Lap Belt Only Solutions
Posted in: Booster Seats
- All vehicles 2008 and newer in the US are required to have shoulder belts in every position. For those with vehicles older than this, the center of the back seat typically has a lap belt. While lap belts are fine for car seats where the child is secured by the car seat’s 5 point harness, lap belts are NOT ok for booster seats as boosters need shoulder belts. In fact, kids in boosters and older kids & adults in seat belts should all use shoulder belts in order to get the protection for their head and chest that they need.
- Unfortunately, you can not have a shoulder belt added to a center seat that has just a lap belt.
- If you need to have a child ride in the center seat where there is only a lap belt, we suggest trying to find a car seat with a 5 point harness that can accommodate the child. The Britax Frontier currently has the highest harness capacity of any seat on the market, but had structural issues in Consumer Reports crash testing with higher weight children. The Chicco MyFit is the next highest capacity harness seat in terms of accommodating a tall child – and the max weight limit is 65 pounds.
