Britax Frontier Full Review

Buying the best car seat is a lot like buying a luxury car. Think of what you are looking for: luxury, class, safety, design, ease of use, and price. These factors are intertwined with a great car seat and Britax doesn’t disappoint with the Britax Frontier 90.

From first class ratings to raving parents’ reviews, the Britax Frontier 90 has it all. Not only are you getting an elegant and ridiculously safe seat, but the price for what you are getting is spot on. Investing in a quality car seat that will last you through many years, or multiple children, is something that every parent has on their mind.

Suggested retail price: $339 Click for current price

Who is this car seat for?

The Britax Frontier 90 is for those who have a child ranging in weight from 25 pounds to 120 pounds! Seems like a huge range, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is. It’s made so that you don’t have to buy multiple seats and boosters until your child is ready to sit on the actual seat of your car.

It’s for the parents who want quality but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a seat that’s going to last them all of 6 months. This car seat is for the family who wants more than one child but not more than 12 car seats.

Finally, this car seat is for the mom or dad that want a comfortable seat without sacrificing in safety. Sound like you or someone you know? Then keep reading for an in-depth review!

Who is it NOT for?

This seat is not for infants. I repeat, it is not for infants. That is one of the very few drawbacks of the Britax Frontier 90. It’s not a birth to graduating out of a car seat kind of seat. However, in saying that, it’s going to last you a very long time once your kiddo does reach the 25-pound mark!

Do you know who else it’s not for? It’s not for someone who likes wrestling with a bulky overpriced seat. If you want an extra work out every day trying to wrangle your child into a sub-par seat, this seat is definitely not for you.

Don’t have time to read my entire review? Check out what other people are saying now by clicking here.

Features

This is the part you were waiting for, wasn’t it? Who can blame you! Like a new car, you want to know the bells and the whistles. What are you getting for your money? The Britax Frontier 90 has a ton of features. Surely a few or all will resonate with you.

• Quick connect lower anchor connectors
• ClickTight seat belt installation
• Easy front-recline setting
• SafeCell technology
• Easy remove cover

Height & Weight Limits

• 25-90 pound forward facing weight limit
• 30-58 inch height limit (forward facing)
• 40-120 pound booster weight limit
• 45-62 inch booster limit
• 20 inch maximum harness height
• 9-year lifetime

Suggested retail price: $339 Click for current price

Safety

Perhaps the biggest feature of any Britax car seat is the safety. That’s at the top of your list when purchasing a seat, so let’s cover that first.

SafeCell technology is something that you are going to hear about a lot with Britax. Heck, a little tag is even sewn on your seat! What is SafeCell technology you ask? It’s a high tech word but a simple concept. In the event of a crash, knock on wood, the SafeCell technology will compress and lower your child’s center of gravity. What does this do exactly? It significantly reduces the forward movement of the car seat.

Breathing a sigh of relief yet? You should be. This seat is without a doubt one of the safest out there. Not only does it use SafeCell but it also boasts some serious impact protection.

Britax Frontier Side Impact Protection

This is going to sound technical, and for good reason, it is! True Side Impact Protection is something you want. It’s going to provide deep side walls with a head restraint. The head restraint has energy-absorbing EPP foam that allots for crash forces. It safeguards from vehicle collision! Which is HUGE.

Beyond the basic theory of the impact protection, this car seat goes one step even further. The EPP foam will encompass the head, neck, and body while keeping them aligned correctly.

So, what does this mean? It means your kiddo is more safe and secure if you get in a fender bender. No whiplash for Johnny!

Installation

Alright, sweet Susie is safe and secure. We can all collectively take a deep breath and chillax. What’s your next biggest concern? Most likely it’s how to install the darn thing. We have all seen, or been for that matter, that parent trying to wrestle with installing a car seat. Let me tell you, it’s not pretty.

