besafe izi combi / kid x3, isofix AND belt dont fit my car!

[AdamR]

After reading a the safety aspects in other threads about RF v FF i decided to go and try a few RF seats at a small retailer who has some (Anns prams, petersfield).

I was quite prepared to pay the £340 for the iso fix combi as it seemed like a great seat from lots of reviews.

We trial the car seat in my car (honda accord 2005 saloon) only to find that once isofix are clipped in the rear supporting leg of the car seat made contact with the seat rails of the front passanger seat.
This is due to the Y shape support at the end of the arm.

we then tried using the non isofix one and found that even after it was tethered down the seat still moved about!.

I would like to keep the little ankle biter RF for longer than 9 months.. but i dont want to spend £340 on a product that did not fit correctly.

Does anyone have any experiance with this issue? or know a way we can get around it? The Besafe x3 looks a cracking chair but it falls over on this one bit!

Cheers

Adam

[AdamR]

I tried the rebranded volvo one this morning and the rear extending brace did not reach the floor and the seat was far too upright.

One of my main issues is there are not many stockists of the other seats and no one that i can find within 100 miles stocks a resonable range.

I want to look at the maxi cosi (mobi) but cant find anyone who has one or knowd if it fits.

[thisisyesterday]

i really hate maxi cosi and wouldn't buy the mobi on principle (they don't stock it over here because (among other things) UK parents prefer the colour of their FF seats apparently )

we have a besafe, which IS lovely, and a britax 2 way elite which is a really fab seat- lightweight, easy to install, no support leg and harnessed up to 25kg. can't speak highly enough of it

i would give the guys at the in car safety centre a call too, they're very knowledgeable and may be able to advise which seats will fit your car.
I know it's a long way to go but the trip to Milton Keynes is really, really worth it if you want to try seats before you buy... they literally have everyrhing and are happy to spend hours with you trying them out

[AdamR]

thanks for the replies.
the milton keynes store is more or less a 300 mile round trip and dragging our 9 month old on that sort of trip would be.... fun?


How does the britax 2 way elite fit?.
The problem we had with the besafe is the Isofix point are slight more inbound of the car than normal (to keep the seats away from the doors).
so it meant one support feet on the Y leg came in contact with the front seat rails

[brachy]

I have the 2 way Elite...it is fab seat. I can move it between our two cars with ease..it came with an extra set of tethers. It fits my Zafira and our old banger (Polo) without any problems. It basically fits against the back of the driver or passenger seat and is tethered in (using the bars under the driver or passenger seat), the seat belt secures the seat as well...the seat belt does not need to be super long, though there are 2 routing suggestions. There are some videos on YouTube about the installation of the seat.
My 24 month old is very happy in his seat, he has loads of room and can see a lot out the back window. My DD was still in her Elite until just after she turned 6; I liked the ida of her remaining harnessed as long as possible.

[AdamR]

does this elite seat come in isofix? would prefer to use it as its there on my car, and its less to go wrong with the OH installing the seat

[HarrietJones]

Not in isofix but it looks v easy. That's what we are planning to get

[HappyAsASandboy]

thisisyesyesterday or anyone else, can you help me decide between the two way elite and the besafe izi combi?

I've been to the in car safety centre, and both fit (nothing else fits). The TWE only fits in it's more upright setting (using strange plastic wedge bit on bottom?) when either FF or RF, because of the shape of our car seats.

I like the izi combi because it looks snuggly and reclines. But it doesn't look like it would take an older child so well.

The TWE looks like a kid could use it for years, but it seems very upright for my one year olds.

Any advice? I am also trying to buy the most flexibility, around having seats in the front occasionally to transport an extra seat for an infant cousin. I think both would fit in front FF, but not RF. Oh, I'm over thinking all of this because it is such a lot of money (I need two for twins).

To those who have owned the izi combi and the TWE, which would you choose (for babies aged from one), and why?

[thisisyesterday]

no, the 2 way elite doesn't come with isofix.

you might want to ring in-car safety anyway and ask advice. have you looked at the Klippan KISS? that can go in with isofix OR belt and looks like a great seat

happy it's a difficult choice! I love the besafe seat. it's done fantastically in crash tests, it's comfy and it has a lot of leg room. But you are right that it won't last as long as the two way elite.
I think you can keep a child in it until their ears are level with the top of the seat (even rearfacing) but personally i felt that compromised safety so I moved ds2 into the Britax and put ds3 into the besafe.
At almost 4 DS2 still has plenty of headroom in the britax and I can see him fitting in it to at least 5 if not more

I will say that in our car the besafe is really upright so I can understand your concerns about very upright seats. We have had probs with heads flopping forwards when the child falls asleep... less so now ours are that bit older tho. head supports helped to a certain extent but didn't stop it completely.
But then you have to weigh that up with the fact that it won't be a problem for that long, eventually they stop napping in the car and don't mind being so upright and the 2 way elite will see you to a grand old age as it goes up to 25kg whereas the besafe is only up to 18kg

so. i think. on balance if i were you i would go for the britax. longer lasting, cheaper, easier to move around the car.

[Barbeasty]

I would suggest you call the Milton Keynes centre and ask them about it. We have the isofix besafe in our 2008 Accord, and I don't think the seat positions have changed that much from our last one (same as yours). Although, we didn't have car seats in the last one.

