ERF with leg room in VW Touran - or FF?

[BabsUnited]

Hello.

We have a Britax Max-Way at the moment which is ok in our Touran although it's very tight on legroom for DS - but he doesn't mind this at the moment. His legs are squashed up and he cannot straighten them.

The problem is that in the next month he will be getting leg/foot splints to help with his walking (he has CP). This means his ankles and lower legs will be fixed so his feet are at 90 degree angles to his legs and he won't be able to move them. So I'm concerned he won't be comfortable at all in his car seat as he wont be able to adjust his feet. He's already saying at the moment that his feet are "stuck" as they are wedged in.

I really want to keep him rear facing but when we bought the Max-Way we tried about 15 in our car but there were only two which fitted, and the Max Way had the best leg room.

DS is 13kgs and 83cm.

Are there any ERF seats that are well-known for offering greater leg room? Or do we just need to turn him FF - and if so, which is the safest? Help!

I have a Britax TWE and a BeSafe IZI Combi in the rear middle and rear passenger seat respectively in my Touran. They both have lots more leg space than they did in our old car (Landrover Freelander).

I will try to take an upload some photos later if that would help?

Meant to say, I have four year olds in my seats;

Two Way Elite - DD, 104cm ish, 18kg
BeSafe - DS, 100cm ish, 14kg

And BeSafe now do a seat the same shape as the IZI Combi that goes to 25kg, so if you go for a BeSafe then make sure you get the 25kg model not the 18kg model :)

Ooh pics would be great if that's not too much trouble?

I was looking just now at the Britax two-way elite - do you use it forward or rear facing? I like that it can be used both ways. I'm not sure how long he'll have to wear the splints for - he might have to wear them for the next few years so maybe it'd just be easier to go for a FF seat in case we cant use it rear facing again, then we can perhaps get something not quite as expensive

Anyone else have any ideas on ERF seats with lots of leg room in a Touran?

Or does anyone know what the safest FF seats are? Think we might just go for a FF seat as think we're onto a lost cause with the Max Way, don't think it'll suit us with our son's condition unless we can get something with much better leg room.

I've only ever had Britax seats, they are probably some of the safest there are out there.

If I could get my head round putting my 2 year old in a FF seat I'd probably go for something like this www.britax.co.uk/car-seats/trifix/safer. She has a Britax Multi Tech II at the moment, but I can't recommend that to you as the legroom is probably more limited than the Maxway! But it's not an issue for us yet as DD2 is very petite.

I hope the splints work for your son. I wouldn't feel bad for considering a forward facing seat, in your situation I don't see what else you can do and you must remember that being in a properly-fitted decent FF seat is not dangerous. I'm the first to tell anybody about the advantages of rear facing, but it's not as if your child is guaranteed to be badly injured in a FF seat and touch wood the likelihood of a bad accident is hopefully very small. I am crossing all my fingers and toes as I write this, but I have been a parent for 9 years now and have never been in an accident!