Car seat suggestions 4yo

[Sunshineishere]

Hey, looking for car seat suggestions for my DD. 102cm and 18.5kg.

i can’t find what I exactly want on the market, but wondering if someone has seen anything?

• harness - she is sensible, but would if possible like that extra security for a little longer. Especially for longer journeys and traveling. But understand with some she is nearly grown out of this .

• isofix - so it’s more secure in the car

• seatbelt - the odd times she will travel in a van for school pick ups, so needs to have seatbelt fastening also, but not top teather.

i can’t seem to find anything that meets all them requirements. Some work, but then not suitable for a van or front seat, and require top teather. Others I would have to not have a harness and just seatbelt.

is there anything on the market?

I have looked at:
joie - Irvana (top teather)
joie - elevate (no iso)
silver cross - essential discover (no harness and top tether)
Maxi cosi - no harness

I have also looked at other brands and seats.

I’d get a joie bold and something else for the van.

At 18.5kg she will be over the weight limit for most harnesses, joie bold goes to 25kg.

The other option is to look at an extended rear facing, you can get them with a weight limit up to 36kg now.

Thank you. She has severe travel sickness so can’t rear face, unless medicated. Had to turn her round early only the advise of pediatrician.

I'm trying to avoid 2 seats.

would a Britax Kidfix be a good seat?

She would be safer forward facing with the seatbelt rather than a harness. The thing you want to avoid forward facing is the head moving forward while the body is pinned in place as this can lead to internal decapitation.

at 4 her bones will be beginning to ossify enough for this to start becoming less of a concern, she may also be sensible enough to sit with the adult seatbelt. I would suggest you get a good high back booster with seatbelt guide and crotch pad to prevent submarining rather than look for a harnessed seat.

(obviously forward facing with a harness is better than no restraint at all).

@Onceuponatimeinalandfaraway thankyou the kidfix I size, provides a crotch pad, so this might be the one. She is quite sensible and has a good understanding for her age, she doesn’t mess around now, even though she can open her harness she doesn’t until told.

just not stocked in my locals store to view. So will have to travel.

Does Britax Advansafix work? We have the Kidfix (in fact, 4 of them! - various different models) and it meets all your requirements except the harness I think.

That seat mentioned in the post before mine is not a UK seat and the link looks dodgy - be wary of clicking.

You can't do all the things you want in one seat. The only seats which harness longer than 105cm forward facing need top tether. You could look at something like Britax Evolvafix, which has a slightly longer limit on the harness for which you use isofix and top tether, but it's possible to fit with seatbelt only when used in high back booster mode. (This is not ideal because it's heavy, but it is possible to do it). It's also quick and simple to swap between the two modes and it does have a crotch strap thing for use in booster mode. 102-105cm will probably buy you about 6-9 months more harness time.

If you want to harness longer than this, I think your best option would be to get two seats. The Joie i-Trillo HBB is on offer for £50 I've just seen at Mamas & Papas - that's a really good price. You could then get something like Joie Bold or Cozy n Safe Hudson (both of these not the i-size versions as they have lower limits) to continue using a harness in your main car for as long as you like without worrying about the limits.

It's only the 'old' joie hold that hardness to 25kg. The new ones stop at 18kg and they also have a top tether