rear facing or impact cushion-car seat dilemma?

[sparrow45]

Have posted a previous queston about the concord transformer t pro seat....am having a dilemma about what seat to get once my DS grows out of his group 0+ car seat. Am between the recaro polaris RF/the besafe izi combi x3 isofix or the concord transformer t pro which uses an impact cushion ( similar to Kiddy). Any thoughts? What about toddlers managing to wriggle out of the harness or unbuckle it when rearfacing? Is the impact cushion uncomfortable for toddlers? Do they mind being pinned in to the seat? My main focus is on safety, but also practicalities are important. I know RF is safer in front collisions, but what about side collisions? Sorry for the questions! Just need a bit of advice about this issue!

There have been a few posters here who have found children able to escape from impact cushion.

I would favour harnessed rear facing.

We have a Kiddy and really like it. Our son seems pretty happy in it and sometimes rests toys or snacks on the cushion.

Remember that you can keep him in the 0+ till well past twelve months.

i would go rear-facing, absolutely no questions asked.

the impact cushion seats may be slightly safer than a harnessed FF seat (tho i am not sure i've seen compelling evidence for this)... but they are still not even close safety wise on a rear-facing seat

i would go with the rf seat. they are much safer than the cushion seats. it depends on the weight of the child as to what age they can stay in their baby seats to-ds2 is 10kgs at 8 months! i have moved him to a hi-way 2.

:)

I think escaping is probably harder with an impact cushion than a harness, but either way it depends on the child. DS has never managed to escape from his despite pushing at it on occasion. Practical wise it doesn't seem uncomfortable, DS likes it. I asked him the other day and he said it was the best car seat ever and very comfy (though at the moment things are either "best ever" or "yucky" or "not my best friend") I've also seen a video somewhere which shows that children have more freedom of movement with the impact shield because their arms/shoulders aren't held back, that the harness restricts their movement more.

No advice either way from me, but hope that answers some of your questions. I chose the infinity pro because I don't drive and needed a seat which was easy to move around in different cars.

Thanks for the replies. Think I'm going to go with the Recaro Polaric RF seat. Have done loads of research ( my brain is fried!) and there are pros and cons to both types of seats....but I think the worst case scenario is a high speed frontal collision ( hopefully never happens!) and RF definitely seem safer in this situation. I do worry about DS unbuckling himself but I'll just cross that bridge if/when we get to it.....!

I think you have made an excellent choice!

I had to send back my Kiddy impact cushion as DS could escape. I've now got a RF (Britax TWE) but I've also had to buy a 5 Point Plus as DS could wriggle out of the five point harness too, sigh!