Why are Maxi cosi so popular?

[2babesmum]

Thinking about a car seat for our baby due in July and am wondering why everyone seems to be using Maxi cosi infant seats? I know they have fixings for bugaboo's but even people without these ppushchairs have them (I work in a children's centre)

[CarGirl]

Because the which report rates them highly and they are compatible with several different puschair systems, they now have an isofix version too.

You need to find out which car seat fits safest in your car tbh.

Which? use part of their rating on ease of use, how it looks etc so their no. 1 is not automatically the safest IYSWIM

[differentID]

Because they consistently score extremely highly in all safety tests.

[thisisyesterday]

i think it's because they always come out fairly well in the Which? reports

it's worth looking into this fairly closely though, because although they come out top quite often, that's not necessarily only down to the fact that they are safest.

In fact, when we bought our first forward facing seat for our eldest child some years ago the Britax ones actually scored better for safety than the Maxi Cosi. Maxi Cosi came out top though because they were easier to fit etc etc

so really do look into it becasue what Which? place top is not necessarily top on safety. Some of the others, once properly fitted, are often better.

Personally I really dislike maxi cosi, because of their refusal to sell their rear-facing (thus safest) group 1 seat in the UK.
The reason they give for this??? parents prefer the colours of the forward facing ones.
twats.
that alone makes me really not ever want to buy any of their products!!!

[Habbibu]

We had a mamas and papas one for dd, and then got a maxi cosi for ds. We don't use them with the pram, but still maxi cosi so much better: consistently does really well in crash tests - see Which tests - also really easy to get in and out of car, ds lay much flatter in it, with no head lolling forward which happened a lot with dd, lighter than M&P, handle moves easily, etc. Would recommend.

[Tootlesmummy]

I have used maxi cosi for my DS and I wouldn't use anything else. The Isofix option is great as you don;t have to worry if the seatbelt is in the right place as the buttons turn green when it's all ok.
My DS is now in the bigger version which is also good as this has the ability to tip the seat so when he wants to sleep his head doesn't fall forward.

Check out the Which website as they regularly do car seat reviews

[LIZS]

More popular in Europe than in Uk , more so even than Britax-Roemer. Similar wide range of compatibility with variety of cars and safety rating.

[2babesmum]

Thanks guys, your answers have been really helpful. Guess I'll be seeing if I can fit one in my car

[PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow]

They were apparently the first people to make a proper car seat that attached with a seat belt, just 25 years ago!

Isofix is excellent, and the design of the seats is extremely good.

The only time i've heard bad things about them is with the MC Tobi, which isn't very effective with determined escape artists.

[lal123]

we've got one because its compatible with our travel system - think it fits loads of them

[nicm]

i had one i was given by a friend when i had ds and it looked comfortable for him when he was tiny.

however, it would now be 'out of date' so if i was to have another i would need to buy a new baby carrier and like thisisyesterday don't think i would buy another maxi cosi because there customer service was crap when i contacted them about the group 1 rf seat the mobi. britax however were much more helpful so if i was to have another i would probably buy a britax!

if you plan to use a group 1 rf seat there is a new seat out that is a proper baby carrier which then clips into a larger frame which lasts to 4 years just out. it's isofix and the in car safety centre will soon be selling them. they are called the KISS(klippan isofix safety system). it would work out cheaper than buying 2 isofix seats.

[thisisyesterday]

plenty of other brands make isofix seats btw. some of the responses on here make it sound like isofix is a maxi-cosi thing, but it isn't.
was actually developed by Britax I believe.

[crapdoc]

what habbibu said.

Hated M&P with DS, loooooved Maxi Cosi with DD. Used it until she was 1 and I had to grudgingly admit she was too big for it (the hint being that I was having to shoehorn her head under the hood bit......)

[trixymalixy]

The cabriofix came out top for safety when i was buying a car seat for my DS and it also clipped into my pram.

[DorelSpokesperson]

We are concerned with a recent post about Maxi-CosiÂ?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:


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.

