A few booster questions

[megincl]

DS is 7.5, tall and sturdy. He's in a Monterey, latched, in both of our cars.

We are about to get a new 7-seater, and in all likelihood he'll often be switching from the second to the third row of the car. It's not super easy to unlatch the Monterey, so I'm wondering about the safety of using it pretty much full time unlatched (more like most boosters).

Also, I'm wondering about the safety difference between a HBB and boosters sans back. When does one make this switch? That would obviously make it easier to move the booster from one row of seats to the other, but of course I want to stick with the safest option possible.

Thanks!

[alegna]

My understanding is there is no improved safety for the kid in it for it to be latched.  The advantage of latching is that if it's NOT latched any time the car is moving without the kid in that seat, the booster must be buckled in.

High back boosters are always safer as long as the belts still fit properly and the child is not too tall for them.

-Angela

[blessedwithboys]

At 7.5yo you could safely go to a LBB.  I love my clek seats bc they are LATCHed in for safety when not occupied, but supr duper easy to unhook and move to a different spot.  The LBBs from clek are the olli and ozzi.  One of them, I forget which, has a strap right on the front that you pull which makes it super easy to unhook.

[an_aurora]

Using it un-LATCHed is not going to decrease the safety.  You will just have to be diligent about reminding the child to buckle the booster if they get out, so it's not a projectile if you drive with the empty booster in the car.  

There is a safety benefit of the high-back booster over the backless; basically it provides side-impact protection, and of course keeps the child in position if they fall asleep.  One study said there is a 70% increase in safety with the HBB vs the backless.