Customer Reviews

Britax Frontier 85 SICT Booster Seat, Onyx

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you're debating the SICT (Side Impact Cushion Technology), there is obviously some merit to Britax's technology. I'm no car crash expert but it seems apparent that providing another barrier that protects the neck and head is safer in the event of a side impact crash. I have had Britax seats with and without the SICT cushions and I believe that a car seat correctly installed with as much head and neck support (i.e, head wings, EPS foam, SICT cushions, etc.) is what is safest for my kids. In my case, my kids are riding outboard in an older car without rear side airbags and I want to give them the best possible odds in the event of crash. That being said, I've owned both the Frontier 85 and now the Frontier 85 SICT and the differences between the two (excluding the cushion technology) are subtle. The cushion technology is what you're paying for and what distinguishes itself from the regular Frontier 85 (much like the Advocate 70 CS distinguishes itself from the Boulevard 70). But there are a few features that have been added to the SICT that make this seat more appealing than it's predecessor. Firstly, it's cover is easily removed without having to uninstall the seat from the car. And while I haven't tried this on the SICT yet, I have on my Britax Advocate 70 CS Convertible Car Seat, Cowmooflage many a time; it has the same 2 piece removable cover and it's a wonderful feature that I'm glad Britax has added to the SICT. Also, the SICT can be used without a top tether, which I DO NOT RECOMMEND. But, some cars don't have top tethering points/hooks and this in effect makes the SICT more compatible with a wider variety of cars than the Frontier 85. I think the biggest difference (that Britax doesn't use as a selling point) between the two seats is that the SICT is WIDE (although you probably guessed that by now). At the widest point (which is at the cushions) the Frontier 85 SICT is 24.5" across. It's approximately 5" wider than the Frontier 85. For some perspective, I have an Britax Advocate 70 CS Convertible Car Seat, Cowmooflage and now a Frontier 85 SICT riding outboard in the back of my 2002 Nissan Altima and I have 7-8" between the 2 seats at the widest point (again where the cushions are). So I have no room in my backseat -- but -- my kids are safe and I can throw stuff in the trunk if I need to. Overall, I think this seat is a fantastic upgrade from the Frontier 85.

This is my 6th Britax seat for 2 kids. I have been wanting to order a Frontier ever since they came out but the reasonable budgeting person decided to wait until our two Boulevards had expired. That happened to coincide with the release of this newer model of the Frontier. It seems really solid and safe like all Britax Seats. I did not like the fabric choices but went ahead with the Onyx choice even though it is a warm fabric ( we had this fabric in 3 other seats and my kids were so hot in it!) I plan to buy an after market seat cover as soon as I can find one in a nice comfortable cotton fabric.

I have had the seat installed in my car now for 3 weeks and here are my pet peeves about it:

1)The belly pad is very loose and comes off every time my son gets out of the car. I know it is just a matter of time before he jumps out and I forget to look and then we won't have a belly pad for his seat any longer.
2)I like the convenience of the pads being able to be removed easily without uninstalling it but the cover comes off too easily. My 5 year old has popped it off several times in the 3 weeks we have had it. It is driving me nuts!!
3) He has complained that the seat hurts his back. I am not sure why. I felt it and cannot figure out what part is hurting him but something is - and he never complained about his Boulevard.

I was going to order one of these for my 9 year old who still sits in a high back booster but based on my experiences with it I think I will skip the expense and will just get another Parkway for her that my 5 year old can share on occasion. I like this seat don't get me wrong but for the price I expect it to not be so quirky and don't like that I will have to spend probably another $70 or so to get an aftermarket covered for it but my baby is worth having the safest feeling seat out there!

I have been a big fan of Britax since our eldest daughter was born, and she is now almost 8. We bought a new car and it seemed like a good time to update the car seats, especially now that our youngest could have the same seat. I purchased two of these seats in portobello and they are a perfect match to the interior of my new car. I was thrilled with them. For one week. As another reviewer stated, the problem is that the seats often come unhooked from the bottom as my girls are exiting the car in car line at school. I have tried everything to get them to stay hooked; I understand that the purpose of the hooks is to allow us to take the cover off and clean it easily. This is a great idea in theory, but did not bear out in practice. As a result, the foam padding underneath the seat is often not placed correctly, which I believe is a safety concern. Additionally, on a daily basis, the seats are not user-friendly. I am sorry to say that after four months of use, I am looking to replace them. Very disappointing, and my first ever negative review about Britax.

We've had this seat for a few months now and I think I can finally give it a good enough review.

