Car seat in an accident - what to buy?

[HonoluluMom]

DD's car seat in grandma's car was involved in an accident - DD wasn't in the car. It's a Britax Advocate 70CS and it was FF in the center position. The accident was in a parking lot and the other car, SUV, was in a parking stall and as grandma was going around the lot, the SUV decided to reverse out of the stall and into the passenger side of grandma's compact car (like a t-bone). Both cars were drivable, no injuries, no visible damage to car seat, no airbags. However, Britax said because there was damage to the rear door, car seat has to be replaced.

Also, Britax advised that she may have outgrown the seated shoulder height of 16.75 inches. I thought the Advocate could continue to be used as long as the top of the harness was at/above her shoulders (still ok) and the top of her ears do not reach the top of the shell (still okay). I never thought to measure DD's seated shoulder height. I'll measure her seated height later today to see where she's at. Anyway. . .

DD is 36 inches tall and 41 pounds. Do I get another Advocate, which can FF until 65 pounds, or do I go with a combo harness/booster like the Pinnacle 90? Or something else? I live in Hawaii, so selection at B&M stores may be limited, so the more suggestions the better!

[georgiegirl]

Frontier 90

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, Frontier. Are you sure she's only 36"? That's really very, very short for a 5 year old. That seat fit my kid till roughly 45" when my dd was almost 6....I never measured a torso, either, but she was wearing size 5/6 shirts at the time.

[HonoluluMom]

Yeah, Frontier. Are you sure she's only 36"? That's really very, very short for a 5 year old. That seat fit my kid till roughly 45" when my dd was almost 6....I never measured a torso, either, but she was wearing size 5/6 shirts at the time.

Oops, DD is 36 pounds and 41 inches. I measured her seated height at 14 inches.

I had a chance to look at the Frontier 90 at a B&M store and the clicktight seems like it would make for a very easy install. However, although I was able to disengage the clicktight panel, several times I could not push the panel in to lock and I'm wondering if something like the latch connectors were in the way. Also, I did see that there were some early complaints about the clicktight feature not locking on one side and the flimsy wings, but I hope they worked those kinks out. I really like Britax, so probably will go with either the Frontier 90 or Pinnacle 90.

Thanks!

[legaleagle]

When I've had problems engage it it usually means I've pulled the belt a bit too tight to start. If you never untape the latch connectors they'll stay out of the way. That said, at 14" torso at 5, you have tons of choices in combo seats because most of them are 18"+

[scrooks]

I recommend the frontier too...we just started using one for ds1 and I love love the clicktight!