I write this review with over a year of experience owning and using the Frontier. I cannot tell you how much my husband and I hate this seat! First, let me say that I was a Britax fan. I had the Marathon previously and was in love with it. I never considered buying anything else after that. When baby #2 came along, I decided to get the Frontier for my growing son so that his sister could move into the Marathon.
The ONE positive thing I can say is that it looks good. My son used to call it his "race car seat". That is literally the only thing I like about it.
CONS:
*Installation - As everyone says, installation is truly awful. Sure it CAN be installed correctly. But it takes an act of congress. But that is not even the point of why this irritates consumers. The point is that Britax was the first seat ever that was a breeze to install. It took all the guesswork out of safe installation of car seats. Not only was that a huge factor in buying another Britax, but also it just seemed a given that every Britax would have this feature. Not so. I literally do not move this seat.....ever. It is just too hard to install. (I have never had problems installing any car seats, and yet this one continues to be impossible for me to get in right!!) As a side note, if you need the ability to switch it between cars, do NOT buy the frontier! I used to take my Marathon in and out all the time. Sometimes even moving it to a friend's car for a shopping trip. No way you can do that with this seat.
*Cleaning - I literally just cleaned the cover of this seat for the first time (in a year +). My son spilled his ice cream sundae (cherry of course!) and it was absolutely necessary to take it apart and clean it. (This whole time, I honestly thought that you could not take off the cover at all.) My husband who is extremely mechanically inclined took the cover off and put it back on again. It took him several hours over 2 days. He told me as he was finishing up that I would not have been able to figure it out. (I'm the one who regularly cleans the other seat, btw.) When doing this I also realized another con. It is very bulky, awkward to carry, and heavy.
*Functionality - This is by far the deal breaker. The straps are literally not adjustable once the seat is installed correctly. Do you ever have to tighten or loosen the harness depending on your child's clothing, for example? Not possible with this seat! I've used all my strength and not been able to budge them. To me, that is not even safe! There have been times when my son has had to ride with the harness uncomfortably tight, until we could get it home and take it out to adjust the straps. Unbelievable!
Bottom line. There are reasons that we all spend the excessive amount of money on Britax seats. The Frontier, unfortunately, is missing ALL of these things! It makes me angry that I was duped into spending the money on this ridiculous seat! At least once a week you will hear my husband or myself mutter under our breath, "I hate this seat." Seriously. Britax got it so wrong with this one! The price tag was worth swallowing when you knew you were not only getting unsurpassed safety, but also a ton of truly luxurious features. Now, the luxury is GONE, and I'm not at all confident about the safety either.
This car seat ranks as my biggest and most expensive regret/mistake!!
Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.
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