Britax Frontier ClickTight

If you aren’t a contortionist, engineer, or robot, then you probably are going to struggle installing one of these guys. Good news! NOT with the Britax Frontier 90. The reason is a simple one- CLICKTIGHT Installation. What’s that you ask? Prepare to be overcome with joy.

CLICKTIGHT is a fancy way of saying, car seat installation for dummies. Really, you would have a lot more to worry about in life if you couldn’t install this seat using this system. If it’s so easy can it be that safe? Yes! It can be. Just because it’s quick and easy to install, doesn’t mean that you are sacrificing safety.

You can use the vehicle’s seat belt for both the harness and booster mode. You don’t need to do any fancy rope work with a belt and spend hours installing the Frontier 90 in your car. It is made to be able to click and go. Funny- that’s almost verbatim the name of the technology itself!

Beyond the CLICKTIGHT technology, the Frontier 90 comes with a color-coded vehicle belt guide. That sounds like some sort of puzzle game, but it’s just Britax going above and beyond to make sure you know the path and position of the seat belt. Super handy, right?

Britax Frontier Booster Mode

Finally, this car/booster seat combo comes with those incredibly easy to use premium lower latch connectors. This is by and large the safest way to strap in the seat. If I were you, I would take advantage of this bonus!

Car seat installation has been a controversial topic for quite some time. A high percentage of people do not install car seats properly. With the CLICKTIGHT Installation System, you can drive with ease knowing that you installed it properly. It’s practically fail proof!

Fit to Child

Perhaps the most underrated feature of a car seat is its ability to fit to your child specifically. Sure, sometimes you can get lucky with a cheap seat and your kid is just at the right size. However, most of the time, the one size fits all approach does not do what it says on the box.

With the Frontier 90, you don’t have to worry about your child fitting in the seat. It’s got you covered. The harness can adjust without rethreading or reassembly. That’s such a great upgrade for those of you who have had to do this in the past. For those who have been spared this torture, count yourself very lucky! Now you can move the harness to shoulder height and head restraint from the front of the seat with ease.

Alright, raise your hand if you have had to search for the buckle after placing your child in the seat. Now raise your hand if you have had to battle your child whist attempting to do this. Not your idea of a fun time? The EZ-Buckle System keeps the buckle in a forward position. What does this do? Eliminates yet another parenting struggle from your everyday routine!

With a car seat/booster seat combo, you are looking at using this device for quite a while. So, obviously, your child is going to grow both in height and weight! The Britax Frontier 90 boasts a 90-pound weight limit in the harness mode. This surpasses quite a few car seats in the safety department.

Once you switch to the booster mode, your child can use this seat up to 120 pounds. I don’t know about you, but I know some people that way that as full grown adults! This seat is a fantastic way to keep your child safe for much of their adolescence.

Finally, as far as the best fit for your child department goes, the two buckle positions provided offer a comfortable yet secure fit as your kiddo grows. A lot of people asked if this seat was comfortable for little growing boys. Being able to move the buckle position is key to this!

Extras

I know that you are a good parent, or you wouldn’t be reading a review to find the best seat for your kiddo. However, I also know, that everyone loves the bonus features! It’s the icing on the cake. The Britax Frontier 90 does not disappoint in this arena.

Steel reinforced frame

The Britax Frontier features a full steel frame which is embeded within the seat and designed to absorb impact.

Anybody who has used a seat that adapts with your child knows it can be tricky if not impossible to transition the seat as they grow. That’s why Britax made it so easy to transition from the harness to booster mode. You don’t have to remove the harness straps. You don’t have to remove and rethread the buckle. Everything adjusts simply and seamlessly.

Long road trips can be taxing on any parent. There’s the endless meltdowns, the “I’m bored”, or “Are we there yet?” after all of 20 minutes. With this seat, you can stockpile up and prepare for the worst. It has integrated cup holders and even added storage. That way, your little ones can grab a cup of juice and a snack if they are hungry. They can even grab their beloved favorite toy once they wear out the first one you sat them down with. It’s not a miracle, but it’s close.

