RECARO Young Sport toddler car seat

[Singleparentdad]

I used to have a Britax. It had gotten great reviews and was quite large so thought he would be comfortable in it. After watching him in the seat, I became concerned about the lack of side impact protection; there's nothing that restricts the side to side movement of the head. This was most noticeable while he would doze off to sleep and his little head would just "flop" down with nothing to lean against. I started wondering what if there's a side impact of some force? Wouldn't his head swing to one side which could hurt his neck?

Thus began my search for a new car seat. There weren't many that offered what I was looking for...it seemed strange to me that these large companies hadn't thought about my concern regarding side to side movement of the head. In fact, there was such lack of choices that I began to wonder if my concern was unwarranted. I mean wouldn't these companies that produce hundreds of thousands of child seats address this issue if it was of major concern???

Then I came across Recaro's Young Sport Toddler car seat. It had what they call the side wings which "provide the Recaro Young Sport's Side Impact Protection. This extra padding around these areas provides additional impact absorption in the event of a side collision." It made perfect sense to me. If there ever is a side collision, these "wings" would restrict the range of side head movement and soften the impact with padded foam.

At $250, it wasn't the cheapest but it wasn't that expensive when compared to the top models from Britax. I was sold!

After having owned it for over a year now, I am very glad that I made the purchase. We haven't been in any side collisions, thank goodness, but he does look much more comfortable when he falls asleep as he has something to lean his head against while sleeping.

Plus, the adjusting the shoulder harness position as he grows is very easy. On most child seats, you have to take the harness belts out and "rethread" it into the next position. With the Recaros, you just adjust the back by holding a release, pulling up and letting it lock into the next position; no need to mess with the harness.

..and they look great!

Here's a pic of what it looks like.