We are concerned with a recent post about Maxi-CosiÃ?Â?Ã?Â?s position on rearward facing group 1 car seats as posted by thisisyesterday. The information is incorrect. MNHQ have allowed us to inform you of our position:
Ã?Â?Ã?Â?There are some pure safety arguments for the benefit of travelling backwards in the event of an accident. This also applies to adults travelling by rail, for example.
Ã?Â?Ã?Â?We recommend parents to keep their child in rear-facing infant carriers for as long as possible and not to switch to a more convenient forward facing seat at the earliest opportunity. However, most parents around the world eventually make the change because rearward facing child car seats are simply impractical in most situations. They take up a huge amount of room in the car, usually necessitating the front seats to be moved forward, and they donÃ?Â?Ã?Â?t even fit in some smaller cars. Unless the child is given sufficient legroom, he or she will be cramped against the carÃ?Â?Ã?Â?s seatback. It can be incredibly difficult for a parent to get a larger child into such a seat and the fitting system is often very complex, increasing the chance of incorrect fitting.
i would disagree about the huge amount of room needed to use a group 1 rf seat. i have used a britax two way elite in the rear seat of a 3 door clio. there was still room in the front passenger seat for an adult or a mc cabrio baby seat(with the airbag disabled).
the design of the twe is that it can be readjusted to provide more leg room for an older child and i have used this in the back of a clio too for a 4 yo. i would assume you would class the renault clio as nothing but a small car?! my car however is a 5 door vw golf and i have 2 group 1 rf seats and a group 1 ff seat fitted in the rear.
i lift my child who weighs approx 14 kgs into a rf seat daily and find this no different than having to lift the 3 yo into a priori.
also i find the rf seats no harder or easier to install then the ff seats at group 1 which by the nature of them are not designed to be moved frequently wether forward or rear facing.
Ã?Â?Ã?Â?The most effective way to improve child safety in car seats is to ensure that the child is correctly fitted into the seat and the seat is correctly fitted into the car. This is why publications such as Which? look at ease of fitting when assessing child car seats along with crash test performance. Maxi-Cosi car seats are consistently ranked in the top few by the European independent testing of car seats as reported in Which? and we strongly believe that real car safety is derived from the best combination of ease of use, ensuring correct fitting and excellent crash test results.
i doubt that the ff seats would score as highly if the forces on a child's neck were taken into consideration in the crash tests.
i agree that too many seats are installed incorrectly and this in the uk as a whole needs to be addressed, but again this is a concern wether rear or forward facing.
Ã?Â?Ã?Â?In addition, although rearward facing is arguably the safest travelling position, most of us prefer not to travel that way. It reduces the growing childÃ?Â?Ã?Â?s ability to interact with those in the front seats, to look around and see where they are going.Ã?Â?Ã?Â?
my ds and mindee who are 22 months and 46 months both enjoy travelling rf and can see plenty out of the rear and side windows. i however don't think this is what i should base the safety of ds on, or which you should base the rf v ff debate!?
if however you as a company find the rf seats so bad why do you sell them in other countries?
i look forward to your reply.
nicm