What American Patriot Defense tested
This is a 16-minute unboxing and Ford Bronco install of the Boosted Safe Elite by Clint of American Patriot Defense, a YouTube channel, posted Oct 13, 2025.
Video by American Patriot Defense, on YouTube. Reviewer received the unit. He says it came free and that he was under no obligation to give a good review. Words below are ours, not theirs.
The most useful thing here is his starting position. He teaches concealed carry classes and says he opposes leaving guns in cars as a habit. He then allows for the errands where you cannot bring one inside, and he frames the safe narrowly: "temporary firearm storage in your vehicle, not permanent". Firearms are stored unloaded.
He asked the company for a unit after seeing its ads, and spent time on the phone with the owner, so he is not a stranger to us. He says so himself.
The trouble he hits is with the fingerprint reader. One finger kept failing, the safe told him to enroll it more, and three misses locked him out. His own fix is to enroll several fingers, more than once each. Watch that part if you are weighing the Elite against a keypad-only safe.
Once it is in the Bronco he is happier. It latches to the LATCH anchors (called ISOFIX outside the US), and he runs the included cable to the seat base as a second tether. He closes the lid on a MacBook Pro smaller than the 16-inch size the safe is built around, and later on two full-size handguns, one holstered. Those are his items. Inside it measures 15.1 x 13.6 x 4.25 in, so measure yours.
He also sees it for non-gun use, such as a Jeep or Bronco with the top off and a student's laptop between classes. He bases his view of theft on what he says he sees in law enforcement: most of it is opportunistic. That is his experience and not a statistic. He does not attack the safe himself.
Two details to set straight. The anchors are covered by a federal standard, FMVSS 225, the federal anchor standard, and they are welded to the car's body. He wonders aloud whether the safe would meet a state transport rule, and tells you to check your own state. We say the same. Start with what counts as a locked container.
What to watch for
- 0:26. His disclosure, stated before anything else.
- 1:15. Why he opposes storing guns in cars as a habit, and the exceptions he allows.
- 10:12. The fingerprint lockout, with no edit to hide it.
- 11:52. The red release tabs and the depth adjustment.
- 14:33. Running the cable as a second tether.
The Boosted Safe Elite in the Bronco
The Boosted Safe Elite looks like a booster seat under its cover and opens by fingerprint, keypad or key, with USB-C emergency power. The release is inside the safe. It comes off the anchors only after it has been opened. With enough time and tools nothing is secure. The job is to raise the time and the tool count.
The Elite in this video is a theft safe in 16-gauge steel. If firearms are the main job, the Golden Gate Elite is the model certified for firearms, in 12-gauge steel, on pre-order. Shipping: November.
Before you buy, check your vehicle, since the anchors come in US passenger vehicles from model year 2003 with some exceptions. Then compare the models, see every car gun safe or read the reviews.
