carseat update

For those of you who were interested in the "soapbox" post a day or two ago, I have further info. I've done some research and discovered that a new seat has recently been made available in Canada (it's only been on sale here for about a month) with a five-point-harness that can be used up to 48 lbs. It's the Radian, and it's available from various high-end baby supply stores as well as at Canadian Tire.

The Radian is convertible for kids from 5-48 pounds, and appears to be comparable in quality, safety, and installation to the Britax Regent. Like many other carseats made in the US that are sold here in Canada, the seat is actually safety tested to a much higher weight limit than is advertised here. American Radians are deemed safe for either 65 or 80 lbs, depending on which model you buy (I understand that the model sold here is the Radian 65). I found out today that the reason for this is that Transport Canada deems any forward-facing, harness seat for the 20-40 pound size kid to be a "child seat", and 48 lbs is the upper limit for weight for a "child seat". According to a letter from Transport Canada that a parent posted on a carseat forum I found, the people there have clued in to the fact that there are seats out there for bigger kids that have a five point harness, so maybe within the next few years there might be some changes to their definition of a "child seat" and we might be able to maintain the same standards of safety as American and European parents.

So, if you're a Canadian parent keen to keep your older child in a five-point harness as long as possible (click here for more info on why this is important - and while you're at it, check out the link for "Front-facing too soon?") you might want to check out the Radian.

I'm debating whether or not to buy this seat, since Calum weighs almost 46 lbs with his clothes and shoes on. While I debate this, I think I'm going to get in touch with the people at Transport Canada and ask them why it is that kids in this country who weigh from 48-80 lbs are denied the extra protection of a five point harness.