Booster seat blocking belt buckle

[LokeyCokey]

Until recently I had Britax Kidfix Pro seats installed in my car as my car was the “family car” and my husband had Joie Elevates in his. He’s now got a new “family car” so we’ve swapped seats. In my car the Elevates seem to almost cover the belt buckle so will be hard to use and maybe not even safe??? Does anyone have any advice? I naively assumed HBB were compatible with most cars. Do I need new seats?

Yes it’s called buckle crunch and can prevent the belt working as it should. Try out some HBB at the shop and see which work best for your cars

The Elevate doesn't have isofix, does it? You should be able to just move it slightly over to the side.

I was told that buckle crunch does not apply to booster seats, however I have found since we have switched to car sharing, our Joie Trillo FX booster is a pain as the base is very wide meaning it can be difficult to physically get the seatbelt into the holder in many car models. If the position of the booster seat prevents the seatbelt retracting properly, that is a safety issue and I would swap the seats back or replace the Joie ones, annoying though that is.

We've had this problem - previous car allowed Isofix seats to leave the middle seat belt clear and usable. New car doesn't - the bit you clip into is covered by the Isofix seat.

Thanks all, tried the kids in for the first time and it’s not too bad, the seats don’t make contact with the buckle @Flamingowiggleswormso don’t think it’s buckle crunch as the plastic not overlapping. I think it’s more the inconvenience of getting them strapped in!