5 point harness or seat belt

[BeckiW93]

My DS is currently forward facing in a Be Safe Isize Modular. The height limit for that is 105cm. Currently he is 100cm and 13.5kg so I've been starting to look at what to get next as we've only got 5cm to go. I'm after a group 2/3 or 1/2/3 to grow with him. But they all seem to have a height limit on the harness of 105cm. I'd much rather him have a harness still, especially as he's not at the weight limit, only the height. Does anyone have any suggestions?

What age is he?

We have a Joie Bold which you can use the 5 point harness up until 25kg and then use the seat belt afterwards.

Sorry I should have said! He's 3.

@BeckiW93 Where does his head sit? He's only too tall for it if his ears are in line with the headrest when forward facing. If his head is still contained fully then I'd keep him in the seat until he is too tall or he is too heavy for it

The height limit for the harness is 105cm on that as well unfortunately.

Ahh OK that's interesting! He doesn't look too tall in it yet, which is why I was surprised at him being so close to the harness height limit. His ears are not at the top of the headrest yet if that's what you mean?

13kg is the weight limit for most infant car seats, he’s far too young to be forward facing op, surely he can’t be more than 18m? What age is he? Is he very low centiles?

I’m confused about what car seat you have him in, BeSafe are a fab car seat brand, I don’t think any of their seats would be able to forward face at 13kg as their infant carrier is 0-13kg/75cm long (rear facing only) and their other seats with harnesses rear face up to about 4yrs but that’s 18kg and 105cm. Other than that, I believe they only do HBB which will be seatbelt only (it’s very unsafe to forward face with a harness.)

It depends if they are longer in the legs or in the body so I don't see how you can go purely by height. If they have a shorter body they will be able to spend longer in the seat before being above the headrest. If they have short legs and a long body they will get too tall for it faster.

Harnessed 123 seats will have a weight limit for the harness and that's usually 18kg

Sorry- only just saw your updates.

I’d get yourself a BeSafe stretch if you’ve been happy with the brand, it should last him till about 7. Then he can move to a HBB with a seatbelt.

I still can’t quite work out what seat you’ve got though! The measurements don’t sound right!

@Excited101 I think it's a rear and forward facing seat. Supposed to do from approx 6m to 4y depending on height

Might be something like this:

Anyone who hasn't bought their seat in the last 4 years ish may not be aware that car seats now (mostly) have height limits so even if their head is well in the seat it may be "outgrown".

He's 3 so too young for his bones to be hard enough to use an adult belt AND he's probably not mature enough to always sit properly so id go for a 25/36kg & 125cm RF seat.

Thanks @dementedpixie , it was the height and weight plus forward facing that threw me with the brand, but I don’t work for them- I’ve probably got in a muddle somehow.

would still massive recommend the stretch op, rear facing is 5x safer and he’s still so young. There are great risks with forward facing, especially forward facing with a harness.

If their head is within the seat then how can it be outgrown? It depends which part of them carries the height I.e. if they have short legs and a long body their head will go over the back faster than if they have long legs and a short body.

He is within the weight limit and his head is within the seat so it will still be fine to use

Definitely too young for a seat belt, but there aren't a lot (if any) of options up to 25kg forward facing with a harness, unless you go back to rear facing. Forward facing with a harness is actually very dangerous.

Also at 13kg he's too light to legally use a high back booster so your legal options if he hits 105cm before 15kg are very limited.

Forward facing I think only the old Joie bold (R not isize), cosy n safe Hudson (this seat has unknown performance in crash tests) and cybex anoris t

RF there are several seats by BeSafe, britax and Axkid

Buying a HBB down the line would be cheaper so I wouldn't get hung up on a multistage seat.

What do most people do then if DC hadn’t reached 15kg? My dd is almost 4 and only 13kg but 100cm tall. She’s not going to have reached 15kg by the time she’s 105cm. She will be too tall for her current car seat which she ff in, but not heavy enough for a seatbelt? We wouldn’t want to use a seat that wasn’t i sized.

This is what BeSafe says about the time to change seat

You could have a 123 seat which has a harness until 18kg.

@dementedpixie personally I really don't think this is a good thing but new car seats use a new regulation "I-size" or r129 and old seats were r44

So I-size seats now have a height limit as well as a weight limit, I think this was because people are maybe more likely to know their kids height. People keep using seats beyond the weight limit unknowingly so I guess this is trying to combat it.

The seats aren't any smaller but they can now be "outgrown" well before the child is too big to fit in the seat. The height limit isn't a suggestion it's a limit the same as the weight limit. So yeah r126 seats are being outgrown earlier than the r44 equivalent would have been.

From what i can see it's the isize regulations that seem to limit the harness to a very short height level of 105cm. In the past the seat harnessed until 18kg regardless of a height level.

He is 3 and is half a kilo and 25cm over the limit for the infant carrier he had from be safe. As I said, his current seat has a max of 105cm. It can be forward or rear facing but that's the height limit for both, hence my question here. But as his ears and shoulders aren't physically too high in his current seat yet I'll stick with it for now until he grows a bit taller. Thanks for your help though!

@Overthebow I think looking at the WHO growth charts briefly if she followed the same line she miiight just be ok. But the safest option is to buy a 25/36kg RF seat because using the adult belt at 4.5 is not really ideal and another year would be better (DD1 went to a belt at 4 but extenuating circumstances, disability and it's really not often, hopefully my other kids will be RF for much longer)

If you want the safest car seat you're better looking for a Swedish plus tested seat rather than isize because there are some poor isize seats but some really good non isize seats atm that pass the Swedish plus test.

I've not yet found a group 1/2/3 that doesn't say it has a limit for harness use of 105cm unfortunately!

Yes! It's very low isn't it? But there are some RF seats that have higher harness limits, up to 125cm