Britax Baby-Safe Plus II SHR no longer recommended by Which...

[herecomesthsun]

...because of "reports of handle failure from parents". Britax have now "released a modified version which includes a label on the handle to help users avoid the problem".

We were on the point of getting one of these to go with the Britax B-smart we got off Ebay. Am feeling a bit confused...

We had previously thought of getting the lie-flat baby-safe sleeper but it is 91cms long apparently and we do not think we are going to get it in alongside our Two Way elite for DC1. This is despite having a big car (Volvo V70 estate).

We had also thought of getting a Volvo car seat, but they are basically the same as the Britax SHR and made by them. I guess we could still get the SHR as the problem has been recognised and dealt with but would need to hunt out newer seats.

It depends if you were going to buy your babysafe SHR second hand or not? The issue has now been recognised and it is the safest Group 0+ out there, as well as already exceeding crash test regs that aren't due out for another 5 years it also has the D-SIP for max side impact protection Britax D-SIP you can pick a brand new one up for £99.99 form Halfords atm Halfords

Oh, definitely new for the SHR. We would prob have gone to John Lewis rathe than Halfords - do you think if we reserved the seat Halfords would help us fit it?

I note also that the Britax belted car seat base which we would have wanted does not seem to be available on the website.

Also there is negative feedback from someone who had a problem with the car seat handle and did not find it straightforward to get the problem dealt with by Halfords, which might be a reason to go elsewhere?

I actually have a thread going on about the quality of the advice from the likes of Halfords and Mothercare at the minute, it really does depend on who you get! (I'm trying to get Halfords/Mothercare to realise intensive training is needed for child seats, not just going through a leaflet and fitting 1 or 2 seats on a test rig)

I actually work for Halfords part time (as well as having my own baby seat business) and am extremely passionate about child safety and research seats and testing constantly, if a parent wants it i'll happily spend hours going through the different options with them. On the same note we have one 17 year old lad that fitted so many seats incorrectly I removed him as a fitter :(

you can order the belted base in store and I believe it is about £80 (?) You can also order a wedge to go under the base to recline baby more. What part of the country are you in? If the store I work at is anywhere near I can help you myself :)

As for them not dealing with faults very well, there is a process in place for faulty seats and you get a 2 year warranty with Britax, How helpful the store is unfortunately depends on the staff member :(

Actually, I think from looking at your profile, that we are in different parts of the country, which is a shame. There is a number I can call to get further advice from Britax, which might be helpful. The Which report also mentioned that Which members had contacted them to say that the SHR seat had been removed from stores, I think including Halfords, but that Britax were denying this, so it does sound as if the current situation is unclear, and we will need to be very careful that we buy the "modified version" if we are going for the SHR.

All the faulty seats from the faulty batch got withdrawn from Halfords store as a precaution. The actual fault was with the clip you slide across to release the carry handle down, it didn't impair the safety of the seat at all from what i've found out...just meant parents couldn't put the handle down!

I personally think the SHR is brill. No problems with it and we had one each (DP and I, that is). DD is now 14 months and it never failed us.