Best Booster Car Seats

Best Booster Car Seats: For kids who have outgrown their car seat, but are not yet quite big enough for a seat belt-only ride, a booster seat is the perfect safety solution (typically between 40 and 65 pounds). The best booster seats make travel a safe and fun experience, offer enhanced side impact protection, an adjustable headrest and belt lock-offs.

Best Booster Car Seats

Graco Nautilus 80 Elite

Graco makes the best-selling harnessed booster seats on the market. Graco’s Nautilus 80 Elite works with a five-point harness to 80 lbs. and then converts to a high back booster (120 lbs.) and even a backless booster for older kids (a feature the Britax Frontier does not have).

The seat has enhanced side impact protection, an adjustable headrest and belt lock-offs, making it one of the most popular seats in this category.

The harness is a big plus if you have a toddler who has outgrown his convertible seat, but wish to keep him in the harness for a while longer (the 80 lb. limit should fit most six year olds).

Other features inlcude over molded armrests (with side storage), three-position recline and decent padding. The seat is lined with EPS foam.

Britax Frontier ClickTight

The Britax Frontier ClickTight may seem pricey, but it offers several innovative features – works up to 90 lbs. with a five-point harness.

After your child outgrows the five-point harness, the seat changes into a belt-positioning booster to 120 lbs. The Frontier is targeted at kids at least two years old who have outgrown their convertible seats but aren’t mature enough to sit in a belt-positioning booster.

Britax has steadily improved this seat over the years. Overall weight and height limits have moved higher and there are a series of small enhancements (example: the cup holders are inset in the seat, rather than stick out from the side, etc.).

The Frontier 90 also has:

• A ClickTight seatbelt installation system.
• SafeCell crash protection in base
• Higher top harness adjustment.

Booster Car Seats: Buying Guide

Read your forward-facing car seat’s owner’s manual to determine height and weight limits, and keep your child in a harnessed seat for as long as possible.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that parents keep their little ones in a booster seat until they are either taller than 4 feet 9 inches, or between the ages of 8 and 12. Booster seats reduce car risk by 54% in toddlers and 45% in children.

Booster seats are available in bright colors. some models also come with cup holders and trays, while zip-off designs make it easy for you to keep the booster seat clean. Secure, one hand front-adjust latching and harness systems keep the booster firmly attached to the car seat, while also making it easy for independent kids to buckle themselves in.

These come with padded armrests, adjustable back heights, headrests and more. Cushions can be added or removed for customized comfort settings. Leg rests slide up and down and backrests move forward and back so your little one can recline for a nap.

The best booster car seats are from EvenFlo, Britax, and Graco.