Living overseas, we find hundreds of nice looking seats that blow most U.S. seats away in safety features (we've had several seats from Maxi-Cosi and have loved them all), but once you graduate from a baby seat to a toddler/child seat, they all drop the five-point harness and switch to a seat belt-based design (meaning you use the car's seat belt to secure your child and the seat acts as a booster). This is horrible; in tests and real-world accidents, children have submarined under the lap belts or had their necks whip against the shoulder belts. While Britax is not sold in Germany, it's sister company, Roemer is. Roemer doesn't even have a five-point harness seat like this one.

I live by Consumer reports and the ratings for this seat are fantastic. We ordered the Britax Frontier 85 SICT from Amazon and had it shipped to my father in Maryland, since Amazon claimed the seat was too heavy to ship to an APO address. My father removed some of the extraneous packaging foam from the box and forwarded the package to us. This seat, though a pain to secure the first time (using both the LATCH and top anchor), is the best seat I've seen. My father-in-law hates installing it in his car, though, as his old Passat only uses the car's seat belt to secure the seat. He explained the bottom of the seat swayed a bit from side-to-side. Once I showed him how secure it is using the LATCH and top anchor in our Jeep, he was impressed. There is no question our three-year old is held tight and secure in her 'new' seat when properly installed. We've yet to use it as s booster on a plane, but when we move this summer, we'll get a good test of how secure it holds our daughter. I'll update this review if we have any major issues, but I don't expect any.

The seat is light, but stable and very well built. My only complaint is the bottom seat cover comes loose easily. You can loop the eyelets back to their posts underneath the seat, but they come loose again within a day or two with movement into and out of the seat. It's only a minor annoyance and doesn't affect the seat's performance.

All-in-all, this is a fantastic seat. It will serve our daughter well for years to come and when her sister graduates to the same class of seat, we'll move her from her Britax baby seat to the new/equivalent model of this one.

WE OWN TWO OF THESE SAME SEATS, THEY ARE FANTASTIC!

My husband was in charge of car seats, we each have our own duties with regards to our children, one of his is car seats, all things sports (I love sports, but my husband loves to be involved and in charge of this one), and MATH homework to name a few, mine are money, mommy time and researching important products before we make an actual purchase to name a few of my own.

We don't purchase any major items without thoroughly investigating them, including most importantly items for which our children's lives are at stake, sorry if that seems over-dramatized, it is what it is..

This car seat is fantastic, we went from a Chicco Keyfit to a Britax Roundabout 55 to a Britax Frontier SICT with our now 3 year old. All fantastic seats. When it comes to safety Britax is one of the highest rated car seats in it's class, maybe all classes of car seats. You can review a few pointers on choosing the right car seat for your child on the NHTSA's website under Car Seat Recommendations for Children

FITTING YOUR CHILD: Our daughter is in the 95% height and weight, she just turned 3 in a 4 or 5 year old's body, checks in at 42lbs at 40 inches tall, not stocky, just tall and looks older than she is, I'm hoping this wares off before she is a teen or interested in boys, anyhow, we have always sought after the seat that would last the longest because we knew we didn't have long in them, this was a Britax, Check, and it was up to 85 lbs Check CHECK..
Car seats expire after 5 years, or after ANY car accident where injuries or major damage incur.

SAFETY OPTIONS: The Britax as I said has very high over all safety ratings, so this was a no brainer. We had our eye on the Regular Britax Frontier, but when the SICT came out We quickly shifted our thinking. The 5 point harness is a must for smaller children, as your child grows the regular seat belt is easily utilized. The outstanding seat anchor latches are next generation (seat belt latch like) extremely easily used and snap in place, without wrestling, without braking a nail. The Rear/Top anchor Latch is a must, also very easily used.

FITTING YOUR CAR: We have a Jetta TDI, not specifically known for being a family car, it is a smaller 4-door sedan, so it was difficult for us to fit a car seat in it, I had no idea when I purchased the car the rear seating area was so tiny. We learned that we could go to just about any store that sold car seats and an employee would take the car seat to your car for a "Fitting". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ANY CAR.