It fits in my civic too, although it doesn't leave much room at all for the front passenger.

I think it is worth getting a second opinion on whether it should fit in your car, then maybe see if anyone else stocks it. We for ours in Bristol, but I don't think that's any better for you than Milton Keynes!

[AdamR]

Thanks Barbeasty. I presume you have the new (8th gen) accord ? .. im only slightly jelous!

Interesting that the besafe fits in your car though.. i may pop to our local dealer and look at the fix points and see if they differ.

Bristol Is 120 miles away, so closer distance but takes about the same time (2hrs 10min) to get to either Bristol or MK.


One thing i am not worried about too much is the length of time that our little one can fit in it for, im pretty sure we will be having another child within a year or two, so by that time we will probably switch our daughter to a FF seat (would be about 3 ish)

[Calixte]

Hi. Have you tried this website it gives details of other stockists apart from the Milton Keynes one. We have the Be Safe Izi Combi and that works for us as we have to change cars sometimes so easier than tethers and belts although is very heavy. Hope you manage to find one that fits your car.

[nicm]

i would call either the in car safety centre in milton keynes or the road safety officers in essex. they are both really helpful. their info is on the rf website.

:)

[HappyAsASandboy]

Thanks thisisyesterday

And sorry for the thread hijack OP

[AdamR]

no problem about the hijack ;)

Well i phoned secureatot this morning and spoke to a nice lady on the phone. I told her my requirments and she recommended me the izi combi isofix. I did express my concerns about the rear support leg, but she informed me that she had installed these in Honda Accords without any issues before.

Still this leaves me in a position where i dont know if when we tested the seat that it was correctly fitted ? Also again i dont understand why one of the support legs came in contact with the seat rail of the front passanger seat.

Would anyone have an IZI isofix that they could take pictures of where the back support leg sits and their iso fix position ?

I will take some pictures tonight and make a prop up to try and explain better whats happening in my car.

Thanks for your time :)

Adam

[AdamR]

Loopy. Thank you for that, i see the centre is only open fridays, but will give them a call this week :).

I have also emailed Besafe to see if they can shed any light on the situation.

[AdamR]

Well, as promised... here is the pictures of my back seats and location of isofix.. and showing picture of the footwell and obsticals.

Outside of car view
i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/adamrobertsgb/IMAG0378.jpg
looking from the front passanger seat back
i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/adamrobertsgb/IMAG0379.jpg
(isofix points are about 11 inches apart)
so measure forward from one isofix point.
i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/adamrobertsgb/IMAG0388.jpg
Accross 5 1/2 inches.
i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/adamrobertsgb/IMAG0392.jpg
And now down to the footwell. I have mocked up a 'support brace' that is rough dimensions of the izi combi isofix x3. and laid this in the centre of the seat position..
i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/adamrobertsgb/IMAG0395.jpg

so as you can see the seat rail is my biggest issue here.. I think its due to the isofix on my seats being slightly off centre?....
but surely im not the only one with this issue ?

Thanks for your help and sorry for my engineer approach!

[thisisyesterday]

ahh ok yes that's how I had pictured it in my head.

do you definitely want the isofix?
cos obviously if you went for the belted version you could move it towards the door a bit and the support leg would avoid it.
we have the belted one and it does not move a mm once in place... it's possible that when the retailer fitted it for you they'd just not tightened it all up as much as they could have?

alternatively look at other isofix seats? the klippan kiss gets good reviews

[AdamR]

I really would like Isofix as its so much easier to install.
call me lazy but after seeing the faf of tie down straps etc really did put me off.

The lady who installed the non isofix seat did install it but not sure it was done correctly, same as with the isofix.

The Kiss is a nice seat but looks like it is a very funny sitting angle...alsmost liek their back wont be straight, when they sit in the seat

[AdamR]

This might interest a few people.

I have been in contact with Besafes UK distributor and they have informed me that the support leg does not need to be extended to its full angle. Apparently as long as the car seat is installed correctly via the isofix bars and the rear leg support is not verticle to the floor there is no performance degrade to the safety of the seat in a crash.

This is interesting news so i thought i would share.

So it looks like another trip back to anns prams over the weekend to get the seat... thats unless i can be persuaded in to getting this TWE ...

the TWE is a good seat and i can see it has been reccomended over the izi X3 but the ease of Isofix is a tough choice... im not saying my partner could not be shown how to use tiedown straps.. but i feel there is too much that could go wrong ?

[thisisyesterday]

the TWE elite is a piece of piss to install. seriously.

you literaly just post the seatbelt through the holes and do it up, and attach the tethers.

it's one of the easiest seats i've ever had to install

[thisisyesterday]

that said, unless you're going to be moving it frequently i would probably go with the besafe simply because I think it is a safer seat.

although, then again the other downsides, compared to the TWE, are that it is smaller and has a lower weight limit

it's a really difficult choice!

[AdamR]

Im fine at fitting car seats and the tethers dont phase me.

at times though the GF will want to take out daughter out in her parents car, its here where my concern lays. The GF father installed the 0+ car seat wrong and didnt realise until they arrived back at my house :o! was not impressed as if the had a crash the seat would have come free in a matter of seconds.

[AdamR]

i meant instead of :o