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This question might be the same as AngelaM's question downthread... apologies in advance if it is.
DS is 3 3/4 years old. 
He is 44-ish pounds and 42 inches tall.
He's currently in a Safety First Air Protect, which has a weight limit of 50 pounds and a height limit of 45 inches.
Where should he go next? We have a new LO due in July who's going to be in a Chicco Keyfit 30. Space isn't a huge consideration, but money definitely is.
Thanks, mamas.
You only have one option :-) Your child will need a larger 5 point harness for a few more years. Once a child is OLD enough and mature enough, the next step after a 5 point harness is a high back belt positioning booster, but the maturity to use those correctly comes between 5 and 6 years old.
The Safety First Air Protect only goes to 40 lbs. Do you perhaps have a Safety First Complete Air, one of the original models? Those had a 50 lb weight limit. Let's figure out what you do have because if your child is actually in an Air Protect, we need to get him into a new seat today.
Meanwhile, the cheapest seat that would be appropriate for your child would be the Evenflo Secure Kid 300 or the Evenflo Secure Kid 400 or the Graco Nautilus. You need a harness that goes over 50 lbs, a taller harness that accommodates an older child (don't pay attention to stated height limits, they are often inflated ridiculously and will not actually fit a taller child), and a seat that converts to a GOOD belt positioning booster for later use. (There are many seats that convert to BAD belt positioning boosters and you don't want those either.
A word of caution: there are several seats that might sound good at a slightly cheaper price point. Don't get them. An example would be the Evenflo Generations 65. Despite claiming to harness kids to 65 pounds, it has a shorter top harness position than your current seat, if it's the Complete Air, and despite claiming to booster to 100 lbs, not only is it too short to last as a booster, it makes a bad and dangerous one due to poor belt fit.
What car is the restraint going into?
Oooo.. oooo... oooo.... Good points, Maedze. I just skimmed through your post and will read and digest better later, but I wanted to answer some of your questions.
First, the current seat IS the Complete Air. I am positive about the 50 lb limit, because we still have the original box and we checked it carefully about a week ago. Sorry about the mix-up, but I do have some time.
The car(s) it will go into are a Mitsubishi Outlander SUV. (We'll also need one for our 4-door Honda Civic as well, which currently has a TrueFit, which supposedly goes up to 65 lbs / 50 inches?!?!?)
Could you explain in more detail why I can't go into a high-backed booster? Not trying to argue.... just trying to understand. If he's big enough physically, what does maturity have to do with it?
When a child is in a high-backed booster, she or he is in charge of her/his own safety. Belts can be messed with or even unbuckled. Kids can lean out of position in a way they can't when they are harnessed. If you wouldn't trust your kid with a butcher knife, you shouldn't put that kid in a booster. Very few kids are ready for that level of responsibility before the middle of the sixth year (age ~5.5), and some, like mine own, need considerably longer.
Seatbelts and booster seats that make use of them are designed to protect people who are sitting properly in their seats to allow optimal belt fit. Younger children tend to be more likely to be wiggly or fall asleep and lean out of proper position. A five point harness can keep a child secured in the correct position.
A three year old simply does not have the maturity to sit still in a belt, not move around, not turn around, not bend forward.
Seatbelts only work correctly if the person is correctly in position at the time of the crash. If the person is out of position, the person will be injured or worse.
The harness should be drawn tightly enough that the child physically cannot move around.
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