Where can I find safety info for next stage car seats?

[Bumblebeemee]

LO is 8 months old, 2nd centile for weight and 9th for height so 18kg capacity shouldn’t be an issue. We need a second seat for nursery in a few months and happy to use our cybex cloud z in the other car until it’s outgrown but we want to be rear facing as long as possible.

Are there any websites that show a comparison of the crash tests / car seat features in one place? Ideally we’d like something that spins but it’s not a dealbreaker, I just have a bad back from a car accident years ago so would make life a bit easier. We could get the next cybex to fit the isofix base we’ve got but not sure how well rated it is in comparison to the like of Britax or Joie.

Any advice or pointers of where to look would be much appreciated!

Oh and we will have to buy two eventually once the cloud z is done because we need one in each car so hoping to keep costs down if possible!

Which maybe? Or ADAC.

If you're on Facebook there's a group called car seat safety UK. Run by a couple of small retailers who advocate extended rear facing and plus tested seats. They're very knowledgeable

Which

I'm not sure if this is the same person but there's a Swedish guy called Hakan who runs a car seat safety site: www.carseat.se/about/

There's a lot of useful info on there.

Highly recommend you join Extended Rear Facing (ERF) Car Seat Safety group on Facebook. Really knowledgable and can point you an appropriate seat for your child to get you to safe booster seat age. It’s run by independent retailers, who also offer a fitting service.

Thanks everyone. Currently down an ADAC rabbit hole 😁I’ve requested to join some Facebook groups too.

Someone has mentioned Which. They mark down extended rear facing seats as they can be harder to fit so you need to really dig into their overall scoring and focus on the crash test results rather than total score.

Not Which.

Look for Swedish Plus Tested seats

Just make sure you test the fit in both cars - all the testing is irrelevant if it doesn't fit your model of car adequately, the large extended rear facing seats can be an issue in small cars or older ones not built with them in mind. We found ours did not fit in my parents car!

That’s a good point thanks. I’ve decided to just buy one and see how we get on with it in one car and keep the cloud z in the second car until it’s outgrown. Then we can either duplicate for the second car or at least we’ll know what we’d have chosen differently if we decide to go for something else!

The second car will literally only be doing nursery drop offs where the first car will do pick ups plus all daily and holiday travel. We both drive the ‘main’ car when not at work so the second seat is only because we share the drop off / pick ups when shifts overlap and we can’t leave a seat at nursery. An expensive inconvenience!

Yes to ADAC and Which - just look at the safety score and disregard the rest.

Agree testing in the car is useful, to see the recline angle, the front seat space, the spinning mechanism (e.g. Joie 360 has the button right back against the seat and can be tricky to reach depending on the shape of your seats). Try lifting baby in and out of the seat to see how easy it is to bump their head accidentally! The Joie/Graco also has larger spaces between each of the isofix arm locking points which means that it rattles more in some cars where it's just too tight for the next position.

My main tip with spin seats would be stick with a support leg and avoid top tether. Top tether seats tend to be produced cheaply and/or sometimes they can't spin with the tether attached, which is a pain. Also, avoid the ones that turn into a high backed booster. Just get a separate high backed booster later. The toddler seats get absolutely wrecked and you don't want to be using that same gross seat for another 8 years afterwards, plus the more jobs you ask a seat to do, the more compromises it makes.

I really like the look of the new Britax Dualfix with the 20kg limit. The Joie and Graco ones are good if you're on a tight budget, though they lack leg room. Besafe izi turn is good if you have very sloping seats, although expensive. Cybex is prone to faults and very short shell, although nice to use for smaller children. I don't like the way you have to push it up to spin, though. The older Dualfix models are also nice on a medium budget. Maxi Cosi feels plush but is usually overpriced for the features. If you think you will forward face later on, Recaro/Britax/Besafe are good choices. Silver Cross keep pushing their spin seat as being the "safest ever" but be aware it's just the safest ever of the multi-stage seats, it has a worse safety score than the standalone spin seats with no booster mode.

Just a word of advice about the Facebook groups. Unless you are currently using one of the "chosen seats" you will need a very hard hat. I've seen posters asking for advice all but accused of child abuse and mum shamed for not having the correct seat. There have been many people who have asked for help and then deleted their posts as before anyone with any knowledge can help they have been mum shamed and told they are terrible parents for even buying certain infant carriers and seats. It can be a very toxic place.

If you are anywhere near a branch, go to the In Car Safety Centre, they are excellent

Thanks everyone for your advice. The Facebook groups are certainly interesting!! I’ve actually been put off the spin seats by a few threads now commenting on how bulky they are and how high up they sit making it more difficult for little one to climb into it lifted into one they’re a toddler. LO feels heavy to me already despite being low centile. I’m also keen for another one or 2 littles so would like to keep my options open on fitting any future seats on the back row. We’ll likely be going for belted as my car lease is up next year too.

I actually do have an in car safety nearby and also an independent retailer for Axkid / Avionaut / Britax. I’m keen to go for a plus tested seat so might have to increase the budget!

If you're leasing, then you don't need to worry about isofix availability. It's been required, including top tether on all new cars since 2013.

Even if you are planning to buy a used car next, isofix is almost ubiquitous now as it's been in the majority of cars since about 2006. It's only works vans, camper vans, 20+ year old cars and a few 10+ year old cars that don't have it.

Most of the Swedish type seats have not been ADAC tested, and ADAC really hate tethers as they think they have a high chance of misuse, so ADAC is less helpful for those seats.

Plus test is higher standard than ADAC anyway. I'd look at plus test status + Folksam for user friendliness reviews:

www.folksam.se/tester-och-goda-rad/vara-tester/bilbarnstolar

In terms of spin seats the only plus tested ones are:

Joie Spin Safe / i-Spin Safe
Besafe izi Twist
A Nuna one - I forget which

Bear in mind that the ones which front face as well don't get entered for the plus test as they would not pass FF. But for example, Britax Swingfix is plus tested, and it's a rear facing version of Britax Dualfix - they are the same seat. OTOH you can't always take that for granted. The Joie "safe" (RF only) versions of their spin seats have extra padding on the headrest, possibly to reduce ramping up, which suggests that they might be less protective in the RF mode of the RF/FF spin seats. (It would have cost more to make that change than to simply block the ability to lock in place forwards).

As you have a local retailer it's definitely worth going there to see what they have to try out and what they advise.