Whilst on this massive, or not so massive, expedition of yours, you might be so lucky as to have your precious cargo fall asleep. If they do, you can easily recline them to keep them dreaming sweet dreams even longer.

Speaking of comfort, the armrests on this seat provides an extra level of luxury for your tyke. It can be uncomfortable to sit with your arms at your sides or tiring to keep them up and moving around. This allows your child to sit relaxed. There’s also the extra feature of comfort foam to deliver extra squishiness to sit on.

Finally, if there’s one thing that’s certain in this world, it’s that kids make messes. Britax has a solution for that as well. The Frontier 90 has an easy-remove cover so you can whip that thing off in a moment’s notice without having to take apart or even uninstall your seat. Finally!

FAQ’s

Ok, in case you weren’t paying attention earlier, or you are in a rush. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions on the Britax Frontier 90. You are welcome! Don’t need to know any more? Ready to purchase your seat now? Click here to head over to Amazon.

How to install the Britax Frontier 90?

This one is easy-breezy. Using the CLICKTIGHT Installation System is as simple as it gets.

Locate the ClickTight release on the lower back of the car seat. There are 2 buttons that you push and the panel opens. Next, thread the vehicle seat belt per the color-coded guide provided. Connect the seat belt in to the buckle on the other side. Click the panel closed. Done!

Too easy? Do you have doubts that it’s secure as they say? Don’t! There are a lot of other factors that go into the safety of this seat but Britax doesn’t want to trouble you with them.

As a side note- Britax recommends that the top tether be used at all times when installing the seat. It also should be stressed that the top tether MUST be used in harness mode for children that weigh more than 65 pounds.

There is a tension mechanism that to provide tension and lock the seat belt at the same time. It uses all-steel tubing and steel plates to accomplish his. The CLICKTIGHT technology is safe, secure, and durable. Once installed, you don’t have to worry about adjusting it as your child grows. Make no mistake, the lack of effort on your part is only due to Britax’s extreme exuberance of work to keep your kiddo safe.

How to make Britax Frontier 90 into a Booster Seat?

A great question! Well, it is a transition seat, so how do you change it from harness mode to booster mode? Easy!

Open the ClickTight compartment. On each side, there are holders for the harness. Simply slide the harness off each slide. Close the compartment. Fold up your straps and put them under the sides and wah-lah! You are done.

That was almost too easy. Most car/booster combo seats need a book to explain how to transition. There’s a lot of unthreading, rethreading, taking apart the seat, and putting it back together. The Britax Frontier 90 gets rid of all these frustrations. You don’t have to remove the harness straps and you certainly don’t have to uninstall the seat. The buckle does not have to be undone and redone. Simply move it forward. What will you do with that extra hour or two they just saved you?

How to clean the Britax Frontier 90?

Ah yes, the inevitable car seat cleaning. Most parents dread this. Actually, anyone would dread this. From juice box explosions to bodily fluids, it’s inevitable that this task comes up over the life of this seat. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that big of a deal.

All you need to do is take off the cover. It can be removed without uninstalling the straps or seat itself. Britax is very crafty in making their covers laundry machine washable as well. However, there have been some reports of color fading.

In that case, you can remove the cover and hand-wash using cold water and a mild soap. Do NOT bleach or iron! Either way you go, make sure to lie the cover flat or line dry it so it does not shrink.

Now if this is an especially large or messy sort of mess, you may need to clean the buckle. Check out your user guide to easily remove the buckle. Rinse it under warm running water. Do not soak it! Do not use any type of soap or other method of cleaning besides the warm water. It can impair the integrity of the buckle and then your seat is no longer safe.

Towel dry your buckle and then reinsert into the seat. Test your buckle to make sure that it clicks. If you don’t hear a click on either insert, then try cleaning again. Remember, your seat is not safe unless you hear the click!

How to recline the Britax Frontier 90?

