New! EU wants to forbid forward facing car seats

[MissHH]

Read more here:

kidsincars.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-european-research-children-should.html

What do you think? I can clearly understand why looking at that report.

Much more nicely put MissHH So glad you started this thread.

Was the meaning clear? It can be a bit difficult sometimes trying to translate from Norwegian to English.

And thank you by the way actually it was MrsAki who tipped me about this research

Spot on! I got the tip off too and was trying to come up with a catchy thread title when I saw your thread...

Do you know who the report will be sent too?

Sorry, but I completely agree with Monkeytrousers. Threads like this are actually incredibly upsetting for me, as we simply couldn't afford a "good" car seat. Ds is now in a Britax FF Isofix (which we can't use as our car doesn't have it) which was donated to us by a friend who is big up on her car safety. We will have her Britax RF for when dc2 is here which goes up to about 2 years of age i think.

And then of course we have the guilt of using a 2nd hand car seat

Whenever ds went in her RF Britax carseat he got very distressed, despite it being supposedly ok until 2. He is extremely long and would scream and then choke on his own vomit. I think it's much safer to have a baby who is not screaming and distracting the driver in a FF seat than it is to have an unhappy baby and worried, distracted mother with baby in a RFer!

UD, i think second hand seats ar fine if you know the history of them no guilt from me. have used them.have a second hand club class as my second seat which i got from a friend, which is close now to expiry date, but still in good condition.

I'll tell you what, actually. Now I know how mums who end up formula feeding because of bad advice or whatever feel when the benefits of breastfeeding is touted in front them, or people assume they formula fed their children because they're too stupid or lazy to bf.

So this thread has at least given me more insight and empathy to people in that situation.

Woooah tsd, it's entirely different. The whole point of threads like this is to raise awareness. Did you know that RF was safer before you were upset by this thread? Did you know that the seats exist but Mothercare/Halfords refuse to stock them as they think UK parents don't want them? I'm sorry that you feel guilty as it's sounds like you're doing the very best you can for your children, but if we cut this thread to spare your (and others in a similar situation) feelings we would be denying many other parents the choice.

It's all about choice and awareness and doesn't need to be turned into a them and us situation.

Yes, I did know about how much safer RF car seats were Pixie. The trouble is, that we were given our travel system which had the infant seat with it which only fitted ds until he was about 7 months (21lbs) at which point the only thing we could afford to buy was a Fisher Price FFer. My heart was in my mouth the whole time we drove, if I'm honest (although i'm much better now we've got the Britax)

We found a Group 0+ to 2 carseat in Halfords - think it was made by MaxiCosi? - but it was the best part of £300! We simply can't afford that. And I actually agree with Mothercare and Halfords, I don't think there is a market for these absurdly expensive carseats - unless they drop the price - especially in the current financial climate. At the end of the day, car seat manufacturers like Britax and MaxiCosi don't exist to save babies' lives - they exist to turn a profit. A Massive Profit. As do companies like Mothercare and Halfords. So unless the Government is going to start to subsidise these wonderful RFing seats then i'm afraid I don't see the large majority of the British public buying them!

I have a Renault Espace and as you can see you can face all of the seats toward the rear, so a FF car seat would face to the rear.
Sorry to be a bit thick and ask again..... but is it the design of the RF as well as the direction that makes it safer?? Would the head still flip flop about?

Does the Megane Scenic do that as well Twelvelegs?

So it's the design as a whole too, because not many cars have seats that you can rear face and so there are no sturdy ff car seats.
BTW How does one stop their toddler from getting arms through??? I strap it as tight as I can.
Supply and demand will bring down the cost...

Not as far as I'm aware /

Sadly turning the seats around in the car isn't the same as RF.

tSD: The price is stiff, that is why people have to start demanding the seats. When more RF seats is available on the market the prices will be forced down.

Tl: Belt clips - Many parents struggle with kids who in one way or another gets out of the car seat belt. A belt clip prevents the child from taking of the seat belt and it also locks the belt in the right position. And tighten the belt as hard as you can.

Like in picture nr. two here:
images.google.no/images?q=beltesamler&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:nb-NO:official&client=firefo x-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

Pixiep: No, I do not know. Have any of you tipped of any TV channels news? Here it made it to the nine o'clock news the same day.

Well there's alwys Jeremy Vine to start. I am outraged that we didn't know about this.

MissHH - then it's a vicious circle isn't it? People can't afford the seats so they stay artificially high, so the parents can't demand then to bring the price down!

You don't work for a car seat manufacturer do you, by any chance?

Suburban, back to your previous post...Do we just wait around for the government to get up to date on what all technical groups are telling us?, or do we push the subject on chat forums, encouraging parents to approach their MP's, road safety officers, local news etc and try to get things improved for our children ourselves?

That's why these threads need to exist IMO. Looks like twelvelegs is up for helping things along...so thats one more person today.

i don't see if there's a booming market for these on the continent we have to pretend the prices are high in the Uk cos of not demand vs manufacturing costs. We live in the EU, in a global market environment yet we are expected to believe shipping to the Uk blows the international budget of these companies and so forces high prices here

the britax fixway is MADE in the UK

i think its that one anyway.

takes the pee.

Yep, the Britax ones are made in Andover for the Scandinavian market then imported back again...mad in-it?

I know you can get a 'Which' approved FF Group 1 seat for £50, but having just looked on-line, there are loads of FF priced upto £230. Some people are possibly buying these thinking that most expensive must be safest...and not knowing that for £30 less thay can get a RF thats 5 times safer.

Just sent off my email to Jeremy Vine, Radio 2!!!

Tl: No, my job isn't any where near that, but I wished I worked in a traffic organization helping children getting RF seats and giving parents the information they are entitled.

forgot to write "to" at the end of that sentence.