Car seat help for my 4 & 6 year olds

[NewMeNewUs]

Hi all.
currently have x2 joie car seats on isofix in the back of my Nissan Qashqui.
they take up so much room, so wide it’s a real struggle just getting the seat belts in.
i don’t really mind though as the safely of the kids comes first.
we were leaving school one day and my sons friends (they are 6/7 years old) couldn’t believe that he was still in a car seat! Their mums say their kids sit in boosters now.
so my question is when can I get rid of these bulky car seats and move to boosters!?

my kids are tall for their ages. My 6yo looks 8 and my 4 yo looks 6 😂

We kept with HBB until they didn't fit them anymore (about 10 years old). Then a booster cushion in my car (but not DHs) until the adult seat belts fitted.
Both kids were very close to 150cm before the adult belts fitted in my car - probably closer to 145cm for DHs car.

125cm tall.

I think the general consensus (safety-wise) is rear-facing car seat until at least 4 (but can be up to 7ish), then high back booster until around 150cm tall/age 12.

Forward-facing harnessed car seats and booster cushions without the high back are not very safe.

I switched mine into a HBB at 5 years old. The BeSafe Izi Flex Fix is really safe, goes to 150cm and isn't too bulky (you can remove part of the inside side of it - i.e. away from the door - to make it slimmer).

Did your child's friends mean a HBB as opposed to a harnessed seat, or did they mean just a booster cushion? If the latter, I'd just ignore as they'd be much safer in a high backed one.

They'd be fine in high backed boosters, ideally until they hit 150cm. Backless boosters shouldn't be used, other than in the middle seat between two high backed car seats if there's no room for the third (but still less than ideal).

Which Joie car seats is it that you have? A lot of them convert from 5 point harness to seatbelt, do you mean you are still using the harness, and if so how much do they weigh? (Actually I think it sounds like you're using the seatbelt now, if you say it's a struggle to get them in.)

It is definitely better to keep them in high backed boosters with the head support. A 6 year old is not very well protected on just a booster cushion at all.

You can get high backed booster seats which are a bit slimmer and less bulky than the combination seats, but if your seats are working for you, then I wouldn't rush to change them. Quashqai's can be a bit of a pain in the arse for car seats so it might be you don't gain a huge amount of space back anyway.