Desperate for a new car seat

[pumpkinbump]

I've been looking all day and I can't seem to find a suitable one. I've signed up for which? to see safety ratings but none seem to score that high.

I was originally looking at the britax ADVANSAFIX R but this is forward facing only and using a top tether which I am not sure would be suitable for the back seats of my car as it is a bench seat, not sure if this makes a difference.

I then came across the cosatto All in All, which is rear and forward facing but I've read here that they're not great safety wise.

Is rear facing really that much safer? My daughter has just turned two.

Any advice on which car seat to buy would be greatly appreciated.

Rear facing is so much safer for children up until the age of 4. The reason is that a child's spine and pelvis isn't directly formed until that age and the impact of a forward facing crash can crush the pelvis and cause internal decapitation of the spinal cord. Obviously this is only in severe crashes, but overall, it is much safer.

I am a huge advocate for rear facing but I always try to remain neutral on the matter because on a few forums I'm on, parents put across many valid points on why they cannot rear face and so forward facing works better for them.

If you would like to continue rear facing, these are the car seats that rear face up to 25kg. The Diono Radian 5 is the only one that also forward faces if you'd like the option of both. The cheapest one is the Britax Two Way Elite.

Depending on what percentile your child is on, you may get away with an 18kg seat which will give you plenty more options, but you'll want this to last you until at least 4 years old which is why their percentile is important.

I bought an 18kg seat and my son, who is way above the 100th percentile now, is only 13 months and already 16.8kg in clothes so nearing the limit 😩

Rear facing is so much safer for children up until the age of 4. The reason is that a child's spine and pelvis isn't directly formed until that age and the impact of a forward facing crash can crush the pelvis and cause internal decapitation of the spinal cord. Obviously this is only in severe crashes, but overall, it is much safer.

I am a huge advocate for rear facing but I always try to remain neutral on the matter because on a few forums I'm on, parents put across many valid points on why they cannot rear face and so forward facing works better for them.

If you would like to continue rear facing, these are the car seats that rear face up to 25kg. The Diono Radian 5 is the only one that also forward faces if you'd like the option of both. The cheapest one is the Britax Two Way Elite.

Depending on what percentile your child is on, you may get away with an 18kg seat which will give you plenty more options, but you'll want this to last you until at least 4 years old which is why their percentile is important.

I bought an 18kg seat and my son, who is way above the 100th percentile now, is only 13 months and already 16.8kg in clothes so nearing the limit 😩

< www.rearfacingtoddlers.com/why-rear-facing-is-safer.html#>

Sorry posted too soon. The link above explains why rear facing is safer.
You’d be best to look for a seat the goes above the UK standard. Have a look at seats that are ADAC tested and/or have the Swedish Plus test. BeSafe seats are good (we have these) as are the Brittax Max Way Plus and Axkid Minikids.

Thank you for that information. It seems the more I read the more confused I get.

I had never heard of Diono, are they a good brand?

I have found this one which is good as I wanted a colourful one

www.pramworld.co.uk/diono-radian-5-rxt-plum

Is this one any good?

Hi OP, yep, that's a good one. It's included in the list provided by the Car Seat Safety group.

The added bonus to the Diono Radian 5 is that it's airline certified so you can use it when flying, too.

@pumpkinbump I think they are supposed to be good. A quick google tells me that they’ve had the ADAC testing and scored well.
This website has information on different car seats. Remember you also need to check it’s compatible with your car < incarsafetycentre.co.uk/by-type/plus-tested>

This was the link I meant to paste. Sorry, it’s late
< incarsafetycentre.co.uk/radian-5>
It has the list of cars that it’s compatible with.

Thank you, I have just checked and it is compatible with my car so that's good but it seems to have only scored 20 on which with poor crash test results. May be back to the drawing board.

@pumpkinbump

Thank you, I have just checked and it is compatible with my car so that's good but it seems to have only scored 20 on which with poor crash test results. May be back to the drawing board.

The radian is a really safe seat. Iirc it’s Swedish plus tested which is an enhanced safety test at higher speed (although someone might be able to clarify) Which reviews are naff because they score aesthetics and cleaning on equal footing with safety

We have the Diono radian for our two year old and it's great, it's the most solid seat I saw.

@Boomclaps It isn't Swedish plus tested because it also has the ability to forward face, but it is a very safe seat :)

The Diono Radian 5 did poorly in Which testing when in forward facing mode. Diono released a statement saying that they tested it with the harness pads the wrong way around, which allowed the dummy to slip out of place. The pads are very long and have grippy sticky parts on them to help the straps stay in place.

It's not considered one of the easier seats to use - and personally I'm a little wary of this harness pad thing since it seems a very small error to cause such a big safety issue.

Boom Which don't look at aesthetics at all. This is an odd myth which floats around car seat groups. They are a consumer organisation and do look at several factors, but safety is rated the highest and ease of use second - because it's no use having the safest car seat in the world if you miss some crucial step in the instructions and render it unsafe!

But in any case, yes, rear facing is quite a bit safer simply because of the physics of it - the child is being caught by the whole shell of the seat and the energy of the crash dispersed into the shell, rather than being dispersed across the five point harness which puts strain on the child's body. It's less of an issue at 2 than it is at 1 (when it really is life or death) but ideally I would want to rear face until 3 really. Children in Sweden are mostly turned between their third and fourth birthdays, and the child passenger death statistics there are in single figures (and all catastrophic e.g. the whole car exploded).

OP, how heavy and/or tall is your DD?

If you like the Britax seats, I would really recommend the Britax Max Way Plus if you're looking for something to rear face up to 25kg (Again note that it scored low on Which - because they found it hard to install. It's the same install method as any other rear facing 25kg seat. For safety it scored very highly.)

