The best car seat is the one that fits your child, vehicle, budget, and lifestyle and has the features important to you. The safest car seat is the one you can install correctly and use properly on every ride! Let us know in the comment section what questions you have about this review of the Britax Boulevard ClickTight convertible car seat.
Britax Boulevard ClickTight Car Seat Review (USA/Canada)
The Britax Boulevard isn’t a new addition to the market, but it’s a ridiculously impressive seat! It’s super easy to install and use, and it’s one of the longest-lasting convertible car seats on the market thanks to its tall harness heights — and at the same time, the lowest harness setting is low enough to fit an average-sized newborn, making it a decent option for parents who want to skip the infant seat! Read on for a full Britax Boulevard review!
Type
A convertible car seat that can be used rear-facing and forward-facing
When
From birth or after you’ve used an infant seat for a few months
Age
Our recommendation: Newborn until the seat is outgrown (average 6/7 years old)
What you need to know before you go.
Rear-Facing Seat Stats
- height limit: 49″
- weight limit: 40 pounds
- head height rules: at least 1″ below the top of the headrest
Forward-Facing Seat Stats
- height limit: 49″
- weight limit: 65 pounds
- head height rules: ears must be below the top of the headrest
Other Seat Stats
- width of seat: 18”
- weight of seat: 28 pounds
- crash replacement policy: replace after a moderate or severe crash
- expiration limits: 10 years
- harness: no rethread
- lock-off: yes
✅ Seat is good for you if:
✅ You want a super easy installation.
When it comes to easy, straightforward, wrestle-free car seat installation, ClickTight is about as good as it gets! Britax’s innovative ClickTight technology both tightens and locks the vehicle seatbelt for you. All you have to do is thread the vehicle seatbelt through the correct belt path, gently remove any obvious slack, and close the ClickTight panel. For caregivers who struggle to tighten seatbelts or latch straps when installing other car seats, the Britax Boulevard ClickTight might just be the answer to your car seat woes.
When installing the Britax Boulevard car seat, note that the ClickTight panel is designed to be used with the vehicle seatbelt. Don’t even bother with a lower anchor installation; seatbelt is the way to go for this seat!
✅ You have a tall or long-torso’d child.
On paper, the Britax Boulevard ClickTight’s 49″ height limit seems pretty standard. Tons of convertible car seats out there last to the same height! But the Boulevard stands out because its harness height is best-in-class. Why does this matter? Because kids sit in car seats! And if you’ve been around Safe in the Seat long enough, you know that forward-facing kids need their harness straps to be right at, or slightly above, their shoulder level. For some car seats, this is the first way the car seat is outgrown: if a forward-facing child’s shoulders are taller than the highest harness setting, then they’ve outgrown the seat, even if they’re still under the height and weight limits.
This is where the Boulevard’s harness height comes in. Many of our other favorite convertible car seats have a tallest harness setting in the 17-18″ range. But the Boulevard’s is 19.5″. A school-age child’s torso grows roughly an inch per year, so that extra harness height can mean extra longevity out of your child’s convertible car seat!
✅ You need a seat with a small front-to-back footprint.
When it comes to rear-facing convertible car seats, space can be a major concern. Whether you have a tall front seat occupant, a small backseat, or both, the Britax Boulevard recline can offer a space-saving profile for older kids! Like all rear-facing seats, the Boulevard’s front-to-back footprint depends on the recline setting chosen by the adult installing the car seat. For infants who don’t have neck and torso control yet, the Boulevard (or any other rear-facing seat) needs to be fully reclined to allow the baby to keep their airway open.
But once a child reaches that head control milestone — they’re sitting independently, or getting close — the Boulevard can be installed very upright, saving several inches of space for that front seat! Even if you aren’t hurting for front seat space, the wide recline range of this car seat is a great feature that makes this car seat adjustable enough to fit in almost any vehicle.
✅ You want to skip an infant seat.
