Side Impact in Boosters

[layla]

My daughter will turn 6 in February and has about outgrown her Britax Wizard. Based on advice from Jools, I've decided to go with another harnessed carseat, either a Radian, a Safeguard or a Britax Regent or Boulevard.

My question: how important is the side impact head protection? Many of the 5 point harness seats don't seem to have this, (e.g. Radian, Regent). I've seen complaints about how uncomfortable the Safeguard is, so I guess I'm leading towards the Radian80, but I'd really love to hear what people think about the side impact issue.

Thanks!

[Scatterbunny]

Any five point harness provides some side impact protection simply because it holds the body in place so well. IMO side impact protection is decidely more important when talking about boosters, because you have only three points of restraint instead of five.

The Radian will offer you only about an inch more torso growth over the Wizard. The Regent will offer more like 4-5 more inches of torso growth.

The Radian80 is exactly the same seat as the Radian65, same top slot height and everything. They just re-tested it with a heavier dummy and it passed, so they slapped the 80 pound weight limit on it. There's no way an 80 pound kid will actually fit that seat.

[Joolsplus2]

Just <nodding in agreement>. Regent or www.safeguardseat.com are your only choices for having significant growing room in a harnessed seat.
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx