Child Seat Advice

[DoubleSix]

Just the angle mate, she's leaning forward to see her brother.

But yeah it's now run it's course having kept her safe for 4 years.

Longer journeys are done in the A4 with the BeSafe which is much better kit.

[URL=http://s738.photobucket.com/user/Double-Sixx/media/9895B43C-B637-4BD3-8361-93C3F9AE7ED4_zpshyhhisen

Edited by DoubleSix on Saturday 18th March 18:48

Edited by DoubleSix on Wednesday 26th April 21:14

[boobles]

Excellent... I was concerned but also know how a camera angle can deceive you....

[MidlifeC2S]

Hi boobles, can you recommend a seat for an 8 year old that fits the rear seats in a 2008 porsche 911 coupe please?

[Craikeybaby]

It turns out that you can research all you want online, but the shops in Coventry all seem to stock the same few models of car seat. We had been looking for one with ISOfix, but most of them needed a rear restraint, which I don't think my BMW has - there are brackets on the backs of the rear seats, but the manual only mentions them with regards to a luggage net. We ended up with a Britax Eclipse, it had made our shortlist at full £130, but seemed like a no brainer at £70 in Smyths. I must admit that I was surprised to hear that they don't come in boxes, just loose.

At £70 it is cheap enough to see how we get on with it, and relegate it to a spare seat if we find something better/safer that fits. Owen seemed to like it, when we took it for a short test in my MR2 earlier:

Owen enjoying the MR2 by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

[boobles]

MidlifeC2S said:

Hi boobles, can you recommend a seat for an 8 year old that fits the rear seats in a 2008 porsche 911 coupe please?

Something like the Britax Adventure may be worth a shout. These are narrow high back booster seats so still offer side impact protection along with being fairly narrow to allow for "bucket" style car seats.

[Craikeybaby]

I've had clarification from the retailer that the seats are sent to them packaged as multiples, but sold "loose".

[eltax91]

HI folks

I have a recaro youngsport forward facing wotsit for the boy. It's been great and will continue service with the little girl when she's big enough.

I've just been fortunate enough to acquire myself a 996. When I put the youngsport in the rear seats, the adjusting handle for the recline function fouls on the centre tunnel.

Any opinions on removing the recline mech? We have never found it useful as it doesn't move the seat far and it never bothered the boy from a sleeping POV. Am I likely to be compromising the integrity of the seat by removing the recliner gubbins and twisty handle wotsit?

[R E S T E C P]

Question for anyone that knows...

We have ordered a Cybex Sirona for our baby to move into when he's ready (he's only 6 months but above the 99.6th centile line for height and on the 98th for weight - so it won't be long).

We may be replacing our Mondeo (tonnes of space in the back) with an Infiniti Q30 ("cosy" in the back).
When there's a front passenger in the Q30, even if the passenger seat and child seat are touching, the passenger will still desire more leg room. So we'll need to find a balance.

I can't see anything in the Cybex Sirona's manual saying how much space there should be between the child seat and the front seat. The lady at Mothercare (where we tried it out) said it should be 3 inches - which seems like an awful lot and it was a struggle even in the Mondeo.

What's the truth here? Do we need a limo or is it safe to have just a few millimetres between the seats?

[robz]

Sorry to resurrect a really old thread but hoped someone might be able to answer this...

With a Land Rover Discovery 4 , there are 3 seats in the middle row, They have isofix on the outer two. Is there the potential for this to be fitted to the middle seat of the 3 , or even have an outer seat installed in the middle? Would make life so much easier to be able to use an outer seat for an adult and not have one of the two isofix seats anchored to it!

[Adrian E]

PostHeads123 said:

I don't understand at what point you decide to go from Infant Carrier to a seat ?

thanks

When his weight gets to the maximum for the current infant carrier OR his head is no longer contained within the top of the shell of the infant carrier.

Lets being bunched up does not matter - our son was 98%ile for weight and similar for height and stayed in his infant carrier till about 14 months old

[boobles]

robz said:

Sorry to resurrect a really old thread but hoped someone might be able to answer this...

With a Land Rover Discovery 4 , there are 3 seats in the middle row, They have isofix on the outer two. Is there the potential for this to be fitted to the middle seat of the 3 , or even have an outer seat installed in the middle? Would make life so much easier to be able to use an outer seat for an adult and not have one of the two isofix seats anchored to it!

Probably not, no.

[havoc]

Can I ask for some more general advice, please?

