Child Seat Advice

Author
Discussion

monthefish

20,449 posts

232 months

Tuesday 5th July 2011
quotequote all
Boobles.

What are your thoughts on 'buckle crunch'?

I'm aware that the general answer is that it is "veyy dangerous", however looking at pretty much every image of an installed child seat, contact between the seat belt buckle and the child seat seems pretty much unavoidable i.e. buckles always protrude from the seat, and child seats always contact the base/back of the seat....

Is it just the buckle going across the seat base that is the bad situation (as would make sense from a lateral-vs-longtitudina loading point of view)

boobles

Original Poster:

15,241 posts

216 months

Tuesday 5th July 2011
quotequote all
monthefish said:
Boobles.

What are your thoughts on 'buckle crunch'?

I'm aware that the general answer is that it is "veyy dangerous", however looking at pretty much every image of an installed child seat, contact between the seat belt buckle and the child seat seems pretty much unavoidable i.e. buckles always protrude from the seat, and child seats always contact the base/back of the seat....

Is it just the buckle going across the seat base that is the bad situation (as would make sense from a lateral-vs-longtitudina loading point of view)
Hi,

Your last sentence is spot on. It's any part of the buckle that sits across the base/shell of any seat.
It's the seat belt webbing that has been tested & approved & not the buckle in these situations.

monthefish

20,449 posts

232 months

Tuesday 5th July 2011
quotequote all
boobles said:
monthefish said:
Boobles.

What are your thoughts on 'buckle crunch'?

I'm aware that the general answer is that it is "veyy dangerous", however looking at pretty much every image of an installed child seat, contact between the seat belt buckle and the child seat seems pretty much unavoidable i.e. buckles always protrude from the seat, and child seats always contact the base/back of the seat....

Is it just the buckle going across the seat base that is the bad situation (as would make sense from a lateral-vs-longtitudinal loading point of view)
Hi,

Your last sentence is spot on. It's any part of the buckle that sits across the base/shell of any seat.
It's the seat belt webbing that has been tested & approved & not the buckle in these situations.
So is side-by-side contact generally OK? (seems mostly unvoidable to my mind)

boobles

Original Poster:

15,241 posts

216 months

Tuesday 5th July 2011
quotequote all
Side by side is fine.

lenats31

438 posts

174 months

Thursday 7th July 2011
quotequote all
I once read a description of buckle crunch. This isn´t really relevant to the question tough. It made good sense to me and is easy to remember because a lot of people have done it.

In case of buckle crunch, the seat is mostly held in place by the buckle instead of the seatbelt webbing.

If you hold a pencil between your thumb and your index finger and squeeze it with next finger. the risk that it is going to break is significant.

No buckle crunch and webbing is holding the seat: hold a pencil with both hands - one in each end of the pencil and pull it. the likelyhood that it will break is close to zero.

Lena

ChrisRS

1,787 posts

218 months

Saturday 30th July 2011
quotequote all
I'm looking for a bit of advice on car seat compatability.

We have 2 cars, the first is a 1999 Land Rover Discovery (Series 2), the other a 2004 Renualt Megane 5 door hatch.

We've collected our new Silver Cross pram today with came with a Silver Cross Ventura Plus car seat (non ISOFIX).

The seat fits fine in the Megane, however it's very difficult to fit to the Disco as the seat belt isn't really long enough (Just about fits but very tricky) I know you can get seat belt extensions but the baby seat also doen't really match the angle of the car seat.

Does anyone have any experience of using child seats in a 1999 Discovery?

We intend to keep the Ventura Plus as it fit's onto the pram chassis and the babies going to spend most of it's journeys in the Megane, i'd then leave the new seat in the Disco full time.

I know this post is dragging on a bit but i'd also like the new car seat to last until the babies about 2 years old.

(My suggestion of upgrading to a newer Discovery fell on death ears!)

boobles

Original Poster:

15,241 posts

216 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2011
quotequote all
ChrisRS said:
I'm looking for a bit of advice on car seat compatability.

We have 2 cars, the first is a 1999 Land Rover Discovery (Series 2), the other a 2004 Renualt Megane 5 door hatch.

We've collected our new Silver Cross pram today with came with a Silver Cross Ventura Plus car seat (non ISOFIX).

The seat fits fine in the Megane, however it's very difficult to fit to the Disco as the seat belt isn't really long enough (Just about fits but very tricky) I know you can get seat belt extensions but the baby seat also doen't really match the angle of the car seat.

Does anyone have any experience of using child seats in a 1999 Discovery?

We intend to keep the Ventura Plus as it fit's onto the pram chassis and the babies going to spend most of it's journeys in the Megane, i'd then leave the new seat in the Disco full time.

I know this post is dragging on a bit but i'd also like the new car seat to last until the babies about 2 years old.

(My suggestion of upgrading to a newer Discovery fell on death ears!)
Hi Chris,

Sorry for the late reply but I hope I can help.

The trouble is, not all child seats fit into all cars & this is why you are finding that it fits in one but difficult to install in the other. The only thing I can really suggest if you are unhappy with the installation in the Discovery is to try here & establish seats that will fit.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&am...


http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&am...

Silver940

3,961 posts

228 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2011
quotequote all
We had trouble getting 2 car seats in the back of our S2 Disco. One side you could use as you could route the belt though the split seat gap, but the other side the seats wouldn't fit tight due to the web belt clasp and the outside.

