Another question for car seat experts

[NZMummy]

Well, I need some advice again regarding car seats. My daugher is going to reach the weight limit of her current car seat (18kg = 39.6 lbs) any time now. She is almost 3 years 5 months and average height. I wanted to find a seat where she could stay in a harness belt at least until she goes to school. However, I just can't find any seats that offer that option over here. Everyone I know has put their child into a booster seat used with a normal seatbelt at 18kg (or even earlier in many cases). The only other option to keep her in a harness seems to be to purchase a safety harness that can be added to a booster seat and secured to the anchorage point. Is anyone familiar with these? They all seem to say that they can't be used in a hatchback (which is what we have) where the straps can slip down the gap between seats. Can anyone clarify what they are talking about? Does this apply even when the seat is not installed in the centre of the back seat? Does it appy to all hatchbacks? Maybe I am out of options and just have to use the standard booster with a seat belt. Can anyone shed any light on this for me.

I hate getting to this stage with car seats - I think that New Zealanders must have a fairly casual attitude toward car seats though. Friends of my son travel without a booster seat at 5/6 years and I believe that this is completely legal if there is no booster in the car. What is the law like in the US and the UK on this?

[PianoMama]

WOW! I'm sorry that it seems like you don't have many options. The US law (at least here in Ohio) says that kids up to age 8 and 4'9" have to be in a booster. This was just recently changed in Ohio.

I think Tara has friends on car seat boards/forums that may be able to answer your qustions more fully. Can you not get the same carseats we have over here?

My ds (nearly 5) is in the Sunshine Kids Radian 80...harnesses up to 80 pounds.

My dd (nearly 2) is in the Britax Boulevarde....rearfacing harness through 35 pounds, then forward facing.

[Eva]

I don't have much advice on which carseats to get. Here in the UK the law is that any child under the age of 12 must be in a suitable child carseat/booster for their age. But the UK struggle to produce carseats that keep children rear facing longer and harnessed for longer when forward facing, not to mention we also lack professionals in stores that actually know of the benefits of rear facing for longer. It annoys me to no end

[PianoMama]

This is probably a stupid question, why can't families in NZ and the UK use the same carseats we in the US use? (obviously showing my ignorance...sorry.)

[ChamomileFriend]

Britax has AU and NZ sites that might be able to help you find where to buy a 5 point harness carseat for a bigger toddler :
http://www.britax.com.au/
http://www.britax.co.nz/


Also, it looks like Radian *might* sell tethered carseats up to 36 kg in NZ sometime this year - I could only view the first page of this thread because I am not a member here:
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache...9+radian+80+NZ
This site says maybe the Radians will be out this April, but I don't see where you could buy one:
http://www2.everybody.co.nz/forum/ub...ve_re_carseats

I hope you find what you are looking for! I don't know that much about which seats are available in NZ.

[~Tara~]

Check www.car-seat.org You can join for free and post your questions there. After searching you may even see it's already been answered.

Sorry I really don't have the time this morning.

I can say though that the vest/booster combo is a great option, from what I hear. I have no personal experience, but I have heard many of the techs on the car seat board rave about them.

Again, I suggest you go poke around car-seat.org. Those folks are EXTREMELY helpful, fountains of information Just hop in there and ask away.

[NZMummy]

Thanks everyone for your comments. We went with a standard booster with the separate harness added. It fits really well with the particular booster we had (I have heard that this is not always the case) and we are really happy with how it is working.

[~Tara~]

So you got like an EZ rider vest or similar? (I forget the names of those) Sounds like a good plan. Good for you for wanting to keep her harnessed and really digging for the options to make that happen. Go mom!!

[NZMummy]

Originally Posted by ~Tara~

So you got like an EZ rider vest or similar? (I forget the names of those) Sounds like a good plan. Good for you for wanting to keep her harnessed and really digging for the options to make that happen. Go mom!!

I'm not familiar with the EZ rider vest, so I'm not sure. Thanks for the encouragement Tara -over here I feel like I am the odd one out being concerned about such things.