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 donÂ?t even fit in some smaller cars. Unless the child is given sufficient legroom, he or she will be cramped against the carÂ?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.

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.

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 childÂ?s ability to interact with those in the front seats, to look around and see where they are going.Â?

[trixymalixy]

So why sell your rear facing group 1 seat in any country then DorelSpokesperson?

[thisisyesterday]

so why do you make the Mobi then???

and why is it sold everywhere except here??

the answer I gave below, re the colour choices is what I was told from several people who had phoned Dorel to ask why it wasn't available, so perhaps you should speak to your call centre staff to clarify??

what you're saying then, in effect, is that despite selling a rear-facing group 1 seat, and despite rear-facing seats being up to 5 times safer than forward facing ones you don't supply them to the UK because:

you believe that they will take up more room in our car (more than in an identical car in sweden??? really?)

your other cars came high in a Which? report

and children might not like facing backwards?

interesting, very interesting. More interesting than the colour thing, to be honest!

Can I ask why you don't let consumers decide on these points themselves? I think the vast majority of parents would be happy to have a slightly bigger seat, and put up with a moany toddler if they knew that the seat was considerably safer than a forward facing one. But you won't give them the change.

FWIW, my BeSafe izi combi, and Britax 2way elite take up no more space in the car than my previous forward facing group 1 seats. I have heard that the Mobi is of epic proportions though, so maybe it's only your own that's too big to fit in most cars??

[thisisyesterday]

carseats and chance.

gah. quick typing

[thisisyesterday]

i know someone with a britax 2way elite in a mini cooper. so really the small car thing... that's just rubbish!

[ChutesTooNarrow]

I was thinking of getting a maxi-cosi, DS has all but outgrown his first carseat. But, DorelSpokesperson, I find it incredibly a bit insulting when companies assume I value convenience over my child's safety. Also his preference (although at six months too young to have a preference) does not come into it when it comes to safety. Don't care if he moans about being rear facing when a toddler.

[nicm]

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

[ChutesTooNarrow]

(also great name thisisyesterday - it was played on 6music an hour or two ago which is the only reason I clicked on this discussion in active convos.) Sorry. As you were.

[nicm]

ha was just going to 'find' you thisisyesterday! great minds eh????

[flowerybeanbag]

Presumably if Dorel thought it was commercially viable to sell it here they would do so. It will clearly be a business decision and I imagine they have done marketing research which leads them to believe it wouldn't be worth the investment. They might well be wrong about that, there might be a bigger market here for the rear-facing seats than Dorel think, but I would assume as a commercial organisation if they or their retailers thought they'd sell loads of them they'd put them in the market here.

[Lizzzombie]

Something I was recently told, (by a Britax car seat fitting trainer) was that the Britax Baby safe was 3 cm longer than the MaxiCosi cabrio fix.

I get alot of customers (I work in a well known baby shop) who worry that their baby is too big for the infant carrier which they have brought. In most cases they are not at all too big for them. But, its worth considering the Britax one over the Maxi Cosi or the Graco one (which is 7cm shorter than the Britax one or 4cm smaller than the Maxi Cosi) if you or your partner are taller people and may have a longer than average baby.

HTH.

[thisisyesterday]

i had to come back to this thread and just add another rant post!! lol i just can't keep away.

Person from Dorel. I am actually highly insulted that you think I as a mere mum woman mortal, am incapable of following instructions on how to fit a car seat.

Neither of my rear-facing seats are particularly difficult to fit. Yes, the besafe takes slightly longer, but that's only because of adding the support leg and the tether straps (which both models have).

We know that many seats are fitted incorrectly, that is one reason why isofix seats get such great reviews. And a lot of rear-facing seats are also isofix which takes the whole issue of "difficulty" fitting out of it.
In fact, i'm surprised the mobi isn't an isofix seat, what with your great concerns over incorrectly fitted seats.

And another point. the vast majority of people in Scandinavia use rear-facing seats until their children are around 4 years old. Are you telling me they ALL have massive cars in order to fit their seats in??? I don't think so.