Customer Reviews:
 Great seat w/ 80 pound 5-point Harness! April 24, 2008
Patrick J (TX)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I am a certified passenger safety seat technician as well as a police officer who works in the field of traffic enforcement/safety. There a couple of things I want you to know when/if you purchase this new product so that you can have a far easier time installing it- and so you can install it correctly.
First, the instruction booklet is permanantly attached to the seat w/ a cord. Simply tuck it behind the cover to stow it. Britax has the manual available online in a PDF if you would like to sit and review it without having to crouch down and read the book attached to your seat.
Second, when you go to tighten the LATCH straps at each lower anchor, the seat is designed for you to pull these tight through the spaces in the seat shell itself (simply move the cover to the side and you will see where the back of the seat shell has a hole on each side so you can EASILY pull the LATCH webbing tight on each side). If you try to tighten these LATCH straps outside and behind the shell of the seat- YOU WILL NEVER GET IT TIGHT AND THEREFORE IT WILL NOT BE OPTIMALLY INSTALLED.
Please contact your local hospital, poice department, fire department, or Safe Kids Coalition (www.safekidsworldwide.org) for a referral to a free child passenger seat fitting station in your community if you have concerns or questions. Even if you don't have questions, it is a good idea to take your car, seat, and kiddo to one of these fitting stations to make sure you have a good installation AND good use/fit for your kids.
Finally, this seat is remarkable becuase the 5-point harnes straps are rated to a child of 80 pounds AND it converts to a booster seat for kids heavier or who otherwise won't fit in the harness. The seat is rated for 9 years (the longest manufacturer rating I have seen). And, unlike other Britax products, it is more narrow and therefore can fit in more applications than other Britax products (known for being BIG).
My kids had their first run in the seats today (I installed them last night) and we have thumbs up from both on the comfort and the fashion while I give it a thumbs up for safety/design and installation!!
 Disapointed! April 23, 2008
J. Pinkerton (WV)
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is the 7th Britax car seat I have purchased ( 2 in my car, 2 in hubby's and 2 in Grandmas). I was so excited with the release of the Frontier and now very frustrated as it sits in my foyer! I spent an hour trying to install it into my 2007 GMC Yukon with no luck at all. My son is 4 1/2 and 43lbs and you have to install with the shoulder belt instead of latch. I could not get the seat secure even with the tether attached. I called Britax yesterday morning and still haven't heard back. I am 99% sure that I will be returning the Frotier and buying yet another Regent. I currently have 4 Regents and absolutely LOVE them! I bought the Frontier b/c of the side impact protection and the higher weight limit. Doesn't do much good if it won't securely install in your vehicle!
I would wait to see if there is a recall before I purchased the Frontier.
Sturdy as a rock, yet comfy June 21, 2008
SkinTrade (Houston, TX USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Lives up to the hype. This is Britax's high-end booster. Of course, the best thing about it is the 5 point harness that can be used until a much later age and weight than other car seats. If you want top-notch safety, there's probably nothing better. Padding is very comfy and the seat is very wide. Very easy to adjust the strap height with a lift of a lever in the back. Also, with the 5 point harness in place, you have to recline the whole seat, which is great for sleeping kids, unlike alot of other car boosters that can only sit up straight. Has very convenient slots for the LATCH anchors so they don't flop around when not in use. Since this is built so solid, it does weigh a ton. Reasonable sacrifice for the benefits.
 Good seat, not easy to install April 26, 2008
K. Tan (Jacksonville, FL)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
We have been waiting for Britax to launch this new Frontier and we bought it right after it came out. The seat itself is good, looks sturdy, it has everything we need. The only problem is we were not able to install it in our Prius after so many attempts. We read other reviews and they all had the same problem, the seat were not stable nor secured after installing according to the manual.
We were going to return the seat but decided to call Britax support 1-888-427-4829 and asked them for help, they explained to us a different way to install it (we use lap belt for harness mode), which we would never knew how to do it by reading the manual. I guess they have seen many negative reviews right after they launched the Frontier and tried to fix the problem. The customer support told us that their technician just went to the car showroom to try the seat on different models, and they had specific instructions for Prius. We followed their instruction and were finally able to install the seat securely. I suggest you call Britax support line before returning it, the customer service stayed on the phone with us until we finished installing. After it is installed properly, the seat looks pretty good and secured. My son is happy riding in it. We're happy we didn't return the seat.
Very nice seat, very hard to install May 30, 2008
Damon C. Campbell (Pacific Grove, CA, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Car: 1998 VW Jetta
Kid: "almost 3"year old boy
It was time to do the car seat tango and upgrade the oldest kid, and hand down to the youngest. Our son had been riding in the Britax Roundabout for the last (almost) 3 years, and we loved the seat - clearly superior to anything else we've seen out there. We decided on the Britax Frontier because it should be the last car seat he needs and can go from a 5-point harness style to a booster style when he is ready. Very cool. Little man is also into the gadgets - cup holder and arm rests, and apparently it is quite comfortable as he seems to fall asleep in it every time he rides in it. The quality of construction is obvious and it is definitely on par, if not exceeding, our faithful Roundabout.
However, I was concerned about the reviews about the difficult installation, and I was not let down. It was a pain in the...
Since we have an older car, LATCH was not an option so we were left with the shoulder belt method. I spent a couple hours trying to get that to work to no avail. Short way, long way, and other "creative" solutions. I could get it tight, but it could just wiggle loose with no effort. Until a little research unearthed the trick - pull your seatbelt all the way out. The belt should then go into a "retract only" mode so it can't wiggle loose! Exactly what this seat needs. Between that and the tether on top, the seat stays reasonably secure. I am mechanical engineer by profession, which doesn't mean I'm smart, but it does mean I am pretty up on how things fit together/work, and this was a wholly non-obvious installation.
I do feel like the Roundabout has a vastly superior installation and belt retention setup, so why they went away from that is beyond me. Assuming I never need to move the seat again, it is great. We all know you always need to move them eventually, so hopefully next time I need to install it, it will be much easier.
And finally, Britax has amazing customer service. When I called about the difficulty of my installation, the woman I was talking to, grabbed a Frontier and walked out to the parking lot to install in a co-workers car fairly similar to mine. A big thumbs up to Britax customer service!
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