Booster Seat - Age

upyaboyanow

Hi

What age / height can child move to a booster seat?

bee06

Legally they need to be 15kg but to use a high back booster safely they need to be old enough and sensible enough to sit properly so the seat belt is positioned correctly and understand not open the seat belt.

https://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Road-Safety/Child-Safety-in-Cars/Types-of-child-car-seats/High-back-Booster-seat/

tobdom

Yea, age is used as a guide, but it's really about weight, height and limits on the various seats & harnesses.
Our eldest is only 4.5 but is about to move into a HBB due to weight & height. We have no worries with her messing with the belt though

shesty

Definitely weight and height would be a bigger factor. Mine were 4.5 at least before a high back booster came into the car. I investigated at 15kg, but left it til at least 20kg, because I just didn't like the look of them in the HBB at the 15kg (even if it is permissible) - they still didn't look quite tall enough. That was my elder two.



I have a dilemma at the moment with my third, a gigantic 2 years and 8months old baby, who is well into the height and weight range for a high back booster (and is too tall for the harness on his Brittax Romer, he is scrunching down on the seat to stop the straps from hurting his shoulders), but I wouldn't be convinced he has the sense to leave the seatbelt clip alone while we are driving.

lazygal

Similar to others, they were at least 4 when we moved them. They look much less sturdy than the rear facing solid ones we had them in up to then.

jlm29

I moved one of mine To a hbb at 3.5, because he was a Houdini who kept managing to get his arms out of the straps of his rear facing seat and twist himself around in the most unsafe and distracting (for the driver) way. Once I put him in a high backed booster he sat properly and left his seat belt alone. He was tall and solid though, at least 20kg.

My third boy is only recently changed from rf to ff. he’ll be 4 in June, but he’s a big boy, he was just bet into his rear facing seat, even though he’s still a small bit under the weight limit. He’s still in a 5 point harness though, he definitely wouldn’t sit properly without messing with the seat belt if he was in a booster.

Roesy

My youngest is almost 4.5 and still rear facing. He’s not far off the 18.5kg weight in his current seat and would be tall but I’m really not sure he has the maturity for the seatbelt yet. My middle child is and she went into a high back booster at roughly 4.5 but it was more about height and weight than maturity with her. My eldest is 7 now and she went into a high back booster at around 4 but she is tall and was sensible enough in the car seat.