need harness booster to use w/lap belt and no headrest

[Mikesa3]

I need a new seat for my 4 1/2 year old ds. He's outgrowing his roundabout by height.His ears are at top of seat even though he's only 33 lbs. I want to keep him harnessed for safety and because the middle back van seat doesn't have headrest or shoulder belt I can't use it for older 2 kids boosters. I looked at the the Recaro Young sport a few months back online but wondered if I should get a Graco Cargo seat for now and maybe another Parkway booster when he needs just a booster seat since CarGo doesn't work well as booster. Those two seat would probably be less the the Recaro Young Sport one. Any opinions on what would be best on a bench seat w/lapbelt and no headrest? (all seat are full when our whole family goes on trips so need the seat to work in that spot) Also the narrower the seat the better since he's a skinny guy and we could use the room. I doubt he'll hit 40 before 6 so the weight limit would not be a problem.
Nancy-Mom to 6 great kids

[momtoB]

Just curious what is his torso height? Are his shoulders past the top slots on the RA?

Off the top of my head, have you looked at the Sunshine Kids Radian65, which as top harness slots of 18"? www.skjp.com The reason I mention this one is because its very narrow...

I believe the Recaro YS also has top harness slots of 18" and converts to a wonderful booster seat (unlike so many of the other combo seats out there). It's a good choice for slender kids (harnesses to 40lbs, so not a higher weight limit harness seat). I would hazzard that it probably makes just as nice a booster as the PW because it has very similar head wings to the PW TSIP.

Another less expensive option might be the Evenflo Chase witch I think is pretty narrow, harnesses to 40lbs. Like the Cargo, doesn't make a great booster but you were planning on buying the PW anyway at some point. I'm not sure how the top slot heights compare on the Chase and CarGo though.

hth

[Mikesa3]

Thanks ,I will check out those seats.Also will check how high his shoulders are to the slots. I just remembered that we use latch in the center not the lapbelt. The RA has been there so long I frogot.LOL
Nancy-Mom to 6 great kids

[momtoB]

Sorry it's been a while since I've visited the board, so I hope you see this!

Just make sure your middle back row has three sets of lower anchors. You can't "borrow" anchors from the two outboard seats for the middle seat unless both the vehicle mfgr AND the car seat mfgr specifically allow it (and I believe Britax is the only car seat mfgr that allows this anyway). You can tell if you have lower anchors in the middle position by checking the vehicle manual, or seeing if the back row has six lower anchors instead of four. I hope that makes sense! I just wanted to make sure because vehicles aren't required to have lower Latch anchors in all seating positions and many don't.