Re: Integrated Child Booster Seat etc....
Its funny, at the Edmunds forum someone claims (and I believe them but do not quite get how) to have installed two Roundabouts in the second row and are still able to get access to the third row. We tried to install a Britax Roundabout and Britax Marathon side by side and they definitely blocked access to the third row.<p>About car seats, I work with people who do NHTSA-funded and auto industry-funded research on auto safety. They study car seats amongst other things and have access to a huge database with data from thousands of accidents. They recommend keeping kids in 5-point restraints (there are convertible boosters that go from 5-point to the standard lap and shoulder belt) until they are at least 40 pounds, or as long as possble height permitting, and then move to the lap/shoulder belt booster. Any booster is better than nothing, there is even talk that there may be a push to make it the law that kids stay in boosters until they are 8 yrs old or 80 pounds (it is now 6 and 60). <p>So the greater restraint the better for as long as possible. 5-point harnesses definitely distribute the forces across the chest and pelvis in a much more favorable fashion than the standard booster seat harness. In addition, there is no risk of a child sliding out of a 5-point harness (unless the mechanism fails) but this absolutely happens in the real world with lap/shoulder belt boosters (whether due to improper installation, too small a child or bad luck).<p>Many relatively inexpensive ($75) 'convertible' boosters are now on the market with a 5-point harness that can eventually be removed for the lap/shoulder belt. They also are relatively small (narrow). Maybe not as small as the Volvo child seat but a hell of a lot less money.<p><br>