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Britax ClickTight convertible car seats are tops in latest Consumer Reports tests
Looking for a car seat that can be positioned rear-facing and forward-facing to transition your child from an infant seat? Two clever Britax ClickTight convertible car seats top our updated Ratings for convertible child seats: the Marathon ClickTight and Boulevard ClickTight convertibles.
To achieve this, these Britax ClickTight convertible car seats balanced their performance in the three key areas we evaluate: crash performance, ease-of-use, and fit-to-vehicle. What stood out was how easily we were able to install these seats with the unique Britax ClickTight feature in the challenging vehicles we use for our fit evaluations. Though we were already impressed with the ClickTight technology in the Britax Frontier 90 Toddler Booster Seat, this is the first time the feature has been showcased in the more complex convertible models.
Because convertibles are designed to be installed both rear- and forward-facing, they are more complicated from a design standpoint. As an important second seat and likely the child seat you’ll use for the longest number of years, it’s critical for convertibles to be easy to install, as you’ll need to change its orientation and the method of installation as your child grows.
While we are big fans of LATCH for providing secure installations, heavier seats like these will likely spend more of their useful life installed with the vehicle seat belt than they will with LATCH as they will quickly approach the 65-lb. limit for LATCH (factoring child and seat). The ClickTight system makes either installation method a much easier task than with competing seats. In fact, this was one of very few seats where our fit-to-vehicle evaluations using the seat belt rivaled those for LATCH.
While we highly rate the seat’s overall performance, we still have some reservations for early-production seats where we found that the harness was not fully attached to its hook-like anchor beneath the ClickTight feature. Britax related the issue to an assembly problem for seats manufactured between August 15 and November 7, 2014. And although Britax notified its customers who had registered via email about the issue, the company did not notify those who had registered seats via regular mail. Although the company notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which governs child seat performance, no formal investigation was initiated and no additional information is available from their site. If you own a seat from that time period, periodically inspect the seat to ensure your harness is fully attached, especially if you have to reinstall the seat in another car or position.
Seats we have procured with later production dates have a slight bend to the harness anchor, which should help to retain the harness more effectively (as illustrated in our animated image). Britax confirmed this, saying they “made a slight modification to the angle of the brackets for the lower harnesses to make it easier to assemble. We gained the additional benefit of improved retention of the lower harness straps.”
For all Britax ClickTight seats:
- When using the ClickTight feature, always make sure that the “ClickTight” lettering is completely horizontal. Only then is the belt fully tensioned and secured.
If you own Britax ClickTight convertible car seats produced before November 7, 2014 (the production date is located on the front of the seat under the padding near the child’s leg):
- Remember to periodically check the harness hook to confirm that the harness remains properly attached to the hook.
And if you find that you’re still unsure or uncomfortable with the specifics of your seat, visit the Britax website or call its customer support line (888-427-4829).
—Jennifer Stockburger
The crash performance Ratings for these seats continues to use the methodology Consumer reports has had in place for many years, closely resembling the federal government’s current test. Meanwhile, we’re working to rate all of the new convertible seats to our latest test protocol, which seeks to raise the bar in the marketplace and incorporate additional real-world conditions.
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.
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