Britax Frontier Front Adjust Recline

This is such a great feature that you will definitely want to know how to use! There are two different recline positions. You can adjust the seat with the handle on the lower front of the seat. The only downfall is that you can only use the recline feature for harness mode. You MUST keep the seat upright for the booster mode.

What the manufacturer won’t tell you?

There’s very few complaints on this car seat. Keep in mind that some of them can be user error and there’s no real way to weed those out. However, for the sake of being transparent, let’s go through a couple of the potential downfalls

One user claims that the seat didn’t allow the seat belt to retract correctly. They said that the seat belt “slips” or “hangs limp” after his son was placed in there. Let’s dissect this. I would say either 1) they need to return the seat to Britax for them to look at to make sure it was not an error or 2) they potentially have a seat belt issue. This is a huge safety issue, but after scouring the internet, I didn’t find a similar case.

Another parent claimed that “the padding under the seat kept falling out and the actual seam on the seat pad comes loose”. Here again there are a couple of different explanations. Either 1) They had a faulty seat in which case they should return it to Britax or 2) they might have an especially wild little one that is pulling on the padding.

Overall, these were the biggest concerns I found on this seat. There’s a few measely issues like not liking the fabric. For me personally, that’s not high on my priority list but I don’t agree with that parent!

How does the Britax Frontier compare to other car seats?

This is a question you should always ask yourself when you are planning on spending a good chunk of money. The Frontier 90 excels in a lot of areas. It’s rating is high from both a safety standpoint and parent view.

The main difference between this seat and others is the ClickTight installation system. It’s ease of use is unparalleled. It’s around 25 pounds so about middle of the line as far as weight goes. It has a top shoulder height of 20.5” and which is ranking up at the top of the line. The Frontier 90 has a high weight limit of 90 pounds in the harness mode, which is also near the top of the list.

Pros

• Highest harness height – accommodates tall children
• No re-thread harness
• Lower anchor connectors have push-button release
• ClickTight makes very easy installation with seat belt
• Able to use LATCH system in booster mode
• Harness easy to remove

Cons

• Somewhat larger than other comparable seats

Conclusion

Here’s the bottom line. You want and need a car seat that is going to last. It needs to be durable, comfortable, efficient, and above all else, safe. With the Britax Frontier 90 you are getting these qualities and much, much more. You can rest easy once your kiddo is strapped in that you got the right seat. They are safe, comfortable, and, fingers crossed, happy behind you while you drive for many years to come.

Want to know more about this car seat? Check out the Britax Frontier 90 for yourself on Amazon now by clicking here.

New G1.1 Model vs Britax Frontier 90

A few key improvements were made in the latest model of the Frontier, including the read part beneath the armrest are shaped slightly differently.  This slight change affects the angle of the seat belt (when used in seat belt mode) — resulting in the seat belt being in the proper place on the upper thigh of the child as opposed to the abdomen.

Britax also changed the installation feature: instead of having to thread the seat belt through the seat, there is now a compartment that opens and snaps closed over the belt making an audible click (ClickTight).  This makes installation much easier and gives parents and guardians comfort knowing the seat is installed properly.

Another change is the belt adjustment mechanism in the back of the seat — making it easier to tighten or loosen the straps.

Compare with other Britax Car Seats

	Pioneer	Frontier ClickTight	Pinnacle ClickTight
SafeCell Impact Protection	✓	✓	✓
Easy lower LATCH connectors	✓	Optional use	Optional use
Quick-adjust harness positions	9	9	9
SafeCell Impact-absorbing harness		✓	✓
EZ-buckle system		✓	✓
ClickTight Installation System		✓	✓
Layers of Side Impact Protection	2	2	3
SafeCell Impact Stabilizing Steel Frame	✓	✓	✓
SafeCell Impact Absorbing Base	✓	✓	✓
V-shaped tether with Britax-patented staged-release stitches	✓	✓	✓