is this safe and legal in europe? could we use it?

[barbarasgal]

we're going on holiday and will occasionally need to use a car abroad. i'd ideally like to find a lightweight portable solution to the car seat problem.
a friend has recommended these here from ebay and says they are great.

would they meet our safety standards, do you think they are legal in europe?

it says suitable for a 1-5 year old. i'd have a 1 year old and a 2 year old. My instinct is that they aren't safe. what do you think?

sorry for lack of capital letters, laptop having a funny turn!

[nicm]

mmm, i wouldn't think they'd be too safe and wouldn't use it. it looks from the pictures that you are you using the lap part of the 3 point seatbelt and then a harness that is clipped together using plastic clips? try and bump it and see if lena or one of the car seat experts are about?

re travel, could you not buy a travel bag for your car seat and then bubble wrap and pack it?

:)

[barbarasgal]

Yeah, a travel bag and well packed are what we thought we would have to do, then my friend suggested this. She said she used it in Portugal and was impressed with it because it is so portable. I haven't seen hers but I'm not too impressed with the details given on ebay.

I was just tempted because I don't want to lug the car seats around for the few times we'll be in a car, mostly we'll be on trains.

[Rosa]

I don't think they are for children that small my bet is they would be able to get out of them but that is IMO. If you are going to be hiring cars would it not be worth just renting them for a few days?

[barbarasgal]

rosa i think you are right, i think they wouldn't be any good for children as young as mine.
we won't be renting a car, we'll just be travelling in family cars when we stay with different relatives. we're doing a bit of a travel around, seeing different family/friends in spain, france and italy. most of the travel will be on the train though which is why I don't really fancy carrying around the car seat the whole time. don't think i can rely on some of my elderly relatives to get a hold of car seats for us to use for the 2/3 days we are with them though so we'll have to take them with us.

[TruthSweet]

I would be willing to bet any kind of money that that would be seriously illegal in the UK. It has no side impact protection and I really wouldn't trust fabric stitching to keep my child safe. If it breaks in an accident the only thing keeping the child in the car is the lap portion of the seat belt which as we all know is not a good way to restrain a child (it's great if you like internal injuries and a broken pelvis though ).

Hiring car seats would be a safer option though I would be careful to check over the car seats before accepting them for hire as there has been some bad press about the state of the car seats hire companies use (broken, no manual, 'adapted', not suitable for age/weight of child hired for).

Hope you have a great holiday, it sounds like a lovely way to spend the summer.

[TruthSweet]

It sort of reminded me of a Safe Rider Vest (a US product for children who use school buses, taxis, car pool, etc a lot). This has a top tether though and is only suitable for children of 30lb/13kg or heavier, 34"/86cm AND 3 years or older.

If your children were 3y+ it might have been worth your while importing them just for the journey (not that they would be EU legal but they are a US approved child restraint and exceed US crash test requirements).

[barbarasgal]

Truth I like the look of the Ride Safer Vest, it seems like a very good idea. Its just a shame that mine are still too young for them. Will keep them in mind for future holidays though because they seem perfect for what we need. It'd be good for things like taxi transfers from airports to resorts and things like that.