Or the Britax Dualfix i-size is a great one if you're undecided about rear facing, it can be rear facing up to 18kg, but you can also forward face it and as forward facing seats go, it's a very safe one (top 5 on Which).

The seat covers/colours on this range (both Dualfix and Max Way Plus) are really nice as well. I especially like Burgundy Red which is quite purplish, but Fire Red, Moonlight Blue and the Cool Flow fabrics are lovely as well.

I do really like the Advansafix seat range, but I would recommend it for age 3+ personally. The seat itself is quite roomy at the base and I think a just-2 year old would rattle around in it a bit, as well as it being forward facing.

We have the Joie 360 Spin for my 23 month old (in Sea Deep) and I love it! That is another seat I would recommend.

Diono are American and used to be called Sunshine Kids. They have only recently started making seats for the European market. They are quite different to the other seats you find in Europe so they are a bit marmite.... I am not keen personally. But they definitely have their place.

Oh - WRT the top tether - you would need dedicated top tether points in your car to use this. Bench seats don't rule that out, but if it's an older car it's very unlikely it would have top tether. They have only been legally mandated since 2013 and weren't very commonly found in cars earlier than this.

You might already know if you have isofix as that's a bit better known - any idea?

Ginger do you have any more info on the pelvis thing? I'm always curious because I see age 4 referenced a lot but I've never managed to work out what the age 4 thing is based on. Crushed pelvis is a new one for me so would be interested to read about it. (God that sounds morbid...)

As your DD is already two IMO you would be better off buying the dualfix M i-size as its slightly cheaper than the regular one.

Thank you all very much for the advice.

I have decided against the Diono as it seems really bulky and heavy and I have a Corsa.

My daughter is 82cm standing up.

I have just had a look at the Dual fix which looks good but it seems that at almost £300, it's expensive for a seat which will only last her two years.

I have now been looking at the Axkid Minikid, which is RF and will last until she is 6. I discounted these before based on price, but am now leaning toward one. Does anyone have one or have any advice on it?

I do really like the Britax May Way plus and the colour wine is lovely but it seems the Minikid is easier to fit, I will be removing and installing the seat 2 times a week.

My car does have Isofix. The 360 spin does look good but again only goes up to 4 years.

The Axkid move is a budget version if the minikid if price is an issue. Main differences are different fabric, the tethers are manual rather than ratchet and the harness needs to be rethreaded instead of self adjusting. The Axkid seats are absolutely fantastic.

They fit well in small cars too. I had a minikid and could get a 5ft 10 passenger in the front seat of my huundai i10. Dp is 6ft 2 and he could get in the front with a squash.

Yes the isofix ones only go up to 18kg, although the ages given are just a guide, weight and height are more important.

If she's 82cm at just turned 2, she's quite small for her age - around 15th centile. So you'll get longer out of any seat. The Britax Dualfix (the 2R is a bit cheaper) will likely last her until about 5-5.5 (if you keep her in it that long) and the Max Way or Axkid Minikid could potentially last her until she's 8, even close to 9.

For fitting compare these two - the self tightening tethers on the minikid are slightly easier, but I don't know that there's a lot in it. For either seat, it's possible to get a second set of tethers to leave in each car, they just tuck away under the front seat when not in use and you can clip them onto the car seat when you install it. If you are definitely interested in a 25kg seat, it's worth checking for a local Axkid stockist, these sellers tend to be rearfacing specialists, and may well have both Britax ERF and Axkid seats in stock so you can try for yourself.

The isofix spin seats are (somewhat) quick and easy to install/uninstall but they tend to be bulky and heavy, so not that easy to move from car to car unless the cars can park right next to each other, and even then I find it a bit of a pain as you have to climb right into the footwell of the seat to get to the isofix points properly. And I don't know if they all have this issue, but the leg on our Joie 360 isn't possible to secure when the seat is uninstalled so it has a habit of falling down and extending to its max length which is infuriating (as it gets in the way/whacks you across the shins) and causes much swearing!

If you have the ability to leave an isofix base in each car, ie don't need another passenger to be able to use that seat, another solution might be something like Joie i-Venture, Axkid Modukid or Maxi Cosi Pearl Pro, where you just click the seat on and off a base like a baby seat. As she's likely to reach 105cm at 5+ years you'd get plenty of time out of these seats. But they can add up in cost again, as you would need to buy 2 bases.

Installation:

Thank you very much for your help. Looking at the videos, the minikid does seem a lot easier to install compared to the Britax Max way, not sure if that is just me.

Would you recommend one over the other out of minikid or max way?

They are both excellent. I couldn't recommend one over the other. Just depends which you particularly like, which fits your car (the Britax is supposed to be a little bit more compact but also a stricter fit list) and which fits your child really.

The Minikid's headrest/self tightening harness is pretty innovative, and harness tightness is one of the most common problems with car seat use, so that probably tips it into first place.

I spent months researching car seats when my daughter was due to outgrow her baby seat. I bought the concord reverso plus seat. It is very good. She is 4 1/2 now(but small for her age) and we are still using it. I really wanted her to rear face for as long as physically possible. It is so much safer.

@BertieBotts Apologies I was a bit unclear in the crush pelvis comment. I meant that the harness crushes against the pelvis as the body is thrown forwards in the impact of a FF crash, rather than that the pelvis is crushed as a result.

This image shows how the pelvis develops over time which I found very interesting.

Thank you all for the great advice. I went for the Axkid Minikid in the end. Just ordered it and gor a price match for the one in pink which seems our of stock everywhere, was 350 but got it for 267.50!