What type of car seat for a nearly 9 year old?

[ILoveCatsAndKittens]

Hello!
Current Recaro high back car seat is now too tall for my car. It’s hitting the roof and won’t extend to how it needs to.
My son is nearly 9 and approx 130cm tall. I bought this seat as it accommodates up to age 12, I didn’t actually think about whether it would fit in the car!

I am reading so much conflicting information. I see children younger than him not sitting in any type of child seat, not even a booster.
Does he still have to be in a high back seat or can I use a regular booster type for him please?

Thanks all!

So we have 2 backless boosters (one for DD9 and a spare for friends), they are identical Graco ones but one was bought a year or so before the other and the older one is for 125cm up and the newer has a minimum height of 135cm. There’s zero difference between the seats, I assume it’s because the older one was R44 and the newer the updated R129 standard. So whilst a backless booster may be the most obvious solution and would be what I’d do, if you’re buying a new seat then technically it may not be legal for 130cm…
Trunki boostapak is backless and is approved for 125cm and up, could look at that, although maybe not the comfiest for every day travel.

We got backless booster seats (we could also take on holiday, and I think France has a rule that meant to have a car seat/booster up to 150cm. They were jovi kids and were 125cm - 150cm.
Just passed them onto out neighbours as no longer needed.

Backless booster, thank you! You’ve given me the clear info I needed thank you!

Google has given me so many different rules from all sorts of years that I’ve confused myself so much with it all!

It’s frustrating having to replace this seat as we bought it thinking it’ll do till 12, not even thinking about the size of the car! we’ve not had it long, no crashes or incidents (thank goodness) I’ll pass onto a family member, see if they want it as it’s a shame to just go in the tip when I know it’s perfectly safe as there’s been no incidents.

Just had a quick search at the Jovie, I like that they have isofix. I didn’t really backless booster seats have the ifosix now, how clever! And has put my mind at ease a little regarding safety!

There’s a few with isofix.

which brand is best to go for then please? Jovikids, Gracco, MyBabiie? I haven’t a clue!

FYI with boosters the isofix isn’t doing anything from a safety perspective, it’s just keeping it fixed in place when the kid isn’t in the car which given the backless boosters are small and light it isn’t a must in the way it is for high back boosters that could fly about and hurt you if you had a crash and the seat was loose. As for the brand, it really doesn’t matter as they’re all much of a much. What’s worth considering other than price obviously is the width of it if you might want to ever put it in the middle, how comfy it is and maybe whether you want cup holders- our graco ones have 2 cupholders which the kids like.

Thank you for the isofix info!

oh I think he’d love his own cupholder! It’s difficult to see how comfortable they are, I’ll have a look at the Gracco ones thank you.

Have you checked that the back doesn’t come off the current car seat? Sometimes they convert and just clip off….

I’ve just googled and unfortunately it doesn’t.
I had my hopes up as I am awful at making decisions and will spending hours trawling through reviews on which backless booster to buy 🙈🙈