https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 14 May 2026 15:15:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2894001 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 16:32:26 +0000 Mrsbells 2894001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you all so much for your responses. Really great and reassuring information here. This is why I love hellobee!</p> <p>@catgirl: Thanks for that link I will read that now.<br /> @Ms. RV: great point!<br /> @mrsbubbletea: it's so hard to know what the right thing is but it is also a very individual decision. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893998 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 16:19:14 +0000 catgirl 2893998@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The first thing to remember is that car seats are single use products that are designed to protect a child through one crash, not several crashes - breaking in an accident does not necessarily mean that a seat has failed. This article from Car Seats for the Littles, which is an amazing group of CPSTs sums up my thoughts on this:</p> <p><a href="https://csftl.org/consumer-reports-combination-car-seat-report/" rel="nofollow">https://csftl.org/consumer-reports-combination-car-seat-report/</a></p> <p>For what it's worth I just purchased two Britax Frontiers, for my extremely tall daughter, and I am completely confident in that choice. Consumer reports has been in hot water before in relation to their testing of car seats. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893996 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 16:07:42 +0000 Ms. RV 2893996@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Short version: I do comparable testing for a living and don't like CR's test method at all.</p> <p>Long Version;<br /> Let me preface this by saying that I manage a lab dedicated to testing a specific kind of safety equipment (not car seats, but we do destructive testing of other plastic equipment so it is similar).</p> <p>The standards are standards for a reason, and all these seats met the standards. They protect people most of the time. No seat can guarantee safety. They also probably used a very low sample size. Maybe even one per test. That is not enough to give you information. If they did maybe five or more per test and all had the same results, then I would be more likely to be concerned about these seats. Does the standard say to do crash tests, or is it force/energy based? Probably the latter, because there are fewer testing variables that way. Also, any manufacturer is going to do a ton of testing to make sure their product has enough of wiggle room above the minimum standard because there are natural deviations within the test results. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893992 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:59:18 +0000 mrsbubbletea 2893992@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks for posting this. I am so curious why they recommend all the way down to 40lbs to flip to seatbelt. It looks like the weight that the seat failures were much heavier kids. The harnessed limit on our britax is 90lbs, and my son is 4.5 and almost 50lbs. I wonder if we should switch him to seatbelt, he doesnt normally sleep in my car so he might be ok. I just had assumed we would keep him harnessed until he really protested in a few years! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893985 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:34:06 +0000 Becky 2893985@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have the Britax seat. I started letting DD1, who is 5.75 and 48 lbs, use a high back booster we got as a floater. She’s doing great in it and actually fell asleep the other day and didn’t slump forward like I was nervous about. I would have been fine her her in the Britax as a HBB, but it turns out it’s harder to buckle. DD1 is a peanut, so we moved her into the Britax (she was in a Diono Radian R100 which was fine but the Britax has cup holders so cleeeearly wins in her opinion). By the time she’s anywhere near that upper weight limit DD1 will be out of the HBB. So like others said, I’d focus on other seats. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893984 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:32:22 +0000 graceandjoy 2893984@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hopefully our resident expert Catgirl can weigh in! </p> <p>We also have the Graco Nautilus which I'm glad to see not included on the list. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893983 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:32:12 +0000 Foodnerd81 2893983@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pinkb: right- I feel like it’s far more dangerous to use the seatbelt on a kid who isn’t ready, than use the harness appropriately. In a world of things to worry about, I just can’t freak out too much over this. But again I WOULD worry if my kid was maxing out the weight of the seat. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893982 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:29:37 +0000 Foodnerd81 2893982@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have a Britax Frontier for my 6 year old. I’ll continue to use it- though we will probably switch to booster mode in the near future and she is way below the weight limit. I guess I’d be more wary of harnessing a child near the very top of the weight limit. Our other harness to booster seat is a Chicco Myfit that was literally just delivered today, so I can’t say too much about it but nice to see it had better ratings. I really feel like the biggest risk with car seats is not using them correctly. Our britax with ClickTight installs so easily, I know it’s in well. And remember the report did say there had been NO reported real life instances of these failures. So, I’m not discounting them but not going crazy either. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893981 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:28:05 +0000 MamaBear87 2893981@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a Chicco myfit that my daughter loves. It's comfy and was super easy to install with both the seatbelt and the latch. (we did buy the upgraded one because I got it on sale so it has the super cinch which made the latch super easy to use) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893980 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:27:20 +0000 pinkb 2893980@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I remember seeing this article when it first came out and quickly removed the harness for DD (we have the click tight pioneer) and made it a high back booster with the car seat belt. We found out that she cant sit correctly 100% of the time, maybe 60%, and it was too difficult for her to use the car belt because it never stayed in the little nook area of the car seat for easy access. So we switched it back to harnessed.<br /> Not that I don't believe the report, I do. But it doesn't include all the info about the test.( Speed, direction hit, picture so I can actually see and understand 100% what they are saying) So I am taking it with a grain of salt. Since we already have the seat (and have had to buy 8 others for various reason) I am not running out to buy a new one. Since you are shopping for a new one and are concerned by their test I would concentrate my search on the others they listed and recommended. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893978 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:26:06 +0000 DesertDreams88 2893978@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ugh, we have the Graco Atlas 65. Thanks for posting this. Three things I'm seeing:<br /> - Most of the seats, if not all, were fine with the average 3-year old dummy.<br /> - The issue seems to be with the dummies that were near the seats' upper limits, AND, it seems that they were using a harness when most parents would have switched to the seatbelt setting at that point.<br /> - They did not compare damage levels to high back boosters. I mean, opk, there's so damage to these seats, but would there have been worse damage in a high back booster? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893977 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:20:08 +0000 Mrsbells 2893977@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Sams Mom: thanks I will look those seats up </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893975 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:15:25 +0000 Sams Mom 2893975@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a Graco 4ever that he's about to outgrow the seated height in, a Graco Nautilus, and a Britax Pioneer. </p> <p>The 4ever and Nautilus are both combo seats though (Nautilus is harnessed, high back, and backless) so they might not count. I like all of them, even though I don't like the material on the Britax for some reason, even though it doesn't bother my son. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/consumer-reports-safety-issue-with-harnessed-booster#post-2893973 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:05:36 +0000 Mrsbells 2893973@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have 3 kids but have never purchased a harnessed booster. With my oldest who is 7 she stayed in her convertible seat and then went straight to a high back booster that works with the seat belt.<br /> Now I have my almost 3 year old who has about outgrown his convertible. I need a harnessed booster for him and then a new convertible for our 10 month old.</p> <p>I saw a disturbing report from consumer reports that 5 of the top harnessed booster I had in mind are really not as safe as we thought. So I am now second guessing myself.</p> <p>Which harnessed booster do you have?</p> <p>ETA link to the report.<br /> <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/toddler-booster-seats/child-car-seats-from-britax-cosco-graco-harmony-break-in-consumer-reports-tests/" rel="nofollow">https://www.consumerreports.org/toddler-booster-seats/child-car-seats-from-britax-cosco-graco-harmony-break-in-consumer-reports-tests/</a> </p>