We’ve found this seat fits average to large newborns well! With the insert in place, the lowest harness height is low enough to correctly fit those newborns just below shoulder level. The most difficult part of this seat regarding newborn fit is deciding what to do with the special rubber harness padding on Britax seats. These pads help absorb energy in a crash when the seat is forward facing, but they aren’t necessary rear facing — and they can be extra bulky on a tiny torso. The good news is these can be removed by following the manual’s instructions. Just make sure to store them somewhere accessible so they don’t get lost!
If you are expecting a newborn smaller than about 7lbs, or expecting a preemie, we’d recommend an infant car seat over a convertible seat to ensure you get the best harness fit. You can learn more about our favorite preemie car seats here!
🚩 Use Caution If:
🚩 You need to fit 3 people in one row of the vehicle.
The Boulevard is certainly not the widest car seat out there, but at 18″ wide, it’s not the narrowest, either. To fit three passengers across one row of a small to mid-sized vehicle, we would advise choosing a car seat that is 17″ wide or less.
However, in some mid-sized or large cars, the Boulevard can work in a three-across setup! The ClickTight panel makes it easy to shift the car seat closer to the vehicle door during installation, saving valuable space in that center seat — so in some vehicles, it can work, especially if it’s combined with narrower car seats. All in all, it’s not a seat we’d purchase if we’re shopping for a three-across configuration, but in some cases, it does work well!
️ Stand Out Features:
anti-rebound bar (required in CAN, optional/separate purchase in USA)
The anti-rebound bar (ARB) is required in Canada in the rear-facing mode. In the US, only some color options come with the ARB, but it can be ordered separately as well (don’t worry, this doesn’t count as an unsafe added item — it’s an approved accessory offered by the seat’s manufacturer!). The anti-rebound bar is an added safety feature for rear-facing that can reduce the secondary movement of the car seat, called rebound, during a crash. When a collision occurs, the car seat will move forward, towards the front of the vehicle, and rotate downward. And as we all know from high school physics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction — so after that initial movement, the car seat will rebound, or “bounce back” towards the backrest of the vehicle seat.
The ARB minimizes this bounce-back effect, helping limit the movement of the car seat and your child inside it! ARBs may also limit the side-to-side rotation of the car seat in a side-impact collision. Overall, it’s a great feature on a rear-facing car seat!
▶️ YouTube Videos:
▶️How to Install Britax Boulevard Rear-Facing
▶️How to Install Britax Boulevard Forward-Facing
⚠️ Quirks to be Aware Of:
⚠️ Washing the Cover
Some color options of the Britax Boulevard are hand wash only. If you prefer a machine-washable cover, select a SafeWash color when purchasing your new car seat.
⚠️ Sticky Recline
Some caregivers have found that the recline mechanism on the Boulevard is a little bit difficult to operate, especially if they attempt to change the car seat’s recline after lifting it into the vehicle. If you’re having trouble adjusting the recline on your car seat, try placing it on flat ground first. This will give you the stability you need to make a smooth adjustment!
✈️ Airplane Use
The Britax Boulevard ClickTight is an FAA-approved car seat. It’s not a lightweight seat by any means, but you certainly can travel with it. Just get a travel cart to maneuver through the airport! Because it can be very compact in rear-facing mode, it will fit in that direction on most airplane seats. It is wide, so you’ll need to put the airplane armrests up to fit! Read the manual carefully before flying: the Britax Boulevard airplane installation is not the same as a vehicle installation. The airplane seat belt routes over the ClickTight panel. For help with all things airplane travel and car seats, check out our Wheels Up Course and private Facebook group.
SITS Bottom Line
This is a seat that’s been around for a while, and it’s a great option for so many families! The ClickTight panel makes this one of the easiest seats on the market to install, and it stands out from other seats thanks to its tall harness height and compactness when used rear-facing. We find it’s very popular with grandparents as well!
Similar Seats:
- Britax Marathon ClickTight (US)*
- Britax Advocate ClickTight (US)*
- Britax Marathon ClickTight (Canada)*
- Britax Advocate ClickTight (Canada)*
Britax Advocate vs Boulevard vs Marathon: A note on the differences: The Britax Marathon ClickTight has a low-profile “head pad” instead of a full headrest. The Boulevard has a full headrest. And the Advocate features a full headrest and an extra layer of outer plastic on the car seat shell. The Advocate is wider and heavier than the Marathon and Boulevard. Other than that, these three sister seats are practically identical!
