FF in britax dualfix

[fairgame84]

Can i safely FF my 4yo in my Britax Dualfix M?
I've been reading on car seat groups and i'm really confused because there's information saying she can't FF in it because it's harnessed.
She's just over 1m in height and around 16kg.

Obviously rear facing is the very safest but she’s well over the minimum to turn forward facing if that’s what you to do, it’s perfectly safe for a 4YO, and the seat is designed to be used rear and forward facing with the harness so I suspect you’ve stumbled on to one of those fanatical rear facing online groups that tells everyone that any forward facing harnessed seat is a death trap…
My bigger concern though would be that she’s not far off maxing out of the seat if she’s over 1m though. Check your manual but isn’t the max height 105cm?

Thankyou for replying. Yes the group I'm on is a bit extreme.
Yes the max is 105cm so we'll be starting to look for new seats probably after Christmas, we've still got a few cm left for now.
Do i still to have the straps coming up from behind her shoulders FF or do they need to be level with her shoulders?

Yes you can. For FF, the straps should be level with or slightly higher than shoulders (if DC between two settings). For RF you want them below because you're looking to prevent DC ramping up the seat back. For FF you are aiming to pin them more to the seat to reduce forward head movement.

As far as I can tell, ie estimated based on subtracting the scores of the equivalent RF-only seat, the Dualfix is one of the better-performing spin seats for FF. RF will be better, but FF is also fine, particularly at 4 years old.

They tend to grow roughly 6cm a year at this age so you could have several months left in the seat, I would not rush to get a new one. Weight limit is stricter than height limit, but if she gets taller than the headrest allows to raise the straps up, then it's outgrown. It's OK if her head is over the top as long as her eye level/top of ears are not higher than the top of the seat.

Some of the car seat groups have a total no on FF with harness ever, which makes sense if they are saying "The limit is the same RF, so there is no logical reason to ever use it FF" but it's based on false information when they are saying that FF represents a greater risk with a harness vs seatbelt. There is no evidence to support that claim.

Thankyou both so much for the advice