Backless Booster Seats: Are They Safe?

While your child may have outgrown their car seat, you still need to put them in a booster seat for their safety. A booster seat is designed to properly position your car’s seat belt across your child’s chest, shoulder and hips. Without it, an adult seat belt can injure your child instead of preventing it during a crash.

But if you already have older kids, you might be asking yourself this question – are backless booster seats safe enough for them to use? The backless models are admittedly less hassle to use and easier to transport, especially if you will be changing cars while driving your child to and from school and other activities. However, some safety concerns have arisen where backless booster seats are concerned.

Backless boosters do help keep the lap belt in place on your child’s hips, but there might be a safety issue if the upper belt anchors in your car are not aligned with your child’s shoulder. This is not a problem with high-back boosters because they have upper back guides that keep the shoulder belt in place. This can be an issue, especially in kids who cannot stay still in the car, since even a clip that is supposed to keep the shoulder belt in position is not enough to prevent it from slipping out of place once the child starts moving around.

There is another safety concern with backless boosters that might have you asking “Are backless booster seats safe?” – the lack of side bolsters that, in high-back boosters, can help absorb the impact to the child’s head in a side-impact crash. Most backless boosters, though, come with instructions that they cannot be used in vehicles where the mid-point of your child’s head or your child’s ears rise above the vehicle’s head restraint or back of the seat. But if your vehicle does have head rests that are tall enough to provide protection for your child’s head, then using backless boosters is alright.

Backless boosters are meant to be used by older children, with a mom blog even suggesting that they be used only for kids older than 12 years old, depending on their fit in the safety belts of the vehicles they will be riding in.

To stay on the safer side with backless boosters, make sure to follow the minimum requirement for kids who will use them. These models often have higher weight minimums than the high-back ones.

Using backless boosters for your kid is still much safer than not putting him in a booster at all. There are also valid reasons why parents may prefer backless booster seats. They are usually more affordable than high-back boosters. They are also easier to transport and move from one car to another. If your child can fit properly in the car seat with the safety belts in the right places while using his booster seat, then you can transport your child much more safely and be more at ease while driving.