Best carseat/booster for a tall, thin toddler?

January 9, 2007 7:03 AM

Best car seat for a toddler? We're looking for a booster to fit a 14-month old who is 32 inches, 23 lbs (tall for her age). It was easy to choose an infant seat, but the boosters seem harder to select, especially since the recent Consumer Reports test results (on infant seats, not boosters) showed so many seats that didn't pass the test.

We have a Honda Accord but will probably add a minivan to the household later this year.

posted by mdiskin to travel & transportation (12 comments total)

Our insurance company (State Farm) along with our local police department often have get-togethers where you can bring your car and car seat in and they will make sure you have installed the seat correctly and to make sure your seat is "up to code." If it's not a good car seat, they GIVE you one (free!) and install it for you. I only mention this because perhaps you could call your local police department or insurance agency and see what they might recommend.

Also, all car seats have minimum requirements that they must pass to be able to sell the car seat. I think the car seat isn't the biggest issue, but whether it is installed correctly.

In addition, look for car seats with the 5-point harness.
posted by Sassyfras at 7:20 AM on January 9, 2007

Read the Consumer Reports article and get one of the two that they liked. They point out that many of the sets that pass our regulations are less safe than similar models sold in Europe where they tend to be more stringent about these things. So even if your local police, hospital, or whatever vouches for the seat, it still has the potential for being less safe than it could be.

Another point the article brought out is that proper installation is key to getting the best protection, as Sassyfras points out, so from that perspective, an inspection can be helpful, as can carefully reading the directions (if you have never used a car seat, the instruction booklet can be a little intimidating). An important point that consumer reports brought up is that the LATCH system all current cars have is not as good at securing most seats in most cars as the old-fashioned, but more complicated, method using seat belts. On the other hand, the LATCH system is much easier to use correctly. My wife and I have an almost 2-year old and she got pretty agitated when she heard news reports about this. That article is definitely worth reading for all parents with cars.
posted by TedW at 7:45 AM on January 9, 2007

Our 18 month old twins ride in Britax Marathon seats. It's a reversible model that we used in the rear facing position when our kids were a little smaller, and were too big for their infant car seat. Now, being a bit bigger, we have the seats in a forward facing position. We've been pretty happy with it. We chose it based on online reviews, and a recommendation from another parent we knew.

We have a pair in our minivan, and one in a small Mazda hatchback (Protege5), so it should fit in an Accord.
posted by jaimev at 7:49 AM on January 9, 2007

TedW: The Consumer Reports article only covers infant car seats, not toddler seats like this lady is requesting.

Toddler car seats are much more uniform in construction than infant seats, mostly because it can now be assumed that the child can sit up on his/her own. The big thing to look for is a LATCH system, a five point harness to keep the child secure in the seat, and verification that the seat is installed correctly by a police officer or other safety personnel.
posted by krark at 8:03 AM on January 9, 2007

Second the Britax Marathon, it's a great seat. Also Krark, LATCH isn't the five point harness, it's the metal hoops that the seat itself attaches to.
posted by zeoslap at 8:20 AM on January 9, 2007

Sorry Krark, I misread your comment, yes Latch and a five point harness are key points (which the Britax Marathon recommened has)
posted by zeoslap at 8:21 AM on January 9, 2007

Try the Britax Regent. The weight limit is 80 pounds with a 5-point harness. The Britax Marathon is great too, but the weight limit is 60 pounds. The longer you can keep your child in a 5-point harness, the better.
posted by LoriFLA at 8:29 AM on January 9, 2007

Two different people pointed me to the Baby Bargains book, saying that the products get a more thorough review, and that more items are reviewed, than through Consumer Reports.

To get your seat inspected, you can use the NHTSA website to locate official inspectors near you. The actual website (http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/) is under repair right now; here's a link to the google cache - the search function still works on the cached site.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 8:54 AM on January 9, 2007

The Britax Marathon is a great seat, as well as the Sunshine Kids Radian (cheaper option). A better place to ask this question is the very active forums at www.car-seat.org. You'll get CPS technicians giving you good advice.
posted by RibaldOne at 9:07 AM on January 9, 2007

It seems like the OP and all commenters so far are aware of this, but for possible future readers, a forward-facing car seat IS NOT the same as a booster seat.
posted by peep at 9:10 AM on January 9, 2007

Many thanks for the comments so far.

I had the Baby Bargains book but lent it, and I did find it much more comprehensive than Consumer Reports. I'm planning on buying the Toddler Bargains book soon.

Luckily, we have one of the infant carseats that passed the Consumer Reports test, but the same test has not yet been run on toddler seats.
posted by mdiskin at 5:30 AM on January 10, 2007

No matter what, the most important element to a toddler seat is how well it has been installed. The best seat in the world won't help you if the installation is poor. In my area, it used to be the local fire department would help install car seats.

We have seats that use LATCH, and frankly, it sucks. All latch does is provide hard tie down points that meet strength requirements.

You still have to be much, much stronger than average to get the seat installed firmly and that still depends on what the car seat manufacturer has provided on the strapping. Even with LATCH, we use a Mighty Tite, because frankly, I'd like to put mechanical advantage in my corner.
posted by plinth at 7:31 AM on January 10, 2007