difference between cheap and expensive car seats?

[pingdriver]

DD is now 15 months and has transferred to a forward facing car seat from our old maxi cosi one (which our second child will be using in four months time!).

DH bought a car seat from a well known supermarket which were doing a deal for £30. This is what DD is currently using. I'm really not sure whether using such a cheap car seat is a sensible idea, safety etc, given the vast majority are well over £100. Affordability not an issue here, but DH doesn't seem to see anything wrong whereas it worries me as I'm the one using it day in day out - but not sure whether I'm being a bit of a snob really.

I wouldn't use a cheap one from a supermarket. I have always bought the safest seat I could afford. Making sure it fitted the cars I was going to use, looking at how well it made and how easy it is to use.

I just feel that it is one thing you don't want to say I wish we had spent more as buy then it will be to late. If your child is still under 13kg I would put her back into the maxi cosy until I could research the next seat.

well, all seats have to meet minimum safety standards

however, that is all the cheapest ones will do. it certainly will not be the safest car seat you can get, and given that it may one day be required to save your child's life personally i would pay for a better one!

you might be interested in looking into extended rearfacing seats? rearfacing seats are 5 times safer than forwards facing rearfacing

at the moment the only safety test a car seat has to pass is being strapped into a test car which is then crashed at 30mph.
if the dummy doesn't hit a bar in front of the seat the car seat passes the test.

there are no tests that determine the forces applied during crash to the dummy, or any side impact tests etc etc.

I bought an expensive one with the brand recognition that everyone says is safe (mostly cause sales people say its safer than cheaper ones - not anythign any more scientific)

It shattered without us noticing, only realised when we took it in to move the straps up

so now we only buy "cheap" plastic based not polystyrene based ones, mainly because with our individual circumstances (we move ours between cars and into other people's cars to lift share etc) a polystyrene one is not safest (but may be if its never moved from one 5 door car IYWKIM)

we bought the most expensive we could afford and we had a look at the which guides etc each time to see what was best in our price bracket, i remember with the first stage seats there was a mothercare own one that did almost as well as the maxi-cosi etc.

and what thisisyesterday said about rear facing, if i had known more about them at the time of buying i would have got one, they are much safer in the tests nad i think there isnt enough info about them and they are harder to get hold of etc, i think the british public is being massively let down actually by carseat retailers who do not stock them.

yes I would pay more for a PROPER rear facing one

but be aware, "front and rear" facing ones are NOT the same as the rear facing ones they have abroad, get a rear ONLY facing one!

actually there are seats that can rear and forward face that are the same as they use "abroad" and which are more than adequate

the britax 2 way elite
besafe izi combi
fair bimbo
klippan triofix

there are also seats like the britax first class which are fine for use rearfacing but will need switching to forward facing at 13kg (i think) so no real advantage over an infant carrier if you want to keep your child rearfacing for longer

We had a cheapo Nania baby carrier as a spare for DD1 (and used it as a spare for DD2 & DD3) but TBH it only got used around 20 times.

It was 5y old last year (so expiring for a baby carrier) and as DD3 was too tall for it I removed the straps and stripped the covers off to take it to the tip - it was covered in white/pale blue stress marks (navy blue plastic shell). It had never been dropped or in an accident and had been stored in a cupboard on an internal wall (so not subject to extremes of temperature or damage) yet it had obvious signs of the shell weakening.

There is no way I will buy a cheapy seat even for a spare now. It's only money after all (and we have very little of it to be honest!) but my children are beyond priceless.

Thanks all. While I understand what you say about rear facing ones, DD was starting to get fairly upset in her old one and is much happier forward facing. I think I will be looking at better forward facing ones!

and truthsweet - is is an Nania we have so what you say is very useful!

If you aren't able to consider rear facing then the seats with an impact cushion, rather than straps, are safer. Or look at the Jane Exo that reduces the forces on the child in an impact, reducing injury. They aren't cheap but what price do you put on your child's safety?

fwiw ds2 and ds3 were both miserable as sin in the infant carrier, but fine in the besafe izi combi because it was much higher up and they can see out the window etc

totally your choice, but personally i'd rather have a whinging child in a safer car seat!
I realise that they're expensive though and not something everyone can afford

DD was miserable in the cabriofix but fine in the besafe and in her britax first class. She's 2yr 7m and still RF in the first class as she's not even 11kg yet. She'd be miles too tall for the cabriofix now so britax first class has been an amazingly good buy for us