Child Seat Advice

[callyman]

boobles said:

Non Isofix though.

Yes but not essential.

[amstrange1]

Does anyone have a link to any crash test data for various child seats please?

My folks want to purchase a seat for our daughter's occasional use, and have their eyes on a cheap Halfords one. We use Britax in our cars (on the recommendation of a couple of OEM crash guys I used to work with), but I can't find any objective reviews of the Halfords seats, only Mumsnet scaremongering that cheap seats are unsafe.

This is the one in question: http://www.halfords.com/kids-zone/car-seats/child-...
...so is it to be avoided or not?

[Adrian E]

You can find data from Germany on the ADAC web site - Google Chrome auto translate works reasonably well

https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/kindersicher...

The difficulty is that brand names are different in different European markets so it's not always easy to compare to UK available products. I can't see the Halfords one listed and I've never heard of the brand, although that doesn't mean it's not well established - it just might not be a common model in the UK.

It is very cheap for an Isofix seat so worth trying it for fit in the car and seeing what the usability is like. I'd favour a cheap Isofix seat over a cheap non-Isofix but if you're in any doubt buy the one you want them to use and give it to them. With Isofix we just used to swap ours between cars as needed as it can be done in a couple of minutes, with experience

[mcbook]

amstrange1 said:

Does anyone have a link to any crash test data for various child seats please?

My folks want to purchase a seat for our daughter's occasional use, and have their eyes on a cheap Halfords one. We use Britax in our cars (on the recommendation of a couple of OEM crash guys I used to work with), but I can't find any objective reviews of the Halfords seats, only Mumsnet scaremongering that cheap seats are unsafe.

This is the one in question: http://www.halfords.com/kids-zone/car-seats/child-...
...so is it to be avoided or not?

Or an easy solution to the problem would be for you to buy them the child seat that you want you daughter to travel in. That would solve any arguments about needing to buy a more expensive one because it's safer. Don't mean to sound like a dick... just a simple solution.

[Tonsko]

We were offered a Maxi-Cosi Axiss by some friends, but they had forgotten that they'd promised it to their parents to put in their car. It sounded like a great idea, with the swivel bit, particularly as we'll be having another babe at some point soon, and the swivel bit could be a lot easier for her.

So, my real question is, after my initial enthusiasm of a free one, what are people's thoughts on the swivel function, bearing in mind the mrs sometimes get carpal tunnel (but no real back pain) would it still be worth heading down the road of that, or get a longer lasting seat that will do more than Group 1 (but is unlikely to swivel)?

Just looking for people's experiences with the swivel seats.

[sjg]

We have a Recaro Zero.1 that swivels and I really like it - much easier to load and unload when they're facing sideways.

Essential? No, although I figured as we'd need to pay quite a bit for a seat that went rear-facing to 4, it's not a huge premium to have it swivel too.

[boobles]

https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&am...

[essayer]

I'd get the swivel, personally, especially if rear facing for any period of time. We have a Nuna Rebl and it makes it a lot easier to get them in in one go when they are 'creating'

[_Neal_]

Tonsko said:

We were offered a Maxi-Cosi Axiss by some friends, but they had forgotten that they'd promised it to their parents to put in their car. It sounded like a great idea, with the swivel bit, particularly as we'll be having another babe at some point soon, and the swivel bit could be a lot easier for her.

So, my real question is, after my initial enthusiasm of a free one, what are people's thoughts on the swivel function, bearing in mind the mrs sometimes get carpal tunnel (but no real back pain) would it still be worth heading down the road of that, or get a longer lasting seat that will do more than Group 1 (but is unlikely to swivel)?

Just looking for people's experiences with the swivel seats.

We've used a Maxi-Cosi Axiss for the past two years, bought as my wife has back problems. It's been really good. Easy to install, easy to use, reclines so they can sleep. Recommended.

[Tonsko]

Have bought one. Found it for 160 quid, which I felt was reasonable.

[essayer]

I've just seen that the Nuna Rebl catastrophically fails the ADAC tests when in rear facing mode

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2016/10/first-i-size-c...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GejxutiK250&itct...


So, you might want to buy something else

[anonymous-user]

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

[boobles]

Polynesian said:

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

Have you removed the harness? If not, this will be the answer. Remove it & then use as high back booster & this will allow for more adjustment in terms of headrest position. If you have already removed the harness then without actually seeing the seat, it's a strange one to answer.

[eltax91]

boobles said:

Polynesian said:

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

Have you removed the harness? If not, this will be the answer. Remove it & then use as high back booster & this will allow for more adjustment in terms of headrest position. If you have already removed the harness then without actually seeing the seat, it's a strange one to answer.

We have the young sport for our 4 year old. The harness has been out for a while and the headrest is up one notch.

Polynesian:- It was my understanding that, when they get to 6/7 and outgrow the headrest, you remove the head rest itself and turn it into a high back booster? It's been 3 years since I bought it and thus read the manual, so maybe my brain is playing tricks?

[boobles]

eltax91 said:

boobles said:

Polynesian said:

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

Have you removed the harness? If not, this will be the answer. Remove it & then use as high back booster & this will allow for more adjustment in terms of headrest position. If you have already removed the harness then without actually seeing the seat, it's a strange one to answer.