2-seat sports car (NSX) with a passenger airbag (non-switchable, no weight-sensor in the seat so permanently active).

Can I (safely) fit a Group 2/3 high-back booster in the passenger seat for my son?
- Can't find any advice in UK Owners Club
- Honda UK are pretty useless (see below)
- In the US a lot of parents are getting aftermarket PAB switches installed, or doing a full PAB deactivation.
- Some aren't bothering as they're claiming that with the seat right back any child will be far enough away from the deployment area not to come into contact.

So what do I do / can I do?
- My inclination is that the last bullet point above is correct. But that's all it is...
- I may be able to find data on US PAB deployment, but I've no guarantees that's the same PAB as the UK car.
- With a high-back booster, how far (typically) does a child 'pitch forward' in the event of an accident?



Despite my year of car in the US having a passenger seat sensor, apparently the UK market cars don't come with one, and I can't get any info from Honda UK ref. the distance the PAB deploys into the cabin, but it's quite a large/long cabin (certainly vs e.g. S2000 / MR2...).

[Adrian E]

havoc said:

- Some aren't bothering as they're claiming that with the seat right back any child will be far enough away from the deployment area not to come into contact.

So what do I do / can I do?
- My inclination is that the last bullet point above is correct. But that's all it is...
- I may be able to find data on US PAB deployment, but I've no guarantees that's the same PAB as the UK car.
- With a high-back booster, how far (typically) does a child 'pitch forward' in the event of an accident?

Advice we've always given is that so long as the adult car seat is as far back as it will go then with a high back booster fitted your child will be no further forward in the seat than an adult choosing to pull the seat forward if they've got short-ish legs.

The risk predominantly relates to how frequently offspring chooses to lean forward (no different for an adult to be honest) but assuming they're sensible in the seat then no worries.

Honda UK have always been very reluctant to deactivate front passenger airbags - I've known a few people to chop their car in as a result.

[boobles]

havoc said:

Can I ask for some more general advice, please?

2-seat sports car (NSX) with a passenger airbag (non-switchable, no weight-sensor in the seat so permanently active).

Can I (safely) fit a Group 2/3 high-back booster in the passenger seat for my son?
- Can't find any advice in UK Owners Club
- Honda UK are pretty useless (see below)
- In the US a lot of parents are getting aftermarket PAB switches installed, or doing a full PAB deactivation.
- Some aren't bothering as they're claiming that with the seat right back any child will be far enough away from the deployment area not to come into contact.

So what do I do / can I do?
- My inclination is that the last bullet point above is correct. But that's all it is...
- I may be able to find data on US PAB deployment, but I've no guarantees that's the same PAB as the UK car.
- With a high-back booster, how far (typically) does a child 'pitch forward' in the event of an accident?



Despite my year of car in the US having a passenger seat sensor, apparently the UK market cars don't come with one, and I can't get any info from Honda UK ref. the distance the PAB deploys into the cabin, but it's quite a large/long cabin (certainly vs e.g. S2000 / MR2...).

The best advice here would be to have the passenger seat as far away from the airbag as possible.

[havoc]

Thanks boobles.

That is where it is - at most 2" forward of fully-back so I can fit a warning triangle and can of tyre gunk behind it.

For comparison, the PAB deploys from a spot a few inches closer to the windscreen than the instrument binnacle, which is >6in behind the wheel (i.e. Driver airbag), and my seat is roughly in-line with the passenger seat, maybe an inch further forwards at the base, and my seat is more upright. So I've got ~12in less 'gap' to my airbag than any passenger, before adjusting for the child-seat protrusion forwards (~4in?).


So it FEELS easily far enough back, but I'm a logical guy not a gut-feel guy, and J's my son...would be nice to have some data (which normally the auto industry is all over...).

[Adrian E]

The airbags are massively different in inflated volume terms - driver's airbag is limited by available space in the steering wheel/size of pyrotechnic to detonate it and the closeness to the driver. Ideal distance between driver's airbag and your chest is at least the length of a 12" ruler.

Passenger airbag is generally a lot bigger as you've got more space, the passenger isn't likely to be in one set position holding the steering wheel etc. They have to deploy further in the same amount of time (relatively) as the driver's airbag. If you can gain those 2" by moving what you store there to under the seat, or behind yours, then I would try and do that.

As I said above if your son isn't in the habit of leaning forward in his seat then it'll be fine where it is.