STAINS & CLEANING: if you are concerned about stains, the Britax car covers come off (this one boasts how easy) and are completely washable and dry-able in conventional machines, and, at least with our machines, the cover comes out like new every time. There is not even any balling of the fabrics, or
degrading of the quality of the fabric. Just a quick mention of 2 of the worst stains out there for babies/toddlers and kiddos, the V word and D word, both come out without a semblance of the stain, nor odor of those two lovely facts of life. I would use the words, but who wants to read about vomit and diarrhea? There, I said it.. :)

NAP TIME: You may have noticed, some convertibles bring your child completely upright leaving them without any head support to nod off in the car, that is what they love to do, heck, my husband loves to nap in the car. Thankfully, the Frontier has mildly risen to this occasion, there is a little bit of a headrest for her to lean and take a snooze, but I'm sure if she remembered her carry type car seat fully reclined, made for napping she would miss it like nobody's business. Read the manual, adjust the seat to fit your kiddo and they should have plenty of head rest to nap.

My personal negatives on this seat, ranked in order from worst to just whining.

1) The Rubberized arm rests do get extremely hot in the summer, we are in Texas, this past summer was one of the hottest and driest on record, I would suggest throwing a blanket or towel over just the arm rests, hot enough can and will cause discomfort, even burning (not sure the degree, not a Dr and don't claim to be one).

2) Width, while we love the SICT, and we know our kiddo has to fit in it, there is not much room left in the back seat with her in the middle seat of our late model Jetta TDI, we feel badly when we have another adult sized person sit next to her, it's about 6 or 8 inches wider than the standard Britax Frontier 85 (which did expire in 8/2010).

3) Colors, Need more options, I loved cowmooflauge, it's not available in this seat, there are alas only 3 fabric options, Onyx, Red and Portabello, bleh on all three, what, do older kids not deserve cutesy anymore? we bought it for safety and reliability anyway. I need another for our other vehicle, BRITAX?? Gimme another more cutesy fabric option please..

We give the Britax Frontier 85 SICT 3 thumbs up

I began writing this in response to a reviewer who had, let's just say, ran around screaming the sky was falling about this car seat without REALLY knowing what they were referring to. I decided to move my comment to them to the bottom so that if you wish you may read my comment to them regarding some fabric scare. It makes for a longer read, but I felt I had to mention it because like a lot of false claims they detour people from purchasing products, or doing things they may have been better off doing.

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I post my comment here again to that reviewer: who is listed as the "vs" which gives them ample visibility to a review without merited warnings.

to "MM" 01/02/2012

There actually is NO MENTION OF THE BRITAX FRONTIER 85, or FRONTIER 85 SICT in this particular article you reference.

The chemical warning was for very Specific Britax Car seats, most were models 2009 and older, including some Graco Models, Recaro and other brands. I think it's remarkable that you've singled Britax out here, or did you?? Graco was mentioned on both the best and the worst, but somehow you have tried to lead us to believe that 2 models of Britax mean all are, or would like to portray this as being what the tests reveled, where in fact they did not.

The WARNING was for the following, word for word:

According to HealthyStuff's tests, they rated the worst seats as:

Infant Seat: Graco Snugride 35 in Edgemont Red/Black & Graco SnugRide 30 in Asprey
Convertible Seat: Britax Marathon 70 in Jet Set & Britax Marathon in Platinum (Retired as of 8/2010)
Booster Seat: Recaro Pro Booster in Blue Opal & Recaro ProSPORT Toddler in Misty

HealthyStuff listed the best seats as:

Infant Seat: Chicco KeyFit 30 in Limonata, Graco Snugride 35 in Laguna Bay & Combi Shuttle 33 in Cranberry Noche
Convertible Carseat: Graco Comfort Sport in Caleo, Graco MyRide 65 in Chandler and Streamer, Safety 1st OnSide Air in Clearwater, and Graco Nautilus Elite 3-in-1 in Gabe
Booster Seat: Graco Turbo Booster in Anders
The organization pointed out that it was unable to test for some toxic substances, such as bisphenol A or phthalates (although the presence of PVC is a likely indicator of phthalates).
-- END ARTICLE QUOTE --

Again, the reports were from OLDER CAR SEATS and SPECIFIC MODELS, DOWN TO THEIR SPECIFIC FABRIC OPTIONS. If you are concerned about purchasing this particular car seat I would encourage you to contact the manufacturer (BRITAX Consumer Services at 888-427-4829) and not put too much weight behind a novice's review who obviously strayed way off topic and who's business is MOST LIKELY NOT EVEN IN THE REALM OF CHILD SAFETY.

Remember you are putting your child's life and safety in the care of a product, whichever product you choose, the NTSB has time after time chosen Britax as an outstanding award winning manufacturer for child safety.

