear facing and car seats advice UK

Thank you needs to be over 25kg. And FF. Which seems to be the problem I'm having

Unless medically needed and they are expensive it's safer to forward face without a harness as the crash forces on the neck with a harness can lead to internal decapitation as the shoulders are pinned back but the neck continues to move forward. Very few are over 18kg and the only 25kg forward facing seat I can think of from a good brand needs top tether & ISOFIX to be fitted correctly.

We've just installed this one, goes up to 36kg.

www.halfords.com/baby-and-child/car-seats/toddler-car-seats/halfords-group-1%2F2%2F3-isofix-child-car-seat-with-top-tether-630382.html?stockInventory=undefined

@Lavender2021 thank you. Our son is autistic and non verbal, so can't stay still or understand staying in a seat belt. He gets distressed/has melt downs if rear faced, and will make himself sick. Hence we're in a tricky situation

You can get high back booster seat with extra features for younger children if not rear facing. https://www.safejourneycarseats.co.uk/collections/britax/products/britax-kidfix-i-size-high-back-booster

Could you contact the In Car Safety Centre for advice? They may be able to recommend best next steps with the additional needs your ds has.

I know some belts can be swapped for racing harnesses, but not sure how this translates to a child in a car seat.

Can you speak with a Occupational Therapy if you have one to try and get funding for a specialist seat that's best for your needs. I know they cost £££ and are different to come by.

Have you looked at crelling harnesses?

Thank you. I'll see if we can get a referral but we were turned down my OT as it's very difficult to get in the area we live in. The specialist seats are very pricey! I thought it might be we need something like that, but was hoping something might exist that I hadn't thought of.

Typical that our sons so heavy or we wouldn't have the problem this early!

Thank you, I hadn't thought of that, but i will. Good idea.

https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/magnetic-harness-with-britax-kidfix-i-size-high-back-booster

Sil had a britax one With a five point harness that was ff, they had to use the top tether as well as isopod for autistic DN who was an escape artist.

Thanks, I think that's going to be similar to what we have now so the harness only goes to 25kg

There are special needs seats which harness up to much higher weights like 36kg, like Britax Traveller. The In Car Safety Centre sells them.

They are expensive though - £700+.

It used to be cheaper to get a higher harness limit if you looked at importing a car seat from the US. Although they don't technically meet our safety standard, it's quite unlikely that anybody is going to pull you up on that and it may be a feasible way of getting a higher limit seat. However, it now looks like they all top out at 65 lbs (which is around 29.5kg). If you wanted to look into this anyway, you would need to obtain a locking clip also from the US manufacturer because their seat belts generally lock solid for car seat installation and require this.

Here's an article from a source that I trust on US seats:
https://carseatblog.com/49904/best-carseats-for-extended-harnessing-seats-that-go-the-distance/

Otherwise, Australia also have very high harness limit seats, though I think they would be even more expensive to import, and it's hard to understand the limits on them (I think they just limit by shoulder height though they seem to say "up to approx 8 years")

The rear facing ones go up to 125cm + 36kg and I know Klippan have one up to 32kg which they have shown a crash test with showing that it's been tested with a 138cm dummy. The legal regulation in EU/UK tops out at 125cm for standard car seats so these are the largest capacity standard car seats in UK. I know you said you need FF but it might be worth looking at possibly e.g. having the RF seat in the front, if this would allow you to try one of these.

@BertieBotts thank you for the detailed reply. I'll have a look into the options. Our son is 115cm and 24.5kg now, and only just turned 4. So if we are looking at something very expensive I wouldn't want him outgrowing any time soon.

I was hoping we would have longer to go before we maxed his current seat out 🤦🏻‍♀️

Ah that’s a dilemma. I have a non verbal autistic 4 year old but he only weighs 16kg (although is very tall) so we have a while to go yet. Do you get higher rate DLA?

@Kcoffecakebubs

We have the same issue with our DS7 who is autistic and non verbal. We have bought a harness that can be used with a high backed booster or just in the normal seat once they are suitably big. It's great and we don't always need to use it do it just sits there until we do.

www.crelling.com/product/model-28-steel-buckle/

I know! He's. A heavyweight! No, we get mid rate care

Thank you. I think this might be the best for in our circumstances without completely breaking the bank! Can you move it between cars easily or is it sort of set once it's in?

We have the Joie Bold which can be harnessed until 25kg
www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/brand/joie/joie-car-seats/joie-bold-r-1-2-3-car-seat-ember/p/195104?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnrmlBhDHARIsADJ5b_n_lPJfu5p1rBCUxlHKh0hZvrnTGJX6PNPpaOqE1FPwc5vpmHZK88caAnG2EALw_wcB

@Kcoffecakebubs

It's fairly easy to set up and move to a different car- we watched a YouTube video! Really liked it's flexibility and the fact it'll last him til he's an adult if necessary.

Thank your, that's the seat we have now, but our son is 24.5 kg now!

Great, that's what I'm thinking - has longevity if we need it. I'll have a look into this definitely