We have the young sport for our 4 year old. The harness has been out for a while and the headrest is up one notch.

Polynesian:- It was my understanding that, when they get to 6/7 and outgrow the headrest, you remove the head rest itself and turn it into a high back booster? It's been 3 years since I bought it and thus read the manual, so maybe my brain is playing tricks?

So the headrest it's self becomes detached ? That would become just the seat base wouldn't it without any side impact protection?

[eltax91]

boobles said:

eltax91 said:

boobles said:

Polynesian said:

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

Have you removed the harness? If not, this will be the answer. Remove it & then use as high back booster & this will allow for more adjustment in terms of headrest position. If you have already removed the harness then without actually seeing the seat, it's a strange one to answer.

We have the young sport for our 4 year old. The harness has been out for a while and the headrest is up one notch.

Polynesian:- It was my understanding that, when they get to 6/7 and outgrow the headrest, you remove the head rest itself and turn it into a high back booster? It's been 3 years since I bought it and thus read the manual, so maybe my brain is playing tricks?

So the headrest it's self becomes detached ? That would become just the seat base wouldn't it without any side impact protection?

Im not sure if I recall it directly and planned on googling the manual to find out when the time comes. But the headrest is a separate Part of the seat, and if I visualise it out the way, there's still a 2/3 high back booster with side bolsters....

[boobles]

eltax91 said:

boobles said:

eltax91 said:

boobles said:

Polynesian said:

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

Have you removed the harness? If not, this will be the answer. Remove it & then use as high back booster & this will allow for more adjustment in terms of headrest position. If you have already removed the harness then without actually seeing the seat, it's a strange one to answer.

We have the young sport for our 4 year old. The harness has been out for a while and the headrest is up one notch.

Polynesian:- It was my understanding that, when they get to 6/7 and outgrow the headrest, you remove the head rest itself and turn it into a high back booster? It's been 3 years since I bought it and thus read the manual, so maybe my brain is playing tricks?

So the headrest it's self becomes detached ? That would become just the seat base wouldn't it without any side impact protection?

Im not sure if I recall it directly and planned on googling the manual to find out when the time comes. But the headrest is a separate Part of the seat, and if I visualise it out the way, there's still a 2/3 high back booster with side bolsters....

Ok no worries. Be interesting knowing what the outcome is.

[eltax91]

boobles said:

eltax91 said:

boobles said:

eltax91 said:

boobles said:

Polynesian said:

Boobles- hoping for a quick bit of advice. We have an averagely sized 7 year old who has used and enjoyed his recaro young sport (group1-3) seat for a long time now. Recently we've noticed that his shoulders don't sit under the head impact bit of the seat, and it can't go any higher- it has 3 point adjustment and is in the highest position. What do we do? This seat supposedly goes to age 12??? Many thanks!

Have you removed the harness? If not, this will be the answer. Remove it & then use as high back booster & this will allow for more adjustment in terms of headrest position. If you have already removed the harness then without actually seeing the seat, it's a strange one to answer.

We have the young sport for our 4 year old. The harness has been out for a while and the headrest is up one notch.

Polynesian:- It was my understanding that, when they get to 6/7 and outgrow the headrest, you remove the head rest itself and turn it into a high back booster? It's been 3 years since I bought it and thus read the manual, so maybe my brain is playing tricks?

So the headrest it's self becomes detached ? That would become just the seat base wouldn't it without any side impact protection?

Im not sure if I recall it directly and planned on googling the manual to find out when the time comes. But the headrest is a separate Part of the seat, and if I visualise it out the way, there's still a 2/3 high back booster with side bolsters....

Ok no worries. Be interesting knowing what the outcome is.

You are without doubt the unsurpassed expert here with all your experience. Take a look at these pictures, do you see what I mean about the head rest? Or am I way off the mark? I'd hate to take it apart and it turn out I've risked my kids life and limb.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=recaro+young+spo...

[boobles]

eltax91 said:

You are without doubt the unsurpassed expert here with all your experience. Take a look at these pictures, do you see what I mean about the head rest? Or am I way off the mark? I'd hate to take it apart and it turn out I've risked my kids life and limb.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=recaro+young+spo...

My understanding is that you remove the Harness once the child is approx 4yrs (group 1) then use as high back booster by removing the harness but keeping the headrest attached... Once the harness is removed, this should allow for the headrest to go a lot higher hence group 3 (approx 12yrs old) I will find a user manual to confirm though.

[eltax91]

boobles said:

My understanding is that you remove the Harness once the child is approx 4yrs (group 1) then use as high back booster by removing the harness but keeping the headrest attached... Once the harness is removed, this should allow for the headrest to go a lot higher hence group 3 (approx 12yrs old) I will find a user manual to confirm though.

You might indeed be correct. I thought the term 'high back booster' meant a seat without a headrest but that has side protection? Like you see in some exclusively 2/3 seats.

If indeed you are right, then with the adjustability left in the headrest, there's no way my 4 year old is gonna be in it for another 6 years. He will outgrow it for certain. I bet even fully adjusted, unless I missed something, my 8 year old nephew wouldn't fit