5 point harness vs. booster seat crash test

[lenats31]

What are the loads on the head, neck and spinal cord 5 point harness vs booster?

[brandenleeharvey]

What I wonder is if a child would be better off in a booster seat or in a 5 point harness seat that is not tethered. My son is 3 and we have him in an evenflo maestro with the harness but we don't have a car and so when we get a ride we can't always tether the seat. He is 40 pounds.

[boneheaders]

@brandenleeharvey

If you do get a ride, all you have to do is run the seat belt through the hole in the seat and then pull the shoulder belt out so it locks and tightens. It takes about 3 minutes to get a correct installation. I would say that the safest would be to tether the 5 point harness- I would stop getting rides from people if they cannot wait 3 minutes to tether it. I did some research about the evenflo maestro and it was recalled.

[boneheaders]

@brandenleeharvey

I wanted to say that in the recall it said that the harness will come off in a crash. It said that in booster mode, the seat would function fine. I would use it in booster mode or penny pinch and buy a $40 car seat- after all, your son is worth $40- use your gut instinct. You are his parent and you have to make sure he remains safe. He should be 40 pounds AND 4 years old before switching to a plain booster.

[PowerHouseNet]

gotta roll like a boss, you crash and end up with feet sticking out the window... Fukk yeah!!

[kcmillerfamily]

The Britax Frontier 85 would be perfect Duckistrippin for your situation. You shuld also look into getting a top tether anchor retrofitted into your vehicle for correct installation of the seat. It is always recommended, but required with that seat once your child reaches 65lbs. The seat will harness to 85lbs.

[Duckyistrippin]

can anyone recomend a good booster seat that has a harness... my child is 3, about 50 lbs and over the weight limit for his harness now. Do not want a belt positioning booster, as my truck has no adult shoulder belts!!!! Lap only... grrrr.

[elseachay06]

@Duckyistrippin idk if you've found a good car seat for your 3 year old yet or not but we use the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 and fits kids 20-100 lbs. its a bit pricey but it's gonna last you a long long time and you'll never have to buy another seat bcuz it grows w/ your child. it's sturdy and no where near as floppy as the booster seat in this video. i hope this helps :)

[Duckyistrippin]

@elseachay06 Thanks that does help! I was about to buy a Britax this week, but it only goes to 85lbs. I will have to check this one out! Need another seat, moving the one from car to car is just not practical between 4 vehicles!

[Duckyistrippin]

@elseachay06 Just looked, its harnessed to 65lbs and booster to 100 correct? i found the britax 85 for 209 shipped.... its harness to 85 and booster to 120lbs. Frontier is the name, and Premium Price is the game! lol. oh well, my kids worth it! :)

[elseachay06]

@Duckyistrippin yes that is correct, a good idea would be to look up the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety website. They have lists of seats that are safe AND seats that are not safe. Graco seats were in the perfect and best bet lists :)

[Duckyistrippin]

@elseachay06 yes i know the gracos are good seats, but i need to keep him in the harness as along as possible. One of our vehicles is an antique truck and as such is only equipped with lap belts. Making a harness for heavier child absolutely necessary. My boy is only 3 and already 50lbs and nearly 4' tall

[elseachay06]

@Duckyistrippin my sister was taller & heavier than most 3 year olds too lol so i know how it is, good luck :)

[Duckyistrippin]

@elseachay06 I chose the Britax :) I think both are good seats, but my kids a monster! And when you figure in how much longer the Britax Harness is rated for than the Graco harness it seems more economic to buy the Britax even despite its higher upfront cost. Found it for 223 shipped overnight, which isnt horrible. :)

Even if he outgrows it, hopefully the extended harness life will make it a nice donation to someone else in need!

[zainuintel]

@Duckyistrippin wow thats tall for 3, im 11 nd im 5'3

[Duckyistrippin]

@zainuintel his mom is 6'3...i take no credit for his height ;)

[zainuintel]

@Duckyistrippin cool kk my mom is 5'8 lol no wonder he is very tall

[valorgal]

who originally created this video?

[safetykitt]

There are many seats in the USA that allow a child to remain rear facing longer. Most go to 35 lbs and even one goes to 40 lbs. They are called convertible car seats

[NicolaMonk]

FYI: the comparison shot isn't a 5 point harness- it's a recaro start with shield...

[CarSeatPoncho]

You can really see how a child is less protected wearing a shoulder belt. The dummy's narrower shoulder, specifically the left shoulder (closest to the camera), pops right out from under the belt upon impact. An adult's shoulders are wider, and the bottom half of the torso would be heavier. The child's body pops right out of the shoulder strap and the torso seems to fly right off the seat. Thanks for posting this, and my child will be in a 5-point harness for as long as I can keep him in.

[hmvx3]

I just bought my friend chicco stroller travel system with the rear facing carrier seat and it holds up to 30lbs rear facing. I didn't know that was available a few years ago. I hated putting my son into a forward facing car seat at 12 months- they are so small still. I bought him a britax frontier and he is staying in that for as long as possible.

