Elizasmom
12-07-2005, 11:04 AM
I have been debating/obsessing about a 5-point Husky/Regent vs. Parkway booster for a while now (5.5 yr old DD has outgrown her Wizard). I thought I had decided on the Husky, but then I read this on another site:
“There are actually no bio-mechanical requirements or performance standards in FMVSS213 for a child restraint with a 65 lb child. All that is required is the restraint remain intact and the test dummy stay restrained.�
If the standards for a child of this weight are so minimal, with no excursions requirements at all, how do I know that the Husky will perform well? I hear Britax does extensive testing, but I don’t see details of the results divulged anywhere. Does anyone know how the Husky performs? Will Britax share this information? At least with a booster, I know the seatbelts can handle the weight of my child and that boosters are widely used and safe. The Husky is less commonly used, and so there is less real-world info out there on how they perform. Perhaps the tremendous forces involved in restraining a 50, 60, or even 80 pound child in a 5-point harness would result in poor performance and a lot of head excursion that would defeat the purpose. 5-point harnesses for lighter children clearly do really well, but they are subject to stricter requirements, and they are not restraining such heavy children. If it were easy to build seats that could work up to 80 pounds, there would be more of them. This is clearly a big challenge for manufacturers.
The Husky was originally designed for special needs kids who really could not safely use a booster. Clearly, those kids are safer in a 5-point. For a child with no special needs who is ready for a booster (age, height, weight and maturity), I really feel the added benefits of putting them in a Husky need to be confirmed. I'm talking about kids who have outgrown the Wizard and are well into the age/weight range for a booster (not 40 pound 3 or 4 year olds). Sometimes I feel I go to unusual measures to keep my kids safe and it ends up backfiring on me!
Believe it or not, despite all my cynical comments, I am leaning toward getting the Husky, but I'm really worried about being wrong. Please convince me!
“There are actually no bio-mechanical requirements or performance standards in FMVSS213 for a child restraint with a 65 lb child. All that is required is the restraint remain intact and the test dummy stay restrained.�
If the standards for a child of this weight are so minimal, with no excursions requirements at all, how do I know that the Husky will perform well? I hear Britax does extensive testing, but I don’t see details of the results divulged anywhere. Does anyone know how the Husky performs? Will Britax share this information? At least with a booster, I know the seatbelts can handle the weight of my child and that boosters are widely used and safe. The Husky is less commonly used, and so there is less real-world info out there on how they perform. Perhaps the tremendous forces involved in restraining a 50, 60, or even 80 pound child in a 5-point harness would result in poor performance and a lot of head excursion that would defeat the purpose. 5-point harnesses for lighter children clearly do really well, but they are subject to stricter requirements, and they are not restraining such heavy children. If it were easy to build seats that could work up to 80 pounds, there would be more of them. This is clearly a big challenge for manufacturers.
The Husky was originally designed for special needs kids who really could not safely use a booster. Clearly, those kids are safer in a 5-point. For a child with no special needs who is ready for a booster (age, height, weight and maturity), I really feel the added benefits of putting them in a Husky need to be confirmed. I'm talking about kids who have outgrown the Wizard and are well into the age/weight range for a booster (not 40 pound 3 or 4 year olds). Sometimes I feel I go to unusual measures to keep my kids safe and it ends up backfiring on me!
Believe it or not, despite all my cynical comments, I am leaning toward getting the Husky, but I'm really worried about being wrong. Please convince me!