Recaro Salia Elite... full recline?!

[fpurplea]

We have a Recaro Salia Elite bought from Halfords, and believe it should recline to near flat when rear facing. Although there is a small amount of recline when using the recline mechanism, it goes nowhere near as flat as pics on the internet suggest, and not flat enough that I feel comfortable transporting my newborn without having someone in the back to supervise. Anyone own one and can shed some light? We've scoured the manuals and installation run thrus online and can't work it out, are we missing something silly?

Unless your newborn is very premature or has a health condition, why would they need to be supervised?

Some of the photos are a bit misleading, very few car seats are near flat even for a newborn. The usual angle is between 35 and 45 degrees from flat, can you measure this in your car? This angle does not pose a danger to newborns however car seat use should be limited to 30 minute sessions at one time until 4 weeks old. After this, a maximum of 2 hours in the car seat at one time is recommended. This is because the steep angle can become a problem over an extended period of time. However, it's a necessary measure for crash safety. That's why you have the compromise of a time limit.

You don't need somebody in the back to supervise if the angle is correct, the child is positioned properly in the seat and time limits are adhered to. Also TBH supervision won't really help, although obviously a lot of people like to sit next to newborns anyway.

You can get a problem with isofix car seats in some cars that the rear seats are sloped for adult passenger safety and comfort, and if the isofix points are additionally right down low in the corner of the seat, then the whole car seat is tilted towards the back of the car. For rear facing seats obviously this tilts them to be more upright. The degree of slope and the position of the isofix points differs from car to car so it is not something that can always be judged in advance, however the Recaro seats are pretty bad for it. Also check you have not over extended the support leg as this can tilt the car seat too far up.

Hi, i wanted to ask how you found the car seat? Want to buy the salia elite but worried about the lack of reviews so would love to hear your experience! Thank you

Sorry Emilia, can't help (but hopefully the original poster will see this bump!) but it is essentially the same seat as Recaro zero.1 elite, and that has plenty of reviews, so these might be useful to you.

Hi, sorry just saw this! We got ours from Halfords about 6 months ago, but it was end of line, we got the display model on sale. Honestly, I'm still not the biggest fan of it, it's very large and heavy, doesn't seem like a great position for our baby, (she's certainly not keen lol) and having since read up on carseat safety the rear facing weight limits aren't as high as some other seats. Main reason we went for it was because of the carrier, but honestly apart from coming from the hospital we've rarely used it.

Thank you @fpurplea ! I heard the same feedback from others about the carrier being very upright and outgrown within a few months, so decided against this car seat. Sounded too good to be true and I guess it was!