Car seat 4 yr old

[Cb148]

Hi,

Forgive me if this is a really stupid question.

I have a 4 yr old ds and a 10 month old dd. My 10 month old is growing out of her little group 1 rear facing car seat so want to put her into ds group 2 car seat...which means I need a high back booster car seat for ds. But I'm really confused as to which I should get.

Why do some have a harness and others dont, is it just personal preference? Are you supposed to remove the harness at a certain age anyway? The ones with their own harness seem to look safer to me somehow, but if it gets removed anyway & its only for younger children then I'd just go with the group 3 with no harness.

Don't really like the look of the booster seat on its own.

Thanks in advance!

First I think you've got the groups a bit confused, it starts at Group 0 for the baby seat and then it's Group 1 for the toddler ones (with harness usually). Boosters with a back are Group 2. Group 3 is boosters without a back but in legal terms Group 2 and 3 are the same weight class etc.

Okay so that cleared up, the ones with a harness are Group 1/2/3 seats, which means that you can use them from 9kg, but have to remove the harness at 18kg anyway. So for a four year old, the harnessed boosters are no good.

You might have some time left yet, though, is the 10 month old really out of the baby seat? It's 13kg or their head reaching the edge, whichever comes first. 10 months is pretty young to grow out of one unless they are a big baby, and it's safer to keep them rear facing as long as possible. If you're using coats in the car take them off (they aren't safe with car seats anyway.)

Is the weight limit for harnessed boosters really only 18kg? We're in the U.S. so cars seats are a big different here, but the Britax booster we have for DS can be used with the harness up to 30kg!

DS has a slight build (he's 4.10 and weighs 16kg) so we decided he'd be safer and more comfortable in the harness for as long as possible.

Yes it's a weight class thing. All car seats in Europe built to R44/04 have to work inside specific "groups". Group 1 is typically the last harnessed group and the maximum is 18kg. From what I have seen of US car seats, there are no universal weight classes so each manufacturer can produce their own limits, which is good as it creates competition.

The new European standard (i-size) which is legal to produce and sell but not yet compulsory to use (because it requires ISOfix which is the same as LATCH) is closer to that US system where there are no set weight groups or classes but each company can make their seats whatever size they like, and there is a minimum age for forward facing, which in Europe currently there isn't. The law now is only they must be in an appropriate seat, but Group 1 which is the smallest forward facing class begins at 9kg, so you can legally forward face a four month old if they are 90th centile for weight. Nobody recommends it, of course, but there is no minimum age.

It is possible to get Group 2 harnessed seats, and they are coming down in price, they tend to be Group 1 rear facing seats. (Until fairly recently, it was also almost impossible to find a rear facing car seat over 13kg). In the past they were special needs seats only.

In any case because Group 1 harnesses are designed for up to four years they are often too short for most children as they approach four years old.

mrsfrumble U.S. car seats seem to be completely different to European ones. We are probably moving to Chicago soon so I was looking at seats for my DC there and was pleasantly surprised at how long the harnesses would last. I have a tall 3yr old and it's been a real struggle to find a seat with a harness for her in Ireland but she's too young/fidgety to just use the belt safely.

We brought our UK car seats over with us when we first moved here (not sure it was legal, but we got away with it) and used them both until DD outgrew her infant seat. She's in the DS's old stage 1 seat now and we purchased a new seat for him over here.

DS wasn't quite 4 at the time and I didn't trust him not to fiddle with and unclip a regular seat belt. I've heard some horror stories on here about little children doing just that and scaring the life out of their parents! We stuck with Britax and got one of these us.britax.com/car-seats/frontier-85/. DS loves the cup holders