Car Seat / Booster Seat 4 Year Old...Recaro

[EnoreeRiver]

Hello, it is time to get my almost 4 year old a new car seat for the FJ. He is a few slices of pizza away from 40 lbs.

As I understand it, once a child is 40 lbs, you should no longer be using the LATCH system and you need a booster seat that uses the car's seat belt. I am assuming that in the FJ, this means that you can no longer use the middle position in the rear seat (Because there is no seatbelt there)? Is there a way to do this?

I have been looking at the Recaro seats. The Young Sport (convertible booster, but with harness) seat is more affordable than the Recaro Start seat (the aluminum framed one), but since my child is nearly 40 lbs, I am thinking that I would have to immediately just take out the harness and start using this as a booster seat...again, I would not be able to use the middle seat position.

I know the little guy is going to be upset that he does not get to sit in the middle anymore. He likes to see where we are going and he thinks it is cool when my backup camera activates!

Thanks for any advice...I searched the forums and found some discussion about seats, but didn't come away with a resolution.

[Katfish]

Our back middle seat has a seat belt?

If he just needs a booster, you should just look at Target/Walmart - booster seats are cheap.

[SwiCago]

EnoreeRiver previously said:

I am assuming that in the FJ, this means that you can no longer use the middle position in the rear seat (Because there is no seatbelt there)?

I don't what kind of FJ you have, but my '07 has a middle seatbelt, just like the left and right sides.

[Hammer_In_Hand]

Tie him to the roof

[momeara]

x3...seat belt in the middle for me too. The LATCH system is designed to be used behind the driver and passenger seats, not in the middle.

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...tml#post743430

[mikehotel]

I am a car seat tech, and in the fire service, the kid needs to go into a high back seat-belt positioning booster...ProductList in the middle of the vehicle is the safest spot, use the center belt with the instructions provided in the owners manuel. PM me back for more info if you need it.

[EnoreeRiver]

Whoops...sorry about that.... I just went out to the FJ and took another look.

The problem is that the protective mat that I have under my existing child seat was covering the middle shoulder strap. So I thought there was not a middle seat belt....sorry again.

[23V]

There are two main types of booster seats: high- back and no-back (backless). I did a lot of research before buying and couldn't find any (objective) data indicating that one type was safer than the other. They both rely on the vehicle's seat belt system to hold the child in place during a crash.

A Parent's Guide to Buying and Using Booster Seats

I have one of each and use both regularly with my five-year-old son. The backless one is usually in the FJ. Since he's old enough to get in and out by himself, the booster is usually on the left side, behind the driver. But the FJ has a full shoulder-and-lap seatbelt in the middle position, so your son could continue sitting there if he prefers.

The backless models are less expensive and easy to use with the vehicle's seat belt. After having used a sturdy convertible baby seat with a five-point harness when my son was younger, I assumed that a high-back booster seat would be safer or somehow better. But after buying one, I realized that the back portion of the booster seat was fairly flimsy and wouldn't add much value in a crash.

It's really the vehicle's seat belt that holding him in place. The booster seat's job is mainly to raise up a child so that the seat belt crosses his/her relatively strong shoulder bones and not over his neck.

These are the two seats we have:

High-back: Graco: TurboBooster® SafeSeat™ (Step 3) 8497MOS

Backless: Graco: Backless TurboBooster® 8682SMT

[23V]

23V previously said:

There are two main types of booster seats: high- back and no-back (backless). I did a lot of research before buying and couldn't find any (objective) data indicating that one type was safer than the other.

Well, I just did a bit more research and found a 2005 study that seems to indicate that high-back booster seats are more effective in side impact crashes. Interesting ...

http://www.carcrash.org/mediaweb/00019.pdf

[bkw]

We've got the Recaro Young Sport which converts into a booster with the removal of a few pads. Great seat, but I like the Marathon in my wife's car better because when strapped in theres very little side to side movement unlike the Recaro. Unfortunately, the britax marathon cannot be turned into a booster.

If you do get a Recaro, I'd recommend that you dont get the velour type material. It gets bunched up and stains easily. Try to get one of the 'tech' type fabrics instead.