Seat belt anchor too long in car - any car seats suitable?

[Moriarosesbebe]

Our old but reliable car has no isofix points so need to use a seat that can be fastened with the seatbelt. However the female anchors on all the backseats are too long and are not flush with the seat. Just got Joie Stages for our 1 year old and it is way too lose so that's money down the drain. I could cry. We can't afford another car seat let alone a new car but I can't seem to find a car seat that works. I checked with the dealership and they said there is nothing they can do to adjust the anchors.
DH took all the tags and labels off the car seat before checking it fit for some reason so I doubt the shop will take it back.

What type of car do you have?

A 25kg seat suxh as axkid move may work. It does use seatbelt installation but also tethers to seat under rails in front. I can highly reccomend the Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/1376541652674823/?ref=share
For advice too

@Toolateplanting I have a Nissan Almera, 2007 so pretty old but has never given us any bother until now!
@angel0071987 thank you, I'm not on Facebook but I'll get my DH to check it out when he is home. I'll look up that seat too. I'm desperate to find something that works. We are in the middle of nowhere so can't afford to avoid the car

Our car has similar issue, however the stages has never been a problem in it. I did try Joie tilt and Joie steadi before but they would not work at all with the seat belt storks. We currently have a britax 2 way elite for my 3 year old and I can get a very solid fit even with the annoying seat belts.

I can't quite picture what you mean but can you put a rolled up towel underneath to raise the seat?

Buckle crunch is the term for it, there are pics online showing exactly what is and isn’t a problem which might help. Failing that the in car safety centre are always recommended for tricky car seat problems

@stormelf hmm maybe its how I'm installing it. I swear carseat manuals are not designed for parents with sleep deprivation. I'm going to bring it back to the shop to see if they have any insight

@fallingsnowflakes normally the seat buckle anchor should be snug with the seat but ours is long which I think effects how tight of a fit you can get with car seat. I should have taken a picture as I'm not very good at describing it

@Toolateplanting ah ok, I'm glad there is a name for it. I thought I was going mad. Ive booked an online consultation to check the fit (not in the UK so still in lockdown). That will be the end of June so hopefully his old seat will do him until then

Yes it does sound like buckle crunch, this is common in older cars, it's a pain.

Are you trying to fit it rear facing or forward facing? If forward facing, try it rear facing as the belt path is a bit longer.

If still no luck the 25kg rear facing seats Axkid move / Minikid and britax max way /multi Tech tend to be better for long belt stalks as you can position the car seat further forward which helps.

If it's forward facing you want, britax seats are very good as most of them have a dual belt path to guard against this issue. It's not normally mentioned on the product page any more though because these seatbelts aren't common any more. But you can download all their manuals on their site so I'd have a look through their list and check the manual if any seat you like the look of.

Axkid minikid I'm sure will fit. Much much better to stay rear facing too

@1940s if I can't get this one to fit I'll definitely check out axkid

@Toolateplanting I really want to stay rear facing as long as possible but good to know there is a forward facing option. He hates being in the car so he may prefer forward facing so that's one positive if we are forced to switch.

Oops sorry I meant to reply to @BertieBotts for the above comment.

It's actually much easier to solve this problem with the longer lasting rear facing seats because of the tethers :) so don't worry!

You can always keep the stages for a spare in relatives cars or when travelling etc.

Are you certain it doesn’t have isofix points by the way? They were around from 2004 but not marked with a fabric label on the seat covers till much later.
Britax first class is another infant toddler seat that works well for buckle crunch because it has an alternate routing.

Isofix has actually been around since 1997 :) but not all cars have it. If op has long buckle straps the car is likely to be older. By around 2006 something like 75% of new cars had it. But it's only since 2013 it's been necessary for new cars, and necessary for them to be marked clearly.

Britax first class plus only has the alternate routing for the forward facing mode and is only rear facing up to 13kg so probably no good for the op.

Ah thanks Bertie, recognise you on these threads as an expert! Our 2004 car had it but I only knew because I checked. Useless anyway because for some reason the seat wouldn’t sit flush with the isofix points, it was tipped forward oddly, so had to belt it in.

@BertieBotts that's good as since I've looked into extended rear facing I'm reluctant to switch. I don't think forward facing will really solve our problems anyways as I think he just hates being restricted

@Toolateplanting I'll check the seats again but I'm 90% sure there isn't. I'd both love and cry if there is!

Thats brilliant there are more options out there. My DH will be disappointed as he thought it was the perfect excuse to upgrade the car (with what money I don't know!)

Haha oh no :o