*A SITS recommended seat. Recommended seats are in our Buying Kits because they have ranked high on our vehicle, child, ease of use, and features scale. Because the Marathon, Boulevard, and Advocate are so similar, you’ll only find the Boulevard in the buying kit — but we like all three!
Compare Car Seats
Looking to compare car seats and narrow down the best car seat for your family? The Convertible Car Seat Buying Kit walks you through our 7Cs of car seat selection, then on to an interactive quiz, and finally, a recommended car seat list is generated just for you! If you are overwhelmed and sick of spending hours researching and reading car seat reviews like this one, the Buying Kit will guide you to Safe in the Seat’s recommended car seats for you in under 30 minutes!
Check out this Amazon Live for more convertible seats we recommend and the standout features we love.
We check every day for our recommended car seats on sale, and we have all the deals here for you.
What About Seats We Don’t Recommend?
Just like anyone, we have preferences! This goes for car seats, too. If we don’t recommend a car seat, it’s not because it’s unsafe for your little one. All car seats are safe if they’re installed and used properly, are not expired or damaged, and when they’re made and sold by a reputable manufacturer and/or retailer. Click here for our full list of car seats that we do not recommend.
A note about crash-tests
How does the Britax Boulevard ClickTight perform in crash tests?
Well, that’s a great question. We know it passes the strict federally required testing for all car seats sold in the United States. But we don’t know exactly how it performs. That data isn’t released by any official sources in the US — not by car seat manufacturers, government agencies like NHTSA, or anywhere!
A few third-party websites claim to offer objective crash test data that compares car seats. But we ignore that data at Safe in the Seat for a few reasons. First of all, third-party car seat crash tests don’t actually give us meaningful data! Car seat manufacturers crash-test their products hundreds, even upwards of a thousand times. They crash test the finished product in every single installation configuration using every applicable-sized crash test dummy, not to mention a whole lot of testing at each stage of the development process too. So one or two crash tests completed by another organization just can’t give the same level of information! One or two crash tests aren’t going to represent the overall average performance of any car seat across its lifespan.
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Is this a good car seat for non removable head rests?
Not typically. Clek and Nuna seats will work with those headrests though
The seat in the rear facing position isn’t safe. It flips easily. It also is gigantic and we can’t get the kids in while it’s installed. Nor can we have the passenger Or driver seat set back. They need to be pushed forward. Also you have to pay extra for a cup holder. The seat is too heavy for my wife to carry and it would be
Impossible for a grandparent to install.
We’re returning this and getting our money back
While the Boulevard is quite heavy, and doesn’t come with a cupholder included, none of your other complaints should be problems with proper use of this seat — it is one of the easiest, sturdiest installs on the market thanks to Clicktight technology, as long as the seatbelt is routed correctly. Definitely grandparent friendly compared to seats that require more wrestling to install tightly! The “flips easily” situation only happens when users leave the shoulder belt outside the seat; this is incorrect, the shoulder and lap belt both need to be routed through the belt guide and underneath the clicktight panel. The Boulevard is also extremely compact rear facing when installed upright for a child who can sit independently (though, like all rear facing seats, it does have a larger footprint when it’s used fully reclined).
Great review! I love my Britax seats! But I will mention I didn’t choose this one because it does not have cup holders.
Britax does sell a cupholder as an add-on for this seat.
The “special rubber harness padding” refers to the “hugs” pads that go on the chest, correct? Every review or description I’ve seen of this car seat mentions those and most photos online show them, but we have a Boulevard Clicktight (purchased in 2021) and ours doesn’t have the chest pads and the manual makes no mention of them! We just have the Velcro “comfort pads” for the shoulders. Are there different versions of this seat, some with the chest pads and some without? Should I be worried about this?
If you bought your seat new, then it has everything that you need. There are many fabric options available with this seat, and some of them do hot have the hugs pads.
Thank you!