Older kids rear-facing - link to gallery

[MissHH]

I see some people think that RF is only for little kids and believes that it is not enough room for RF seats past the babystage. That is not true.

Lots of pictures hereforum.nybaktmamma.com/showthread.php?t=524428 are some pictures of kids all the way up till over 6 YRS rear-facing.

Heresikringavbarnibil.blogspot.com/2007/10/biler-med-plass-til-tre-barneseter.html is some pictures of three carseats in normal familiy cars(smallest one is a VW Polo).

hippipotami: Yes, I believe that your DD is a bit to big know ;)

thanks MissHH, no offence taken - just get upperty when we think we are doing our best only to find out that actually there is better - but to go better would cost us too much at which point I start grumbling about "pesky government making me work to afford my mortgage and thus paying a small fortune in childcare (more than my mortgage each month)" yadda yadda - straw that breaks the camels back and all that.

Some times it is very difficult trying to explain something online because of the form of communication gives so much room for interpretation and misunderstanding. And the fact that English is not my language

Cadmum - they will not break their legs in an accident as the seat will not move at all. They are not only strapped in using the seat belt but "tethered" to the front seat. It's a fallacy that children's legs need to be straight (in both group 0 AND 1). Their necks are far more vulnerable, and that is what they are designed to protect.
OOps sprry, just seen missHHs link, which is much more scientific than my comments

MissHH, a "peoplemover" is an MPV - ie one of the big cars with 6-7 seats.

Rear-facing seats seems like an excellent idea to me, so much safer for their heads/necks - I notice that most of those pictured are mounted several inches from the seat back, leaving room for little legs. (Not sure about big legs though...can imagine 2 bored pre-schoolers aiming kicks at each other )

Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me :D

We have no law against car seat in a peoplemover here.

i can see how this would work if you only have one child, but what if you have 2 children that need car seats and the driver is tall and needs the seat right back on its runners. there's no way a rear facing seat would fit then in something like a polo or 206.

also i can see how you would probably get a 2/3 year old rear facing in a 206 etc but surely a 4/5/6 year old wouldn't have enough room?

i'd rather broken legs than brokwen necks.

once we get our new car, if its possible, i will see if the britax nordic(?) think thats it?, will fit into a zafira with two forward facing seats and will report back. it means taking a trip upto top milton keynes to the safety centre, but will do it works out about the same price anywa as buying two seats, and cant see how it will take up any more room than a standard stage 1 seat (9months-4years one) as they dont look any wider.

Third picture in this article: sikringavbarnibil.blogspot.com/2007/10/biler-med-plass-til-tre-barneseter.html

Two high back boosters an one RF car seat in the back.

Thanks MissHH for information. Certainly my very tall 6yo is beyond RF but it's a possibility for my nearly 4 & 5yo.

I'd want to see more detail on the statisitcs between Sweden v England child car injury/death statistics though. It might just be down to your lovely safe Volvo's!

I am pretty sure that safe Volvos is a minor factor here(but Volvo has done a lot of research on the area of RF. They have even made a manual about the importance of RF). That everyone in Sweden drives a Volvo is a myth ;)

And a Volvo isn't particularly more safe than any other normal car.

In Norway the traffic organization states that it is even more important to secure your kids the best possible way in newer cars. Modern cars are much more secure for the adult than for the kids The reason is that cars from the 90's and newer has a harder construction which keeps the cars coupe intact even in a high speed collision. This increases the chances of survival for the people who sits in the car while it sets even higher requirements for the rest of the cars safety equipment. That is why a car has got airbags and seat belts for reduction of the power that the impact would inflict on an adult body.

For children FF this means that in a new car the forces will increase on the neck/head area, because less of the force under an impact is absorbed because the coupe stays intact and doesn't get disfigured like it did in the older cars.

I can say that here it is recommended to sit RF up till four years after that most kids sits in high back booster seats. But if one can RF for longer that is the best thing(that is actually safer for everybody adults too) but most kids sit in boosters as I said earlier.

misdee : Do you mean Britax Nordic Secura?

yes thats it

MissHH - what car is in that link?

There's some interesting facts on the rearfacing website, DNB. There is no difference in mortality rates between children under 1 (who will all be rear facing) for Sweden and UK. The differences only become apparent at over 1 year when UK children go front facing. If it was an issue of cars, then you would expect the difference to be at all ages. Als agree with MissHH - Volvos were ahead of their time on safety issues, but are now no more safe than most other cars of similar sizes, and most features are aimed at adults.

nappyaddict : That yellow car is a VW Polo.

Just bumping this thread a bit. Since RF already has made MN frontpage today.

Way to go, pixiepants :D

i was looking at a diff pic sorry. that pics shows 2 front facers and 1 rear facer which a lot of people manage to fit in the UK, but most people don't have to manage to fit 2/3 rear facers in the uk (unless you've got twins/triplets). i just can't see how in a small car you'd be able to do it cos most men and quite a few women need to put the seat right back on its runners in cars like polos, clios, 206's etc.

also that pic doesn't show the children in the seats. they children using them might only be 1/2/3 - there aren't any pics with 4/5/6 year olds using them.

nappyaddict No that maybe right, but if one can have the youngest child RF for as long as possible that is great.

We have a Concorde Ultimax for Ds2, which is like a brick, it faces backwards till 18 months. He's 11 months now and still plenty of leg room. I think it just has a longer base iyswim, so their bottoms are further back (towards front of car direction) so their legs have more room. Not sure how it works but it does.

Ds1 in Britax First Class, but the only prob is at nearly 5 the straps are pushing their limit. He is forward facing though.

Can you use any seat rear facing, is that what this is about? If so I might try it with the Britax. Wasn't aware you could do this.

As far as I'm concerned the Scandinavians know their stuff with child safety, they have the best prams I've ever seen (we have an Emmaljunga and I think it would come off best against a truck )

Concorde is made in Germnay btw.

You cannot use any seat rear-facing only the seats that is approved for rear-facing

But here in Scandinavia we are so lucky that we have a pretty wide range to choose from.

You can see a list here kidsincars.blogspot.com/2007/11/which-rear-facing-car-seats-is.html

MissHH, I've only just seen this thread and hadn't realised you'd been 'fire-fighting' on your own for the last two days! Thank you. The first few posts really made me realise just what the manufactures are up against when introducing a new product....can hardly blame them for not pushing it when people don't even want to know the facts .

Thank goodness we're still talking about this, as I think some people are glad to find out that there are alternatives.

Unfortunately it's not going to work for everyone who'd like one (yet), and I was/am a bit reluctant to mention this to friends who'd already bought FF, but I wish we'd known about it 15 months ago. (I'd ordered a FF in the Mothercare online sale and just count myself lucky that they didn't have enough stock to honour the purchase.

Hopefully we can make Mum's-to-be aware that they might have a choice.