[Imsemor]

Well, do you know that in Sweden there is hardly to find a foreward seating with 5-point harness for children over 33lbs? Why? Because the pressure on the neck is much higher with a 5-point harness than with a regular seatbealt.

And do remeber that in US you have rearfacing seats up to 35lbd, use them until the child grows out of the weightlimit! There is a big difference at children, but there is not impossible. None of my children har been weigth more than 35lbs when they passed 4 years.

[lydiakhalana]

I'm not sure how a 5 point harness would be worse for the child's neck than a booster with a seatbelt?? In this video we can clearly see how the child in the booster seat has his head thrown a lot further down than the child in the 5 point harness behind him. 33 lbs is way too little to be wearing a seatbelt only.

[AMBERANDTY]

THE REASON you don't see harness seats in SWEDEN is because they rear face to 55 lbs! That's 4, 5, 6, years old. The go straight from RF to a booster. They have seat that have HIGHER weight limits for REAR FACING than forward facing.

[illicitaucks]

@Imsemor ..I have a swedish carseat,the Brio Zento.My Nearly 3year old still rearfaces very comfortably! :). Swedish statistics show that children under the age of 6 should rearface if possible...nearly zero fatalities says it all....and here is New Zealand where it is quite normal to turn around at 9kg....it is the number one killer.

[roobear23]

June issue of Parents mag "It's 5 times safer for your 1 year old to ride facing backwards then forward, a new study has found. The American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation has been to keep a child in a rear-facing seat until she's at least 1 year and 20 lbs. But in light of this new research experts now recommend that you keep your toddler's convertible car seat facing backwards until she reaches the seat's height and weight limits for the rear position (usually 36 inches and 30-35 lbs)."

[tanditas]

People are clearly missing the most important point here. Don't turn your child around at age 12 months, it's far from the best thing you can do! Get a rear facing/convertible car seat. Parents who use a forward facing car set for their lovely toddler unfortunately have no idea how poor safety it offers.

Do as the Swedes do. Use rear facing car seats until age 4 (most do) which shows a dramatic difference in injuries.

[eeyore353]

Unfortunately, we don't have the seats here in the U.S. that they do in Sweden. It is very rare for a child not to surpass the rear-facing weight and/or height of a U.S. carseat before age 4 (even before age 3).

[bookofsnow]

What I don't get is here in Holland the LAW is this: birth-12 mos rear only facing infant seat. If they hit 13 kg by 9 mos then they go in the next seat which is 13-18kg (9 mos to 3 yrs). This is forward facing ONLY. At 3 yrs you get a booster and use with reg seatbelt. I have tried to get seats to adapt to safer standards and have had no luck. Poor dutch babies being killed because 9 mos fwd facing.. makes me so sad!

[PoisonGirl6485]

That makes no sense at all to me. In the US, it's not law to keep them in a 5-point harness past 1 year, but it certainly is advisable to keep them in that harness for as long as possible. I have a friend in Ireland who says their laws allow the infant seat to go in the front seat of the vehicle...???

[NicolaMonk]

Many states in the US also allow a child to be in a car seat in the front seat (some cars, like pick-up trucks or smart cars only have two front seats, and some parents have four kids needing car seats but no money for a minivan).

[tbirdlew]

I think American laws are too lax as well. I wish there was something that could be put out to all new parents to show them the different options available and why they should check this stuff out until the laws can be revised.

[1andtwins4me]

I am Dutch, moved from the States recently and my 3 kids (all born in the US) are luckily driving around in US car seats in the Netherlands (slighly illegal but safer!). My twins are rf (now 16 months and 26lbs) and my oldest almost 4 in a Radian harnassed seat (she was 18kg at 3 yo). Honestly, I am also appalled by Dutch car seat law. And the things I have been seeing since I got back ... it's crazy.

[trichard29]

it's also NOT a fair analogy. I mean really, the kid in the booster is like 3 feet taller than the one in the harness, but I'm supposed to believe he only moved that much because he was not harnessed?

[PoisonGirl6485]

It's MORE than a fair analogy...can you imagine how a SMALLER child would fare in a crash if he were just restrained by a seatbelt??? It is most certainly THE BEST OPTION to keep your child in a 5 point harness as long as possible.

[trichard29]

YES, it IS best for a small child to stay in a 5 point, but the video is not a fair comparison. If the ONLY difference between the two was the seat, it would be accurate...but using two different sized children is not a fair comparison. Using two of the same sized crash dummies, one in each type of restraint, would make it a fairer comparison. I understand the message, but don't make the point by "cheating" to make it look even worse by using a taller dummy, it discounts the message. JMHO

[tbirdlew]

Are you sure it wouldn't have made the child in the seatbelt only look a little worse? I have been reading about "submarining", where a small child slips under the seatbelt. I too would like to see the same size kids. I wonder why they didn't use them.

[joolstag]

This is just a booster video...the seat next to the booster is a foam restraint, not a harness. The Recaro foam body restraint performs as well as a harness, howevever, but is not available in the US currently.

[kcmillerfamily]

Incorrect - the seat next to the booster is a 5 point harness car seat.

[joolstag]

It's a Britax Prince, it has a foam shield and a seat the child sits in :)

[svellinis]

excellent