My son was rapidly outgrowing his Britax Roundabout, so I had to get a larger seat. I wanted him in a forward facing 5-point harness for as long as possible. I measured his shoulder-height (his height seems to be in his torso) and was concerned he would quickly get too tall for the mid-size convertables, and I wanted to be able to use a seat for at least a few years. The Frontier will allow the tallest shoulder-height of the Britax seats. This has tuck-away cup holders, which are a nice feature, but do not operate smoothly. The arm rests raise and lower, a nice feature for an older child. The 'latch' to loosen the harness is tucked up underneath, and I've had to feel around to find it though it does operate very smoothly. The crotch-strap has two-hole-positions to choose from. There is a "latch/clamp" at the top of the headrest on the backside to raise or lower the shoulder height strap placement - very convienent and fast. There are shoulder pads to protect from the straps cutting into the neck. It comes with a belly pad, but my son promptly ran off with it and lost it. He can buckle and unbuckle himself, but he was opening baby gates/cabinet latches/door knob covers at a very young age too. I like that it can convert to a booster to 100lbs. It comes in red, my son's favorite color and he "loves" it. (though my first response was I needed sunglasses). I have no idea how this would work for an infant in the rear-facing position.
Only parts of the cover are removeable for washing, unlike the Roundabout which quickly slipped on and off. Both require removing the harness to get to the cover. I could remove my Roundabout harness straps and wash them too. (wow, did they come clean) The Frontier straps can not be removed from the seat.
Now the reason I'm only giving this three stars. I do not have latch in my 2000 Chrysler Van. The seat gives two options for the adult belt to strap the seat in in the forward position. The "short" path, is not secure, and is meant to be used only with latch. The "long" path is reasonably secure - but . . . the seat belt is too short by about one inch. There is a universal seat-belt extender that requires detaching your seat belt from the base anchor, attaching the extender with a bolt, and attaching the bolt end of the lap/shoulder belt to the other end with a bolt. It becomes a semi-permanent installtion for the belt and the seat can only be used in seats where I have done that to the belt. The 'regular' seat belt extenders just change the location of the "problem" to the buckle end as it it changes the locaiton of the buckle of the seat belt head. Then it is much too bulky. I love how fast and easy it was to install the Roundabout, this is NOT fast *or* easy. The long-way belt path makes the belt 'scrunch' requiring untwisting it. It is *very* hard to tighten the seat belt adequately to make the seat not move. There is no lock-off. I have the same seat-belt problems in my daughter's Camry. The other cars will not take a car-seat of any kind.
I want him in a forward-facing harness and I don't think he is large enough (he still is less than 40lbs at 4 1/2, but too tall for the Roundabout) to be safe in the seat as a booster. I will keep the seat to use as a booster up to 100lbs - it uses another belt path as a booster, but I'm now shopping for a replacment seat to use until he is big enough for a booster.Get more detail about Britax Frontier Booster Car Seat Rushmore.
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