Harness or Booster for 8.5 y.o.

Hi all,

I'm coming back to the US for a visit and need to decide whether to use the chance to buy a new seat for my DSs.

DS1 is 8.5 years old, 60 lbs and 52 inches. He is at the very end of the harness in his Frontier 80 (? I think it's 80).

DS2 is turning 6, 40 lbs and 44 inches. He's still in his Marathon.

I need to either have DS1 use the Frontier as a booster and plan to replace the Marathon when DS2 grows a bit more (e.g. at Christmas when I'm coming back to the US again), or replace the Frontier with a Frontier 90 (?) and keep DS1 harnessed for longer, keeping the Frontier 80 for DS2 when he comes out of the MA.

I just don't know the data about how important it is to keep DS1 harnessed v. switching him to booster mode. Is there data about this? He is a pretty calm kid and uses a Britax booster (with that anti-submarining thing) when we're in the US because I was being cheap and didn't buy a Frontier to keep at the grandparents'.

There are no harnessed seats for big kids here in the UK, so I have to make my purchases when I come home.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Jess in London

Boosters are fine. For both of them. Statistically it's a wash for kids 4 and up being harnessed or boostered. At least till more kids are harnessed in crashes and start showing noticeable differences, but it's going to be a few more decades till we know if that's so. Aren't there some pretty nice boosters in the UK? Of course, I also love the look of the new Britax Frontier 90, it might make a super duper nice booster later, making it worth the money.

Ooooooh another Britax!! At 31-32lbs & 5yo, DD may well be harnessed into 8th grade, Jk! Maybe......

Julie, sorry for the delay in thanking you for the input. We were traveling and had rubbish internet. Very helpful. To answer your question: they do have lots and lots of boosters here in the UK, as most kids go into them at age 4, but I don't have a source for good information about their safety. I'm more inclined to buy in the US since even after nearly 5 years here, I feel more confident about my US info. I'm all ears about where to find reliable UK info!