Safety First Summit High Back Booster

In our house cars are a big deal. I build classic cars with my dad and both of my girls spend a lot of HERE. Its also available in other colors.

time in the shop. Safety is our top priority both while working on a car and riding in one. Both of my girls rode rear facing tell they were 2 years old because that is the safest position for young kids. We also Harnessed tell they were at the upper limits of there harnessing seats. My oldest who is 7 years old and 47.5 lbs and is 3ft 11.5in tall has just now transitioned to a high back belt positioning booster when she reached the limit of her 5 point harness. My 5 year old is still currently riding in her 5 point harness and has about a year to go in it. She is 43.5 lbs and 3ft 8in tall.  The great people at Safety First provided me with some great tips for child passenger safety week and they also provided me with Safety First Summit High Back Booster to try out with my girls. The Summit High Back Booster is designed to be Forward-facing 22-40 with a 5 point harness system and then converts to a high back booster for children 40-100 pounds.  It includes side impact protection, 4 position QuickFit headrest that adjust with the harness for a better fit, no rethreading to adjust the 5 point harness. It has pivoting armrest and 3 buckle stalk locations, a cup holder and it Meets or exceeds Federal and ASTM Safety Standards.  You can buy the Summit at Walmart the color I received sells for $88.65 and you can find it

Over all the seat has a nice look to it but it is a wide seat so if you need to fit 3 across this may not be the seat for your car.  I did manage to get three across in my 08 Dodge Durango I had a Nautilus  in the outboard seat behind the drive my narrow radian 65 in the middle and I managed to have just enough room to install the Summit in the outboard passenger seat. This made the Nautilus in high back booster mode very hard to buckle there is no way my 7 year old could buckle herself in it but we managed to make it work for a quick trip into town.  Installing the Summit in the 2013 Camry with latch was very challenging. It did not want to tighten down enough It took me 4 try's and all my weight in the seat and fiddling with the latch belt to get it to tighten down. It was some what easier to install using latch in the Durango but it still does not tighten down as easily as my other seat does. I could not get a good install with the seat belt in the Camry but was able to get a decent install in the Durango using the seat belt in an out board seat.

My 5 Year old top harness
position.

My 5 year olds shoulder position

I tested the seat out with the 5 point harness first with both my niece and my 5 year old daughter. My daughter is on the very top harness adjustment and my niece at 3 years old has to use one harness adjustment down from the very top. It was easy to adjust with a quick click of the bar on the back of the seat. Tightening the harness up is very simple there is a pull strap in the front, that you simply tug to tighten. They both say the seat was
very comfortable and I heard no complaints on the trips we took using the seat.  I love the flip up arm rest they make it easier to get kid's in and out when they are not able to climb in on there own. Both girls like the cup holder and the arm rest.

yes I know I did not remove the buckle
stalk in the photo it must be removed
to use the seat as a booster.

Next I tested the seat as a belt positioning booster in my Durango. With both my 7 year old and my 5 year old. They both meet the height and weight requirements to use it as a booster. I buckled my 7 year old in first she is not able to buckle her self in it. She cant quite reach far enough to get the buckle to click but she has trouble with her other booster also. The shoulder belt sits where it should but does not lay flat on her shoulder there is a gap that I can slide my hand into between the belt and the front of her shoulder. The lap portion of the belt rides too high on her, it sits across her belly instead of her upper thighs. She did say it was comfortable to sit in and was quite disappointed when I had to tell her the lap belt did not fit her correctly and the shoulder belt was just too far away from her shoulder.
I then tried the seat with my 5 year old. Much to our disappointment the lap
belt rode very high on her belly and it also left a gap between the shoulder belt and her shoulder. With the Shoulder belt guide lowered down to the height my 5 year old needed,  we had trouble getting the belt to retract properly in the Durango.

Over all for us and the size of my Kids the Safety First Summit works best as a 5 point harness seat.

Disclaimer: I received the Safety First Summit High Back booster as a free gift in order to publish this review. All opinions are my own or that of my Kids.