Problems with Car seats?

[RexRex]

Hello there everyone!

I am a 2nd year sports engineering student (a product design engineering course that focuses on sports) and transportation for under 3's is my theme for my general design course.

I'd appreciate if you can tell me any problems you have with car seats and what you'd like to improve. Do you find it hard to install the car seats? Do you find it hard to find one you like in shops? Do you find it hard to buy adjustable seats?

Thank you very much!

B

A common problem is finding 3 slimline seats to fit across the back seat of smaller cars at the same time.
Also there is not much choice for fitting a seat with just the lap belt.

If you can focus on good rear facing car seats for the post year upwards group the you will be onto a winner. BMA says that kids aged 1 year up (basically past the infant stage) should really be in a rear facing car seats until the age of 4. I'm looking at the moment but they are so bulky and take ages to fit. And yes if you can get three car seats in the back of a saloon car it will be a miracle.

having the harness's able to clip out of the way is useful.

In the up to 13kg seat which have a handle having the handle move easily with one hand as lots of pregnant women have wrist problems after birth and some have arthritis or other thing that make some seats impossible to move.

A handle on a 9k plus car seat to make it easier to get from one car to another.

Having a 9kg seat that you could buy some wheels for for the times when you need to go somewhere on the train and then be picked up the other end. Not to use as a pushchair all the time necessary as putting a seat in each time increases the chance of getting it wrong.

The only problem I have (and I have 9 big rearfacing seats) and one booster seat.

Onto problem:

The sticker on the seat shell - both forwardfacing and rearfacing ones - should read "FOR RESCUE WORKERS ONLY". parents and other users think it is a good idea to go by them only when fitting child safety seats into their cars. IT IS NOT. While it gives me something to do as I run a fitting station a lot of children ride around in cars in incorrectly fitted seats that on top of that isn´t correctly used either in mny cases.

Car seats aren´t difficult at all - no matter which type you buy for as long as you know how to fit them correctly. The problem is that most people think they know, but really they don´t know. the stickers play a large part in this.

Lena

twolittlekings... we have 3 across the back (volvo v70) of which 2 are rear-facing seats. one britax 2 way elite which is lightweight and incredibly easy to fit, and one besafe izi combi

RexRex- yes... onus on SAFETY and rearfacing seats.
i personally don't find them hard to install, but apparently many are installed incorrectly.
shops should have people properly trained in installing them and we should have more road safety officer type people like they have in the US. perhaps attached to local councils... who can assist in fitting

If you can solve the problem of getting 3 seats across the backseats of anaverage sized car, you are onto a winner!

A handle on a 9k plus car seat to make it easier to get from one car to another.

Having a 9kg seat that you could buy some wheels for for the times when you need to go somewhere on the train and then be picked up the other end.

Actually there IS such a seat. It is called KISS in the UK and is available at the In Car Safety Centre in the UK. You can order it from www.carseat.se too.

it has wheels and a large extendable handle so yu can pull or push your baby instead of carrying it.

A seat woth a 5 point harness that is suitable for 18kgs+

My ds is only 2.5years old, but 18kgs and I'm really strugling to find a seat for him now.

Slim line ext. rear facing car seat (think Sunshine Kids Radian 80 but to 25kg not 15kg) that can be used forward facing to 36kg harnessed (think Sunshine Kids Radian 80 ).

High back booster that would fit a child up to 150cm that is slim line so that you could fit it with other seats in the back.

Clips to put the straps out of the way when putting child in.

No re-thread straps.

High shell and tall top slots to maximise the length of time a child can use the seat ideally around 22" for as seat that could be used to 36kg.

Low slots on a baby bucket of around 6.5" and more than one crotch strap position so that prem babies can fit in them without resorting to untested seat pads.

There are Swedish seats that can carry a 6 year-old in a 5-point harness to 25 kg. One can go forwardfacing to 25 kg ith the harness too.

besafe has the best strap adjustor. you just unclip it at the back and move it up to the next slot. tis fab!

Lenats31 - Yup we've got one - a Britax Two Way Elite. DD1 sits forward facing in it and she's 19kg. She sat rfing in it until just after she was 4 but we had 3 rfing seats in a row and DD1 has v v v long legs and they were practically behind her ears so we switched (if we hadn't had 3 across it would have been fine as she would have been able to sit cross legged). Just wish they did seats like the Britax Regent/Frontier/Sunshine Kids Radian in the UK

I think the Besafe X3 has the best adjustment system. You just extend the harness, grab the head support and pull it up. DONE!

The brand new Akta Graco Belogic is fairly easy too, despite having the old-fashioned system.
It is somewhat better than the KISS seat.

Lena

Definitely the 3 across the back of a non-people carrier.

We have a Mondeo, so not exactly a tiny car, but it's taken a lot of trying out different seat variations to get somewhere that we can get 2 boosters and a rear facing seat in the back. And tbh, it's still incredibly tight, not entirely convinced it would be safe in case of impact (but we have got it to the safest combination). But it has to do us until we can save up enough for a full size people carrier.