Car seat with 5-point harness for 4 year old?

[sassafrassj]

Thanks in advance for letting me know if I'm posting in the right place. I'm new to the UK and trying to figure out about a car seat for my 4.5 year old. He's about 40 lbs and 42 inches.

I would prefer to have him in a seat that has a 5-point harness for another few years, as I don't think he's ready for a belt-positioning booster type seat. (Wouldn't always sit correctly, not entirely reliable about keeping belt fastened.) In the U.S. (where we came from) there are several seats that can be 5-point and then eventually switch to belt-positioning boosters. Can someone point me toward similar seats here?

Many thanks in advance!

Jess

try a britax evolva 123, that has a 5 point harness although not sure how big it goes.

Check out www.rearfacing.co.uk for good advice on car seat safety. From that site you can find the contact details of the Road Safety Officers at the In Car Safety Centre just outside of Basildon, Essex. They offer free, impartial advice on all types of carseats.

FWIW, DS1 is in a rear facing Britax Multitech (sold as the Nordic Multi Tech in the UK), which can be used rearward facing for children from 9kgs - 25kgs with 5-point integral harness.

Seat also has forward facing option from 9kgs-18kgs with the integral harness, and from 15kgs - 25kgs as a high back booster.

We purchased this for about £250 in the UK, which is about £110 more than the FF version, but five times safer when used rearfacing in a frontal collision.

Hope this helps.

BTW, the Nordic Multitech is the rearfacing equivalent of the Evolva mentioned by Katz - but is less marketed in the UK as the manufacturers tend to think that the UK market isn't ready for RF seats, despite evidence suggesting they are vastly more safe for children.

Thanks for the input! I did keep DS1 rear facing until he was 3 and do know it's preferable.

I'm not prepared to turn him back around, as he had had enough of rf by then.

It looks as if the Britaxes are all seatbelt only once he hits 18kg (which he just has). I'll try the Road Safety Officers perhaps and see what I can dig up.

I also need to figure out until what weight the isofix anchors are approved in our Toyota Prius. I think 48 lbs is the default in most cars, so we have a while still.