The passenger airbag is predominantly there for marketing reasons - in most cars you are highly unlikely to suffer an injury from clobbering the dashboard that's severe enough that the airbag is going to reduce those injuries unless your average passenger sits with the seat pulled right forward.

[W12GT]

This is an excellent thread!

I've just bought a Porsche 991.1 and I need two seats for the back; one for my 4.5yr daughter and one for my 2.5yr old son (he's a big lad though).

Car is obviously isofix - what would you recommend?

Thanks,
David

Edited by W12GT on Friday 5th May 20:04

[Joe M]

boobles said:

Something like the Britax Adventure may be worth a shout. These are narrow high back booster seats so still offer side impact protection along with being fairly narrow to allow for "bucket" style car seats.

Hi boobles,

Bought a few car seats in the past after seeing your recommendations on here, always been happy with them. Now looking at getting a high back booster. The Britax romer adventure is a good price, and obviously Britax are a great make going by the other posts on here, but does the adventure compromise on safety at all compared to the more expensive, bigger Britax boosters?

[Davie]

R E S T E C P said:

Question for anyone that knows...

I can't see anything in the Cybex Sirona's manual saying how much space there should be between the child seat and the front seat. The lady at Mothercare (where we tried it out) said it should be 3 inches - which seems like an awful lot and it was a struggle even in the Mondeo.

What's the truth here? Do we need a limo or is it safe to have just a few millimetres between the seats?

Don't get me started!

She's due in the next couple of weeks so after much research and debate, settled on a Maxi-Cosi Cabrio-fix infant carrier and the new Carlos Fandango 2-Way isofix base. Went off to Mothercare to test it in her car (Mk5 Astra) and the lady who fitted it insisted on being able to put her hand, flat between the passenger seat and the leading edge of the seat. Great, but to do that the passenger seat was somewhere up by the headlights.

I then bought a Volvo V70 and had the isofix brackets retro fitted (dealer supplied so all ok) and off we went, back to bloody Mothercare for test fir number two and again the lady was insistent on having a relative gulf between the baby seat and the passenger seat. Again, passenger seat was now rammed in to the glovebox.

The baby seat isn't going anywhere so not entirely sure why there is a need for such a massive gap, frankly I can't see one unless they think in a rear shunt the seat back will buckle backward but if said impact is severe enough to do that... the gap between the seats will be the least of our worries. In the end I went for a minimal gap, about 10mm and now the front seat passenger has room to breathe in both cars however the seats are slightly further forward than "normal" which is proving to be a challenge for my OCD!

Incidentally, the Astra measures 72cm from the rear seat backrest to the rear of the passenger seat in it normal position... ie, matching the drivers seat in terms of position. The Volvo which you'd assume (as I did) would eb considerably bigger, it measures 73cm.

I can now understand why people feel they need massive brat carts... it's to fit the massive child seats in!

[havoc]

Joe M said:

boobles said:

Something like the Britax Adventure may be worth a shout. These are narrow high back booster seats so still offer side impact protection along with being fairly narrow to allow for "bucket" style car seats.

Hi boobles,

Bought a few car seats in the past after seeing your recommendations on here, always been happy with them. Now looking at getting a high back booster. The Britax romer adventure is a good price, and obviously Britax are a great make going by the other posts on here, but does the adventure compromise on safety at all compared to the more expensive, bigger Britax boosters?

I've just bought one for the NSX, as:-
- I can't find anything else by a reputable manufacturer that fits; and
- Most of the shops round here don't have a lot of stock that you can test-fit.

Ended up buying it from Argos, taking it out of the box, out to the car park, and checking it there-and-then.


To answer your question, it definitely isn't quite as solid as the KID series (which we've also got) or the Recaro Monza Nova 2 (ditto). But the side bolsters still feel properly robust, the headrest is a bit wobbly but has sizeable wings and is still there*, and IMHO the main area they've saved on cost is the fabric/padding - there's definitely less of it, but for an occasional seat it'll be fine.
Edit: Discovery is the same(smaller) frame but more expensive, so worth a call to identify the differences...see if it's worth the extra ££.

* vs a booster cushion, where there's no side protection at all. Ignoring the clear element of selection bias for a minute (i.e. "I never had a seatbelt in the car as a kid and it didn't do me any harm", which ignores those poor sods who it DID harm), child seats now are far safer than ever, in cars which are typically safer than ever, so I think you can get TOO hung-up on it. But last time I said something like that I ended up in an argument on here, so that's just my personal opinion...