Britax has done it again. They have taken all of the things we have come to love about the Frontier and added some amazing features to make the Britax Frontier 85 SICT. They added side impact cushion protection as well as an easy to remove washable cover that comes off without having to remove the seat from the car or having to take the harness off. For ease of installation the seat has LATCH connectors and easy to find color coded seat belt guides.
With six kids you can only imagine how much time we spend in the car. To and from school, doctors appointments, after school sports- we are always on the go! As parents, both my husband and I try to ensure our children’s safety while in either car. Part of that is a proper car seat! Every parent learns the importance of car seat safety early on as it is mandatory when you leave the hospital with your newborn. However a car seat should be something you don’t use just because it is mandatory, it should be something you use because you want to protect your most precious items in the car.
Britax is a very well know company that boasts car seats with one of the most impressive safety ratings. Britax car seats are available at tons of major retailers so if you have a child under the age of ten or so- I am sure you have heard of them. We needed a carseat for our six year old that could be easily adjusted for other age and size kids as well. So Britax sent us the Frontier 85 SICT to check out.
This seat is a Forward Facing and Booster seat only. Which means once your child grows out of their rear facing seat or hits the weight limits on their forward facing seat this is the seat for you. It will fit Forward Facing children 2 years+ , 25-85lbs and 30-57″ tall and Booster children 4 years+, 40-120lbs and 42-65″. This is one seat you are going to get a lot of use out of.
First impression? This thing is huge and heavy (22 lbs!)
Installing the seat was super easy with the LATCH connectors and when I needed to use the seat belt in my car the easy to find color coded seat belt guides made it go much faster than I expected. Britax LATCH connectors are one thing to me that set them apart. They are much like a normal seat belt connector and provide an audible click when the connector is securely attached. (close up shot of the actual lower LATCH connector to the right.) When it is necessary to remove the seat from the vehicle, you simply push the red button and the connector is released effortlessly.
We have a 8 passenger Toyota Sienna with a second row, middle, drop down seat to get into the third row. We originally installed this seat behind the driver- but the Side Impact Cushion Technology wings make this car seat so wide that we could not fold down the middle seat! Thankfully moving the set to the passenger side resolved this.
Speaking of the Side Impact Cushion Technology wings- these big babies feature energy-absorbing cushions on the exterior of the seat to reduce side impact crash energy by 45% by diverting crash forces away from your child and providing extra protection for the adjacent passenger! I do, however wish that there was material over the wings- these babies get hot! While I really love the wings, this is what makes the seat so big. When I installed this seat in my Toyota Corolla I had to install it in the middle- which left no room on the left or the right for another carseat or another passenger. I think the Britax Frontier 85 SICT makes an excellent seat if you have a large SUV or van, or if you have one child you want extra safe!
My kids quite often have drinks in the car- so the seat having two cup holders is awesome and I love that they are not detachable. The cup holders hold all sizes of cups as well as toys, crayons and snacks! Because it is so easy to eat and drink in the Britax Frontier 85 SICT we have had a few accidents! Fortunately, the Frontier 85 SICT has washable covers that come without disassembling or uninstalling the car seat! Stains on this seat are gone easy as pie! The seat also features a very neat Quick-Adjust, No-Rethread Harness. This allows you to reposition the harness shoulder height without disassembling the harness straps or uninstalling the seat to do it. All you have to do is grab the red lever on each side of the headrest and pull up. Easy Peasy!
The tangle free, five-point harness has 10 harness height positions (up to 20″) and three buckle positions for a snug and secure fit for any age and size child. I have yet to have the Britax straps get tangled!
This seat will grow with your child and keep your child safer longer since the 85-pound five-Point Harness Seat Capacity allows your child to remain harnessed up to 85 lbs or in booster mode to 120 lbs- the highest capacities available on the market today! If you have room for it- this is absolutely one of the best combination harness to booster seats on the market today!
Buy It: You can purchase a Britax Frontier 85 SICT for 242.99!
I love this carseat and desperately need to buy one for my almost 5 yr old who has completely out grown his marathon (too tall) I love the idea of being able to have him in a full 5 point harness untill he’s 85 lbs. it’s the piece of mind!
man I love Britax! I cannot say enough great things about this company and their car seats. Great review
I just got a Britax for my youngest, but would love to have this one for my older two!
We love Britax.
Looks like she is loving her car seat! We also have Britax and love them.
We have heard from several people how amazing Britax is and this seat looks fabulous! I love how comfortable your daughter looks, the removable washable cover (brilliant!) and 2 cup holders!! The easy installation sounds great, I know the car seat we have now is super hard to install and get in the car tight! Thanks so much for the information!
We have 2 frontiers and looking to get 2 SICT’s but have a question,
Did you have any issue with the cover being removed when the child gets in our out of it? I’ve read several reviews about the detachable covering coming loose.
What has been your experience?
Thanks for the info– I just have to be double researching to get the right one– we aRE going to need this soon
I love my DD’s Frontier. Make sure to watch the install videos if you are using a seatbelt.