Here’s a mid-year update on Britax, which has tweaked its car seat line-up and added a few new accessories.

G3 car seats. Britax has made some slight improvements to old favorites in the car seat line. These new seats are dubbed G3 or 3rd Generation. You’ll see the Marathon 70-G3, the Boulevard 70-G3, the Pavilion 70-G3 and the Advocate 70-G3. Here’s what’s new: the HUGS chest pads now feature Britax’s new SafeCell Technology and the EZ-Buckle System, both of which are explained below.

The new harness chest pads “ensure proper positioning” because they are now affixed to the seat’s shell. Then the SafeCell Technology allows the harness to compress and “provide resistance” in case of a crash to help prevent a head injury. The EZ-Buckle keeps the harness buckle from falling back so your child doesn’t sit on it when they first get into the seat. The seats retain all of their other great features–no changes there. Some readers have noted that they are finding the older models (pre-G3) on sale on some web sites.

The Pavilion G3. No, Britax didn’t release a brand new model; it’s merely a name change. The Pavilion is the same seat as the old Boulevard 70-CS. Same features plus the new chest pads and buckle system that all G3 seats have. It was confusing to have two flavors of the Boulevard, so the Boulevard CS gets its own model name.

Finally, Britax has added a couple new accessories to their line: a Vehicle Seat Protector (mat for under the car seat) and a Back Seat Mirror (so you can see baby a little easier when she’s in her car seat.