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New car seat for small 4 yo

13 replies

Darmy1 · 18/02/2025 19:59

Hi all we were in a car accident so need to buy a new car seat.

DD is 4 years old, petite - just under 100cm (I’d say about 98-99cm) and weighs around 13.8kg.

We had the Joie stages before where the seat is secured with a seatbelt and had a harness. I didn’t like the fact it moved around compared to an isofix base where it appears more sturdy.

I was wondering if there was any safety advice for her size/age for seatbelt vs isofix? And Harness vs seatbelt?

ideally we’d want a car seat that lasts long but they all seem to be seatbelt rather than a harness and I’m wondering if she’s too small for just a seatbelt?

any suggestions for car seats we have a voucher for Halfords?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
HouseFullOfChaos · 18/02/2025 20:37

This is a good car seat because the middle bit holds the lap belt in place for extra security. Asda say from 3.5 years on it and my DD has been in hers for years now. It feels very secure once she's in it. I'll attach a picture but MN will have to approve it before it's shown I think.

New car seat for small 4 yo
welshweasel · 18/02/2025 20:47

Isofix is purely for convenience, it doesn't make a seat safer.

She is not heavy enough to be safe in a high backed booster so will need a harnessed seat.

Ideally, given how petite she is, this would be a rear facing seat. You could use something like a joie stages rear facing until she's 15kg then turn it forward facing and use the seatbelt.

NameChange30 · 18/02/2025 21:02

Sorry about the car accident, I hope everyone was OK.

Hopefully BertieBotts will be along soon as she is a fountain of knowledge about car seats and always has super helpful advice!

I believe the jury is out as to whether a seatbelt or a harness is safer when forward-facing. I think when the child is small for their age, a seat belt is not ideal and a harness is better. The safest option is rear-facing with a harness if you would consider that. But if your child is used to forward-facing, you might not want to rear-face her again.

If you didn't have a Halfords voucher, I would suggest a Britax seat, but I don't think Halfords stocks Britax, so look at Joie instead.

NameChange30 · 18/02/2025 21:07

This is forward-facing with a harness up to 105cm and then seat belt from 105cm up.
https://www.halfords.com/baby-and-child/car-seats/all-car-seats/joie-i-irvana-group-1%2F2%2F3-car-seat---shale-286915.html

BertieBotts · 18/02/2025 21:52

She still needs a 5 point harness as she is under 15kg and 100cm - these are the two minimum stats for using a high back booster with adult seatbelt. It is better arguably to wait until the child is closer to 18kg, but given she might not be there until she is more like 6 or 7, I think it's a situation where you're OK to wait for the minimums, but she does need to meet both of them.

Do you know if you want rear facing or forward facing?

For rear facing I'd look at Britax Safe-Way M or Axkid Minikid 2 as these are on offer currently and are good value. However you can't get them from Halfords - you'd have to argue to swap the voucher, or spend it on something else e.g. a bike, roof rack etc and divert the funds for the car seat.

If she stays on the same centile lines, they will last her until she is about ten (which, obviously you don't NEED to rear face at age 10 so they will essentially last as long as you like). They are seatbelt fitted, but combined with the Swedish type tethers and the support leg they are extremely secure.

OTOH if you prefer forward facing or want a seat which will go all the way, these are the only three I really like:

Britax Evolvafix/Advansafix
Maxi Cosi Titan i-size
Silver Cross Balance

Halfords have the Maxi Cosi Titan Plus i-size, Titan S i-size, and Onyx i-size which looks similar but is new to me. I would assume it is up to Maxi Cosi's usual high standards, and the harness looks tall like the Titan seats. They don't stock the Britax or Silver Cross seats at the moment (sometimes they seem to do the Britax one).

These seats last up to 18kg/105cm in the harness, which should probably get her to about age 5.5 by which point she should be heavy enough to go into the high back booster mode. They then go all the way up to 150cm (or likely she will reach age 12 first).

Isofix is definitely recommended for harnessed seats forward facing, especially with a top tether or support leg. These seats all use top tether which means that the crash performance is better than a seatbelt fitted seat. If your seat was moving around when fitted, then it's possible it may also have been too loose - isofix eliminates that possibility because it's a solid connection to the car. So definitely recommended Smile

It is a bit more expensive than the Stages (£179 for Onyx) - if you need a cheaper one, your options start at £60 for Joie Elevate R129 - this seat is very basic, but it's the best one of the cheaper models because it has a well-positioned belt guide for the high back booster mode. However, it is seatbelt fitted in 5point harness mode, and you might have a similar issue with it moving around if the seatbelt buckles in your car are further forward.

Graco Slimfit R129 is worth a look for £100 if you want to look at rear facing - this is RF up to 105cm/21kg and then forward facing once the child is over 100cm and 15kg (but only in high back booster/seatbelt mode). It got a reasonable safety rating on the ADAC test, but it's not isofix. Similar to the Joie Stages if it didn't have a forward facing harness mode.

Graco Energi R129 (£120) is probably the cheapest isofix type seat I'd look at out of the options here, again because the belt guides are well-positioned and it's lightweight which is helpful for the high back booster mode. Or Joie i-Irvana is similar. Honestly though I do prefer the Maxi Cosi to these models. I would only look at these if the Maxi Cosi would be a stretch financially.

They do have a 10% off code at the moment so it's possible the Onyx could be closer to £162.

supersonicginandtonic · 18/02/2025 22:02

Have you got the current seat installed properly? We have the Joie stages and it doesn't move at all.

BertieBotts · 18/02/2025 22:10

It looks like the Onyx and Titan S are probably the same model, so Onyx will be a budget end but updated version compared with the other Titan models.

The Titan Plus has some extra comfort features but no extra safety features as far as I can see, so the extra £30 is for a softer, plusher cushion and a memory foam headrest.

NameChange30 · 18/02/2025 22:42

Super helpful advice from Bertie (told you so, OP!) Smile

Darmy1 · 18/02/2025 22:57

Thank you everyone, luckily we are all okay and was a minor accident.

and thank you, some good advice and suggestions. I will have a look at all the suggestions and compare. I’m glad I asked as it’s reassured me I need a harness for a little while longer.

@supersonicginandtonic I followed the instructions and even watched YouTube videos. Put my weight on the chair etc but it would move side to side a bit when she wasn’t in it. It just didn’t feel safe to me. Although it didn’t seem to budge when we were hit side on so I assume it was installed correctly.

OP posts:
Darmy1 · 18/02/2025 23:06

@BertieBotts thank you! Very helpful

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 18/02/2025 23:39

It sounds like it did its job well whether or not it moved :)

It could be there was a compatability issue like the seatbelts being too far forward to anchor the seat back and down. An isofix seat would solve this, anyway.

Halfords do have a version of the Stages called Convoy, which is the same except it uses isofix and top tether. Personally I don't love the Stages as a high backed booster which is why I didn't put it into that list, but if you were keen on it because it worked well for you aside from the seatbelt issue, it might be worth a look.

Ariela · 19/02/2025 00:13

I recommend getting a video consultation with Charlene https://saundersandsmalls.co.uk/

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