We gave up sold it and bought a Passat Estate.

Stitch

933 posts

218 months

Sunday 14th August 2011
quotequote all
more advice please.

I am thinking of getting a 2005 BMW 7 Series.

Looking round the car I was surprised to note that there were no isofix points.

Reading up a bit it seems as though Isofix was an option only (obviously being an "old man's car" BMW thought they could shave a few Euro's off the build cost by not specifying Isofix as standard).

So two questions:

Does anyone know if it is possible to retrofit the Isofix system (without me having to sell one of the two darlings into the slave trade to fund)?

And

If I don't/can't get Isofix, what seats are recommended (new born and a 20month old weighing 12Kgs)?

TIA

lenats31

438 posts

174 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Stitch said:
more advice please.

I am thinking of getting a 2005 BMW 7 Series.

Looking round the car I was surprised to note that there were no isofix points.

Reading up a bit it seems as though Isofix was an option only (obviously being an "old man's car" BMW thought they could shave a few Euro's off the build cost by not specifying Isofix as standard).

So two questions:

Does anyone know if it is possible to retrofit the Isofix system (without me having to sell one of the two darlings into the slave trade to fund)?



And

If I don't/can't get Isofix, what seats are recommended (new born and a 20month old weighing 12Kgs)?

TIA
Late reply, but here goes. Some car companies do offer to retrofit isofix mounts. Don´t ask me about the costssmile

I´d suggest that you get a well-known brand and spend the extra money. You already know what type of seat in the next group I´d suggest you buy;)

Edited by lenats31 on Wednesday 31st August 18:47

ThunderSpook

3,632 posts

212 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
The Maxi-Cosi website seems to think I can fit their Opal carseat into either side of the rear seats in my Boxster, but not the central rear seat. Is this true?

boobles

Original Poster:

15,241 posts

216 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
ThunderSpook said:
The Maxi-Cosi website seems to think I can fit their Opal carseat into either side of the rear seats in my Boxster, but not the central rear seat. Is this true?
If they state this, then yes I would believe them.

ThunderSpook

3,632 posts

212 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Thanks Boobles. I'm having trouble locating rear seats in the 2 seat Boxster though if I'm honest. I'm beginning to think they may be lying to me...

boobles

Original Poster:

15,241 posts

216 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
ThunderSpook said:
Thanks Boobles. I'm having trouble locating rear seats in the 2 seat Boxster though if I'm honest. I'm beginning to think they may be lying to me...
Sorry blonde moment for me there! hehe

Contact them & put them straight, they will thank you.

ThunderSpook

3,632 posts

212 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Ok, shall do smile

ThunderSpook

3,632 posts

212 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Actually while I'm at it, do you know of any problems using their Cabriofix seat in the Boxster? It doesn't list it as being compatible but I can strap it in with a seatbelt with no problems and it seems perfectly sturdy.

miniman

25,118 posts

263 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
ChrisRS said:
I'm looking for a bit of advice on car seat compatability.

We have 2 cars, the first is a 1999 Land Rover Discovery (Series 2), the other a 2004 Renualt Megane 5 door hatch.

We've collected our new Silver Cross pram today with came with a Silver Cross Ventura Plus car seat (non ISOFIX).

The seat fits fine in the Megane, however it's very difficult to fit to the Disco as the seat belt isn't really long enough (Just about fits but very tricky) I know you can get seat belt extensions but the baby seat also doen't really match the angle of the car seat.

Does anyone have any experience of using child seats in a 1999 Discovery?

We intend to keep the Ventura Plus as it fit's onto the pram chassis and the babies going to spend most of it's journeys in the Megane, i'd then leave the new seat in the Disco full time.

I know this post is dragging on a bit but i'd also like the new car seat to last until the babies about 2 years old.

(My suggestion of upgrading to a newer Discovery fell on death ears!)
Surprised you're having trouble in a Disco 2. As it's an early one, it **might** be worth checking which rear belts are fitted. The Disco 1 had shorter belts and many people needed to update to the later (Disco 2) belts to get enough length.

I had three abreast (Maxi Cosi Tobi & Britax something or other toddler seats with a Maxi Cosi Cabriofix between them) in my Disco 2 recently with no problems.

boobles

Original Poster:

15,241 posts

216 months

Thursday 1st September 2011
quotequote all
ThunderSpook said:
Actually while I'm at it, do you know of any problems using their Cabriofix seat in the Boxster? It doesn't list it as being compatible but I can strap it in with a seatbelt with no problems and it seems perfectly sturdy.
The trouble is, if you were to have an accident (god forbid) & you were using a child restraint that was not compatible, you wouldn't legally have any leg to stand on. It may feel safe & tight but not worth risking unless they state that it is compatible.


May be worth having a look here, they do list some Porsche's & it may also be worth contacting them to see what they say.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&am...

lenats31

438 posts

174 months

Thursday 1st September 2011
quotequote all
ThunderSpook said:
Actually while I'm at it, do you know of any problems using their Cabriofix seat in the Boxster? It doesn't list it as being compatible but I can strap it in with a seatbelt with no problems and it seems perfectly sturdy.
Airbag could be the problem here. Can you deactivate it?

ThunderSpook

3,632 posts

212 months

Thursday 1st September 2011
quotequote all
Yes, I have the deactivation kit fitted.