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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wish that a few more MN's had seen my thread today......

306 replies

Pixiepants · 15/05/2008 19:47

Here and then taking advantage of the AIBU threads to see if I can drum up a bit more support for this subject?

I probably am, but hey.....

OP posts:
SaintGeorge · 15/05/2008 22:52

Mrs Aki, but you are contradicting yourself with the stage 1 issue.

Re your post By MrsAki on Thu 15-May-08 21:24:12, you say yourself that:

"A stage 1 seat is a seat for children 9-18 kg. Stage 2 goes to 25 kg and then there are booster seats."

As far as I understand you are campaigning for rear-facing stage 2 seats. Stage 1 rear facing are available in the UK.

Sorry to be pedantic, but you really need to clarify on the petition.

Original poster
Pixiepants · 15/05/2008 23:09

Maybe the wording on the petition can only be altered during office hours? Watch this space...Bed now...please help to let people know this product exists so that they can make a choice...thanks

OP posts:
Original poster
Pixiepants · 16/05/2008 07:17

Just to say again that this petition needs 200 names before the PM even looks at it. It's not far off that if anyone else would like to help.

OP posts:
diplodocus · 16/05/2008 10:56

My Britax two-way rear facer goes up to 25kg.

MrsAki · 16/05/2008 11:05

SaintGeorge, I don't think I am contradicting myself at all. Infant seats are readily available in the UK but they are stage 0 (0.9 kg). Stage 1 would be for children 9-18 kg. My seat goes from 0-25 kg but that is beside the point.
I don't know if I can change the wording in a petition that is already set up.
It would have been better if I had written Group 1. I have to blame not being a native English speaker for that. Sorry!

SaintGeorge · 16/05/2008 11:11

Exactly! Seats are available in the UK. Stage 1 seats.

Your whole argument in the petition is that they are not and neither is information.

It does not make sense unless it is re-worded to say Stage 2 and/or Group 1. Getting government to take notice of petitions is hard enough. Something as simple as this is enough to get it ignored.

MrsAki · 16/05/2008 11:34

I don't understand you, I am afraid.

Where can you get a rear facing seat for a child in the stage 1, not 0, weight group?

You can get rear facing infant seats but not car seats for children 9-18 kg.

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:35

are these not Group 1? These are readily available in the UK - am I missing something?

It says, switch the car seat to forward facing at 10kg, but whats to stop you keeping it rear facing?

Original poster
Pixiepants · 16/05/2008 11:35

If there is a chance that this petition is likely to get ignored then there's even more reason to inform parents/carers that there is another 'safer' option which Britax (other manufactures?) think they don't want. That way people can choose to contact the manufactures and retailers to see if they might consider selling them in more shops.

Support from the government would help to bring about this sort of change much more quickly but if anyone has more experience in this field and feels strongly about alternatives being marketed and supplied to a greater extent, perhaps they could do a bit of lobbying too.

OP posts:
Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:37

what change needs to happen? when I was buying i was well aware of the stage 2/group 1 seats.....

Original poster
Pixiepants · 16/05/2008 11:39

Meeely2...Not Mothercare or Halfords as far as Ive found. I'd like to be able to buy one and have an trained fitter to make sure I get it absolutely right....but have to travel 150 miles to Milton Keynes for this at the moment...Guess I should be glad I have that Option I suppose...

OP posts:
Original poster
Pixiepants · 16/05/2008 11:40

How did you find out about them Meely?

OP posts:
silverfrog · 16/05/2008 11:41

Meely, as far as I undersyand it, you cannot (actually, must not) keep a two-way seat rear facing after the weight the manufacturer specifies. the seat has not been tested past that weight, and may not protect your child in a crash.

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:42

so you are lobbying the government to make these seats more available in shops not just on tinternet?

Could you not buy on the internet and have halfords fit it? Is this really worth bothering the MP for?

I've not found fitting a car seat very hard though myself so have always bought seats off internet....

I could understand your plight if these seats were not available anywhere in the UK, but just because you haven't got a shop local to yourself, seems a bit extreme to me....sorry

silverfrog · 16/05/2008 11:43

MrsAki, yo can get them through volvo dealers (as I did) and, I believe, through saab dealers as well.

However, you do have to do a lot of digging to find them (not even shown on websites, and dealership staff not always up to speed on car seats) so I agree more info needed (sorry for abruptness, wriggly baby on lap)

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:44

silverfrog, why would it be less effective rear facing than forward facing if it's designed to hold a child up to 4 years old? It's doing the same job and as far as we've discussed on here it's safer in the rear facing position.

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:45

halfords

MrsAki · 16/05/2008 11:47

Meeely, you can NOT keep your seat rear facing after the child has reached the weigh limit as they are not tested to support that weight and if something happened to you or your child your insurance would not be valid! I have checked this with experts that have been working in this area for over 40 years. DO NOT keep rear facing after reaching the weight limit.

silverfrog · 16/05/2008 11:48

the seats you linked t, Meeely, are not sold as rear-facing pas 10kgs.

in testing during manufacture, they are tested for the weight they carry in each of the positions they are designed to fit in (I do nt own one of those seats, so have no idea how they fit seat-belt wise, but presume it is slightly different routing for rear and forward facing)

in the event of a crash, if you have the seat fitted rear facing and your childis over 10kg, then the seat integrity may not hold, and the seat will not do the job you expect.

The seats we are talking about here are seats which are designed as rear facing only, not seats which should be forwrd facing, but have been fitted (incorrectly, if past a certain weight) rear facing

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:50

mothercare

Pixi - I found them when i first started looking when I was pregs, cos i do all my browsing online. Then found it was twins, so went with baby carriers in the end which clipped into buggy instead of the combination rearward/forward facing seats (personal choice).

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:52

why would a seats integrity be any diff forward or rear facing? the seat is the same surely?

silverfrog · 16/05/2008 11:52

Meeely, you are linking to a completely different type of seat.

There are seats readily available in the UK that let you keep your child rear facing up to 13kg (either a 0+ or some stage 1 seats which are combi rear/forward facing)

There is currently NO easy way in the Uk to get a seat which keeps a child rear facing until 18kg.

That is what we want better provision for.

MrsAki · 16/05/2008 11:52

About fitting a seat that you but off the tinternet... I spent a morning with Road Safety Officers from Essex who checked car seats at a fire station in Basingstoke. While I was there, not a single seat was installed correctly! Not a single one. Statistics for the UK states that 7 out of 10 seats are installed incorrectly. To buy from tinternet and install yourself could be very dangerout unless you know what you are doing.
As anyone who has visited www.rearfacing.co.uk will know, I am well aware that you can buy rear facing seats from Milton Keynes, Volvo, Saab, Recaro's sites and you can import them from Sweden via www.toddler.se but in regards to the above, what I am after is to have them in all the high street shops so that every parent would have the choice to buy the safest possible seat for their children.

Meeely2 · 16/05/2008 11:53

thats me told - in which case, lobby away

silverfrog · 16/05/2008 11:53

the seat is the same, but the load it caries is distributed differently according to how it is fitted.

The seats you are linking to are NOT safe to be fitted rear facing past 10kg