- No I do not work for Britax, or any manufacturer, I am a mom who thoroughly researches anything my child would use in situations that could be a potentially dangerous, and let's face it, the roads are no picnic for any of us. AND YES, We do own a Britax Frontier 85 SICT in Onyx, as well as a Britax Roundabout in Cowmooflauge, We previously owned a Roundabout in Tan which was replaced after an auto accident.
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I hope this helped your purchasing decision! Make sure you go out and "test drive" the seat in your vehicle first before buying!

This is the best car seat on the market. Extensive side protection and very comfortable. Britax car seats..are very well made and are the safest. I have had 4 of their seats..all have been great. This car seat is much easier to clean and the straps don;t get "turned around". This makes is less frustrating for everyone. Great seat..for sure worth the extra dollars..a good investment.

My baby was ready to move up to our Britax Marathon which our 3-year-old son was using, so I decided to get a harness/booster for him. After reading reviews of the non-SICT model I was worried that this seat would be difficult to install. Happy to report it is no problem. I can't imagine how this seat could be any easier to install. Goes in nice and tight in our 2005 Subaru outback. My son loves the big seat with cupholders for his toys. The seat feels very solid and safe. It's very wide, so no chance of squeezing a passenger between the two seats in back, but the trade-off for safety is worth it.

The Frontier 85 is a good child safety seat, but the side impact cusion technology (SICT) turned out to be a mild disappointment. Upon examining it, my gut feeling is that it would help to protect an older child sitting NEXT TO the seat, but I just can't see it doing anything more for the child actually sitting in the seat itself. Upon examining it, I just can't see how it would do anything significant to prevent the vehicle from crumpling into the child. So, if you will have an older shild sitting next to this seat, either in a booster seat or in no car seat at all, then this might be good for you. However, if like me, you will have three child safety seats squeezed into your back seat, then the side impact cusion technology probably won't do anything significant to protect your children, but it sure will make it more difficult to squeeze three child seats into your back seat.
About a year and a half ago, before SICT was available, I purchased two Britax Frontier 85 car seats and found them to be very good. My wife especially liked the fact that it was easier to buckle the kids into the Frontier 85's than into the the Britax Boulevards that we have in our other car. When I read about the new side impact cusion technology, I decided to wait on changing the infant seat for a forward facing seat until I could get the new Frontier 85 SICT. Having once been in a nasty side impact crash myself, I thought I would wait until the SICT version was available and pay the extra money for side impact cushion technology. I'm glad that I only purchased one at first rather than replacing my other two regular Frontier 85's at the same time.
The bottom line is that the side impact cusion technology, (SICT) will be good for some people but the regular version of the Frontier 85 is better for others.

my 2 kids (4 and 6) both have this booster. my 6 year old grew out of his britax boulevard and needed the next seat up. i didn't want him in a typical booster yet. i want my kids in harnesses for as long as possible. when i saw this seat, i did a lot of research and i knew it was the one to get. i have a 2011 vw tiguan and was unsure if the 2 seats were going to fit in the back seat. i also got the regular frontier in case the seats were too wide for the backseat since i was going to have 2. the sict fit very well. there isn't enough room to put anyone in the middle seat but you couldn't get anyone in that space with a regular car seat or the regular frontier. the boys love the seats and think they are really comfortable. i love the safety of them. i have to say, i wish they had a way to adjust the seat by not having to take it out of the car. i also wish they had the same latch system as my boulevard. this one has the latch that wraps in the back, not attached to a bar on each side of the seat like the boulevard does. it is harder to install than the boulevard too. i had to do some research on how to get it to fit snug. my older son needs to have the seat installed with the seat belt due to the latches having a 45 pound weight limit. my 4 year old is still able to use the latches and those make it so much easier to install. for both though, i have to install the seat loose recline the back seat, then push the booster from the front into the back of the seat, then tighten the latches or seat belt. once i get it as tight as i can, i push the back seat to the upright position and it grabs the booster and is nice and snug. i had to do a lot of "googling" to find the way to get the seat to fit snug and not loose. this is the only thing that worked for me. other than that, i love the seat. but i am not taking them out, now that they are in :)

Bought this for my petite ~3 year old. We wanted something that would last her for some time to come, this fits that need very well. I've placed this into our 4d 2002 VM Golf - and the locking clamps make for a super fast installation and very secure fit. The Ferrari red is awesome, as are the arm rests and cup holders - I almost wish I could have this as my new drivers seat! The price difference between the non-SICT and SICT version of this chair was marginal, while I never hope to have to use the SCIT surround, having more cushioning seems always better than less. Worth the purchase, as with most things Britax.