Booster seats for children in your Prizm: all you need to know

Booster seats for children in your Prizm: all you need to know

In short:
- Children must always sit in the back seat of the car and use an adequate booster seat.
- The booster seat must be anchored to the seat of your Prizm the way their manufacturer recommends.
- Once the booster seat is installed and anchored, you can check it by moving it firmly in many directions. It should not move more than 1 inch (2.5cm).
- The booster seat should be facing the rear until the child is four years old.
- Make sure to check the anchor of the seat periodically. Research has shown that 3 out of 5 booster seats are not fixed properly.

How should children travel in your Prizm?

Children should always be restrained by booster seats; they must never roam freely inside the car or sit in your lap. This should be the case until they are at least 51 inches tall (1.4 meters). This system is generically known as child restraint system.

In most countries, the law states that children should be facing the rear up until they are one year old, but specialists have stated that they should sit that way until they are four years old because that is when their cervical muscles can endure a frontal collision without getting badly injured.

Children may stop using booster seats when:

  • They can bend their knees naturally while sitting down with their hip touching the back of the seat.
  • The chest safety belt is on their shoulders, and not their necks.
  • The abdominal safety belt is on their hip, between their legs and abdomen.

Although many countries regulate this depending on the child’s age, and not their size, you should always consider your children’s weight and height, not their age.

Can you use any kind of booster seat in your Prizm?

NO. Booster seats for children are classified into different groups according to the child’s size and weight. They also include different anchors for the seat: the traditional system (with a safety belt), ISOFIX, or LATCH. You should choose the right one both for your children and your car. If you want to know which one to use, you should read the owner's manual of your Prizm. Take into account that different brands may have different ways to anchor the seats, but they should always be certified according to the regulations we will now mention.

Booster seat sizes

Booster seats can be categorized according to the 3 main safety regulations: the FMVSS 213 (American) and european ECE R44 and UN R129 (a.k.a. i-Size, newer and more complete). R44 categorizes according to the weight of the child, i-Size is based on height and the american FMV is a mix between both.

The American regulation has three groups:

Infant: for children whose size is up to 32 inches (or 0.8 meters) and their weight between 4 and 35 pounds (or 2 to 16 kilograms). These seats are meant to face the rear.

Convertible: for children whose size is between 19 and 45 inches (or 0.5 and 1.2 meters). They are meant for children who are between 5 and 40 pounds (or 2 to 18 kilograms), and you should place them facing the rear, unless the child’s weight is between 20 and 65 pounds (or between 9 and 30 kilograms), since they can already face forward at that point.

Booster: Up to 65 inches (or 1.65 meters) and 120 pounds (55 kilograms). They face forward and are used with a seat belt.

⚠️Regarding the European regulations, the only current products are ECE R44/03 and R44/04. R44/01 and R44/02 are not supported anymore, so we advise against using them.

The European regulation makes a distinction between 4 groups according to the child’s weight:

Group 0: up to 10 kilograms
Group 0+: up to 13 kilograms
Group 1: between 9 and 18 kilograms
Group 2: between 15 and 25 kilograms - a safety belt is used to fix it to its place.
Group 3 (booster type): between 22 and 36 kilograms - a safety belt is used to fix it to its place.

All of these booster seats have a tag with their specifications, which makes it easier to choose the right one. You can see what the information in those tags means by reading the references in this image for bothe specs, R44/04 and i-Size:

  1. States the regulation
  2. States the type of car you can use it in. In this case, it is universal, but it may also be semi-universal or specific. Then, it indicates the weight the child should have.
  3. Manufacturing place. The E letter means Europe, and then there is the country number. The number 1 corresponds to Germany.
  4. Certification identification number
  5. States the group (category) in which this seat is placed. It is not always included.

⚠️You must always read the specifications that come with the booster seat. There, you will find all the information you need to know, such as seat size, installation process, necessary cares, etc.

Anchors for booster seats for your Prizm

They booster seats may be universal or semi-universal. You can use the former in any car because they can be anchored with a seatbelt. Semi-universal seats are called LATCH seats (according to the American regulations) and ISOFIX (according to the European regulations). They both use anchors specifically designed, which are located in the car seats. Two of these anchors are placed in the seat base, and the other one is on top, called top tether.

ISOFIX and LATCH are very similar. The main difference is that the former has rigid anchors, while the latter uses adjustable straps. Both reduce the probability of your children suffering severe injuries in a crash by 22%. None of these systems are approved to use with a seat heavier than 18 kilograms. That is to say, they are special anchors for groups 0, 0+, and 1.

Even if the biggest booster seats (group 2 and 3 or Boosters) may include ISOFIX or LATCH anchors, they will work as secondary anchors since the main anchor for them is the safety belt.

You should read the owner's manual of your Prizm to see if has certified anchors and what type they are.

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