How safe is the Britax Römer Dualfix i-Size?
The Britax Römer Dualfix i-Size, an updated version of the ever-popular Dualfix, has some fantastic safety credentials. Everything is designed to provide safety, security and comfort for your baby – and Britax Römer claims that its internal standards are higher than the tests laid out by the R129 regulation.
What are the safety features?
The car seat’s safety features include optimised Side Impact Cushion Technology (SICT), which absorbs the force of any side impact and is implemented by a special steel element inside the seat. In a side impact, the bar acts like a protective shell which, together with the softly padded side wings, forms a protective cocoon around your child. As the steel bar deforms, it absorbs energy and guides forces into the inner part of the seat, away from your child.
The side wings act as a cocoon, the headrest controls the movement of your baby’s head, the rebound bar and support leg give extra support to the seat, and the ISOFIX system reduces the force of an impact, whether it's from the front, from the side or from the back.
The five point-harness also keeps baby safe and secure (there's no chance of them wriggling out either) and the extra cushioning and chest pads ensure a snug fit across your child's chest, shoulder and pelvis.
As should be the case in a baby car seat, there’s no chance of anything coming loose that could be a choking hazard. This seat is durable, sturdy and, once installed, doesn’t wobble giving you all the assurance you need. And there’s nothing here that could irritate baby’s delicate skin either.
How does it grow with my child?
It’s a fact of life that kids grow fast, and you’ll only need to make small adjustments to the seat to keep up with them. With a simple push of a button on the side of the seat, you can move the headrest and harness. Another button on the seat adjusts the leg supports and rebound bar when your child gets a bit taller.
If you’ve got a Peter Crouch in the making, you’ll be grateful for the rebound bar which adjusts eight degrees and gives extra space when rear-facing.
A big USP of the Dualfix i-Size is that it features six different forward-facing positions and six rearward-facing positions, including a flat recline position for newborns. This is helpful if you think you’ll be doing a lot of driving with a newborn. You might also find that your baby settles better in one of the positions or that they seem to sleep for longer in another. Whatever works, right?
This seat, however, is designed for use from birth to around four years and is recommended for use in the rear-facing position for all of this time. If your child can’t wait to be front-facing though, you can turn the seat around once they’re taller than 76cm. This is likely to be when they’re around 15 months. Once your child reaches 105cm they’ll have outgrown this car seat and you’ll need to move them into a different model.
How does it look?
The Dualfix i-Size looks and feels expensive. It is solid and well-made and the outer shell is strong and sturdy. Add to this the wings on either side and your baby will look completely snug and safe.
Britax Römer has stuck with its classic look for the updated Dualfix. The Dualfix i-Size comes with a black shell, rather than white, but the same colour options and sleek hallmarks are all there.
Its cover is 100% polyester and available in no less than 10 colours, so there's bound to be one that you like (although some of the lighter shades may only be for the brave). Our tester, Sam's, seat was blue marble and the fabric felt very luxurious. The seat is also designed to appeal to your child as they grow – nothing twee or babyish here.
There are lots of extra touches to ensure a child is comfortable while travelling – 12 recline positions (including an ergonomic lie-flat position), a newborn insert, soft padded side wings, a V-shaped headrest and comfortable neoprene chest pads, which will take a lot of the stress off parents. So, while it’s pricey, this seat has a great deal to recommend it.
Getting going
Everything you need is included in the box. Firstly, the Dualfix i-Size needs to be attached to the ISOFIX anchorage points in your car – the ISOFIX base is built into the seat, as is the adjustable foot prop for maximum stability, which will make the Dualfix i-Size a semi-permanent feature in the back of your car.
It did take some huffing and puffing for Sam to install the seat the first time round as it took her ages to figure out how to pull out the ISOFIX fittings at the front of the chair.
There’s a pull-out strip of fabric that you are supposed to pull to release the ISOFIX fittings and, despite her yanking on this several times, nothing happened. In desperation, she had to fumble around inside the mechanism and managed to wrestle the ISOFIX fittings out to install the car seat into the car. It really shouldn’t be that difficult.
While the support leg is easy to adjust out of the car, it's harder once the car seat is inside – it was a bit stiff and it took some elbow grease to fix into place.
Is it easy to fix into place?
However, once the leg is sorted and the ISOFIX jostled into place, fitting the seat is easy. It slips right into the ISOFIX anchor points and the rebound bar tilts slightly to adapt to the recline of your seat. Thankfully, if you keep the seat in the car, you should really only ever need to set it up once.
You’ll know you’ve fitted the seat correctly when both ISOFIX indicators are green. Use the two buttons on the side of the leg to release and pull it down. When it’s locked in the correct position, the indicator will be green.
Once the seat is safely installed, you can leave it in place. The seat rotates, so you can turn it towards you and, once baby is in correctly, you can simply spin it into place – the red indicator at the bottom will turn black once it’s locked.
Because this seat is best used in only one car, you can take your time to ensure that it’s installed properly. And the indicators give you the confidence that you’re doing this right.
The paper instructions are really easy to follow and understand. When it comes to video tutorials, the first video you’re directed to on the website feels a lot more like advertising than an installation guide so you'll need to watch the second video.
There’s a whole support section online with FAQs, warranty details, product support information and contact details too.