These are the rules you must follow to restrain your children safely.
You must read your carseat and vehicle owner’s manual and understand any relevant state laws. Britax changed the armrest's geometry, and that put the lap belt in the wrong place to earn a BEST BET or GOOD BET." The Frontier 85 was a BEST BET for 2012."
"I did the test and then got the Frontier 85 out of storage to compare the designs. A booster seat needs good lap belt fit, in addition to good shoulder belt fit, in all four conditions to earn a BEST BET rating. When Floyd started evaluating the Britax Frontier 90, he was taken aback by what he found: The lap belt was too high on the dummy's abdomen in 2 of 4 test conditions that represent a range of vehicle safety belt setups. ".booster seats have consistently improved. In 2 of 4 test conditions the lap belt was too high on the dummy's abdomen, although the shoulder belt fit was good." The geometry of the highback booster's armrest doesn't consistently provide the same lap belt fit as the earlier model. Britax introduced the Frontier 90 in 2013. In IIHS evaluations, the seat correctly positioned the lap belt across the dummy's thighs in all test conditions. "The highback Britax Frontier 85 was a BEST BET last year. These highback seats replaced two Britax boosters that previously earned the top rating." They are the Frontier 90, Pinnacle 90 and Pioneer 70. This year, three new Britax models didn't make their debuts as BEST BETs or GOOD BETs. "A surprise came from Britax, a company whose boosters have consistently earned the top two ratings.
This link to IIHS includes a photo that illustrates the issue with the armrest geometry: Is anyone familiar with this production change that's directly related to the IIHS finding? Is it a change to the armrest geometry? Perhpaps to the red area underneath that affects the belt path? Has it happened yet? DOM cutover date? Best guess on how long to wait for the revised seats to reach retailers? "BRITAX will implement a slight change on the FRONTIER 90, PINNACLE 90 and PIONEER 70 by January 2014 that will be designed to address the occasional instance where proper belt fit is not achieved."
You can find the date of manufacture on the car seat/booster seat serial label.I found this on the Britax web site re: production change: To prevent injury due to deterioration or hidden damage, do not use car seats or booster seats older than their useable life or if it has been in a moderate or severe crash. Frontier Harness-2-Booster seats manufactured from 2008-2010 have a service life of 9 years. The useable life for most Britax infant car seats (including the base), older infant/child car seats, youth seats, and belt-positioning booster seats manufactured through June 2010 have a service life of 6 years.Refer to the user guide of your specific belt-positioning booster seat.īritax Car Seats manufactured through June 2010: Belt-Positioning Booster seats have a useable life of 6 or 10 years.Harness-2-Booster seats have a useable life of 9 years.ClickTight Convertible car seats have a useable life of 10 years.Convertible car seats (excluding the Classic line) have a useable life of 7 years.Infant car seats have a useable life of 6 years.
For information relating to your particular car seat, please refer to your user guide.īritax Car Seats manufactured June 2010 or after:
The expiration date varies by product and from the date of manufacture.