Am so confused!!

[FessaEst]

Just read this and am now even more confused. Was nearly convinced on RF for our next car seat (DD growing out of cabriofix + isofix base) and now I just don't know. Anyone else concerned about the "against" list?

[nicm]

no, i'm not! have ds rf and my mindee.

no1, there is info on the rf website avout the which tests. they mark seats down for being heavy, not as easy to install etc. can't remember(mushy pg brain!) but did they test some of the combination seats ff?

no2, i have heard/read no evidence on this. the ladies in essex were totally convincing and so was what i read up online.

no3, i'm sure not everyone in sweden drives a volvo!

no4, i find my seat easy to fit and can follow instructions. i find them no harder to fit than my ff mc priori.

no5, is this not the same as ff seats?

no6, my il's and mum have small cars, clio, seat ibiza, polo, etc and i have mine in a golf so not exactly large cars and still use the front seat fine. had a cabrio in the front of the clio with a twe in the rear! out of all i would say the golf has the least space...not sure how!

no7, haven't had any complaints so far.

no8, not all. my twe cost about £100 less than the maxi cosi priorifix i wanted before i herad about rf.

no9, it's all about forces on the neck and a frontal impact has greater forces than a rear impact. they are normally where one car is stationary and the car does not normally come to an instant stop iykwim. not very good at explaining it-sorry!

no10, i can read instructions!

no11, not really. our 1st seat for ds was a twe and we just got a set of tethers to leave in the cars we used it in.

sorry to ramble on but feel quite strongly about car seats! there was a thread on here before about the webpage in your link. hth a little.

:)

[FessaEst]

Thanks nicm! I will try and look for the other thread, sorry to have recapped!!

It is all so confusing - I just want to do the right thing, was almost convinced and this threw me! I had googled "Essex" and "Car Seat Safety" and this is what came up - do you have a link to the right Essex link?!

We are going to have to swap our next seat between cars so glad to hear it is n ot impossible!

[nicm]

no thats not the essex in car safety centre! look for their details on the rf website. that's where i git them from. i'm not near essex at all but called them and they were really helpful. i think it's under buyers guide or road safety officers. call them and ask them teh questions too or get them to read the website. they should be able to give you better answers.

:)

[Carseatcrazy]

I'd second everything NICM said :) I did sooo much research -(after having bought an expensive FF seat :( ) and ended up going RF and have never looked back. we all love DSs car seats - I feel secure in the knowledge that we have got the safest options for him :)
good luck with the hunting :)

ps- I regularly swap my KISS and Besafe between cars too, and can do both v quickly- the KISS is vv fast to swap- particuarly if you've got isofix, but once you've done the besafe a few times, it's v straightforward and I can do in about 5 mins :) Hope that's helpful :)

[lenats31]

1.Eurotest crash test results confirm that these seats are little safer than the better front facing seats. At the time of writting Which? magazine has made 3 of the 4 models tested as "Dont Buys".

• because of the tether straps and siupportleg = more difficult to install.
  

2.In consequence claims that these seats are "5 times safer" appear to be totaly unfounded.

• NOPE, the Swedes have the world´s lowest rate in serious injury and child death in traffic for this age group. The difference is quite big between Sweden and other countries.
  

3.It can be argued with some justification that Scandinavian accident statistics are better than ours purely because of the size & brands of cars that they drive.

Again, not true at all. There are plenty of small cars in Scandinavia as a whole, and RF seats DO fit into them too.

4.Retailers find it significantly more difficult to fit a rear facing stage 2 seats than a forward facing seats.

Yes, if they are not taught how to do it. Parents that come to me, leave my premises again thinking the installation is easy

5.If sold second hand the risks of these seats being fitted in a dangerous manner are considerable.

perhaps yes. it depends on the buyer.

6.Unless you have a very large car these seats are likely to impact on either the drivers seat or the front passengers seat.

Not true

7.Some reports suggest that children do not enjoy traveling in these type of seats.

If the child has not been forwardfacing they will ride rearfacing happily.

8.They are expensive.

More exspensive yes.

9.Rear facing seats are NOT tested in high speed rear impact crash tests. (A rear impact in these seats is the same as a head on accident in a front facing seat).

Not true, because in a rear impact the cars are travelling in the same direction, which alone aborps the crash greatly. Children in Large RF seats have come out of serious accidents at very high speeds with just a couple of bruises.

10.Only "specialist fitters" are trained to fit these seats and research clearly shows that parents are not specialists.

Somewhat correct. But once the parents have been shown how to fit them and use them, they think it is easy.

11.They are incredibly difficult to move from car to car.

NOPE. All you need is an extra set of tether straps for the other car, which makes the transfer easier.

[lenats31]

And yes, ALL combination seats are tested forwardfacing more than rearfacing. They are made for rearfacing, which results in compromises forwardfacing. Manufactorers don´t hide it.

About rear-impacts: They do happen quite often, but mostly at low speed. However, I have stories from the real world where cars with large RF seats in them have been hit at high speed, and th children have waled away, with just a few bruises. Explanation is writtten above.

It seems to me that these guys have written some of the info based on their own gut feeling. That´s not good enough. That is unprofessional.

Lena

[BertieBotts]

That website is odd. They have some very strange ideas about carseat safety - they also recommend switching to a Group 1 seat at 9 months (unless you are using a RF Group 1 seat you shouldn't switch until your child has physically outgrown the seat) and also recommend carrycots for newborns which have been proven to be unsafe! There are only a couple on the market IIRC which ARE safe - the Britax Babysafe sleeper is one,and to be fair they do recommend this seat. But even the flat carseats aren't great because they can only be used until the baby can sit up, which then means you end up putting them into a forward facing seat too early!

I don't like the way they are the first link when you search "Essex car seat safety" or even "Essex In Car Safety Centre" as it gives the impression it's the website of the ICSS, which it is not. If you click on the "About Us" link at the top you will see they are a company called Kidex. Not exactly impartial, as they sell carseats!

[SuzysZoo]

Gosh - this is an old problem. I posted about being confused about this website over 2 months ago.... It is certainly NOT the website of the Essex in Car Safety Centre but you are linked to it so it seems that it is. I will tell the ladies at Essex again as they need to sort this out....