Rear facing car seats - what a complete lack of information from retailers - HELP!

[twolittlekings]

We are about to buy a rear facing car seat for our 16 month old. I have been advised by paediatric friend that it is much safer for them to travel in rear facing until at least 4 for fear of internal decapitation in an accident. However trying to find reliable information on these is a complete nightmare.

Which? says don't touch them which I personally think, when the BMJ is strongly advising that they should be in rear facing, is really irresponsible and misleading since it gives the impression that they are not safe.

The rear facing website says that front facing is still OK but not as safe as rearfacing and that if possible we should be putting them in one. I'm so confused! I want rearfacing but don't know where to go for most impartial reviews.

can anyone help?

Thanks

try here

here

and here

the Which results are stupid btw. some of the RF seats (be safe izi combi for example) can be fitted rear AND forward facing

the results published in Which are for the worst results they get when they test them, so for the besafe and the britax 2 way etc etc the results are for the seats in their FORWARD facing position

they also lost marks for having too many "steps" in fitting (mainly due to needing tether straps- an extra safety measure) and for not having a good range of fabrics again

so you are right to disregard it

if the results were based purely on safety the rear-facing seats would win hands down, as you can tell from safety tests done in countries such as Sweden and Norway which are more stringent than those done over here

Hi this is yesterday - thanks for these links and yes now you mention it this makes a lot of sense. I would only ever use the car seat rearfacing anyway since I have been told too much not to!

It seems that there are only several good makers:

Btitax multi Tech, Volvo (we have a volvo and they have said they can order and fit to see if OK) they are made by Britax and relabelled Volvo, and the be safe range. I just don't know which to go for. The volvo is half the price of the others but I'm not bothered as for me safety is the most important thing.

the one thing that concerns me is that if they are fitted incorrectly they are not safe so thanks for your link the the Essex car centre. What is becoming apparent is that it's going to be a longer process of getting the right one - but worth it.

I was told in Mothercare that they are only available in Holland.........
Does anyone know where I can read crash test reports on these to see which comes out top? (I know that I also need to take into account if it is suitable for my car).
We won't be needing one for a while yet, but would like to start choosing.
Thanks!

I'm going to look at some this afternoon - we live in London and there's a retailer in croydon that sells the Britax and the be safe izi kid. I will let you know how I get on.

i am in west sussex and we trekked up to milton keynes to the in car safety centre

they're really very helpful up there, and because they stock pretty much all the available RF seats it meant we could try them all out and get hte best fit

we also have a volvo (a v70) so i can tell you that the britax 2 way elite and the besafe izi combi fit just fine in that one!

i LOVE the multi-tech tho, and would have got it for ds2 if we'd have been able to fit it in, but unfortunately I needed 3 car seats across teh back, so it was a little too wide. there are pics on my profile of the ones we have tho

the price of it if you get it through volvo is a lot less than if you buy it as a britax seat.
do you have isofix?

Have just bought the multi tech! X

cool :-)

Marking my place - I'm looking for a rearward seat for my 10 m.o. who's almost grown out of his current one.

Thanks to thisisyesterday for the links.

I'm struggling to find out explanations of which cars they fit - I agree with your subject title, OP!

it's worth joining the forum on rearfacing.co.uk to see if anyone has the same combination of seat/car as you do.

If you live in London there's a great place in Croydon near ikea called baby nest. Chap fitted the seat and he was fantastic. They stock multi tech and the be safe isofix plus the maxi cosi one. If you want another they can order in.

just remembered, John Lewis stock the recaro polaric too. that's an isofix one tho, so no good if you don't have isofix points in car

Thanks!

Milton Keynes which isn't too far from me so I'll probably go there.

We don't have isofix (ancient Ka) but the PILs may give us their car when they get a new one - must get DH to chivvy them! :)

Don't need one yet but does anyone know anywhere that fits seats in the North West? Further north/west the better!

The rearfacing site also has lists of outlets around the country that sell and fit RF seats :) (I'm in the SW near Exeter if anyone wants to try a besafe izi combi or KISS- both of which I love and couldn't fault :) )

Thanks! Not any v close , all 2-3 hours

carseatcrazy - I am thinking of getting a besafe izi combi as my stage1 carseat. I see they are available in the Devon Pram store - I'm based in Somerset so not too far.

Does it need ISOFIX do you know or can it be used without? and I don't suppose you know if it can fit in a Pegeout 206 and a Discovery 300TDI???

sorry to hyjack!

I have the Besafe combi x3 seat. My seat is isofix only (I don't think it can be fitted with a belt, but not certain). It is a great seat, the magnetic straps are a very useful feature. Do get it if you can. I don't have it in either of those cars.

SouthWestWhippet - You can use the BeSafe Izi Combi Isofix X3 rear facing using isofix or forward facing using the seat belt. In regards to the fit, you can go on here:

carseatsfortoddlers.co.uk/Besafe%20iZi%20Combi%20Izofix%20car%20list.pdf

I dont recommend that you go by the list alone, you need to see how much leg room you have left in the front, thats the key thing to be honest.

Hope that helps ;)

Southwestwhippett- I've emailed you - come and try both of mine any time :) besafe belt fitted and KISS (isofix or belt).... :) :)

nymphadora not exactly northwest but we went to Paul Stride which is north of york (so is north if not west...)