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.

What has gone so wrong the last few decades that we are now being made to feel guilty even though we are doing everything in our power, and pocket, to keep our DCs safe? When I was a baby I was strapped in the car in a carrycot. When I was a toddler I was on a booster seat.

My DS is in supposedly the safest seat on the mainstream market, and still it's not good enough. Why? Because 80% of the people on the roads have no right to be there as they are clearly too stupid to drive. That needs addressing urgently.

I'm all for having the choice of a rear-facing carseat and would never argue otherwise. But it simply is not practical for many people. If the roads are such a dangerous place for children then any legislation should be focussing on hitting the people who are at fault - very hard.

"But it simply is not practical for many people."

That is a myth I really would like to kill

If one haven't had the change to try one really can't say that.

Safety first(ones the option is there at least).

MrsAki... maybe swedish parents are glad of the break from being superparents while in the car and quite enjoy having a bit of peace from the toddlers

twinklemegan.... my parents never had a carseat for me and didn't make me wear a seatbelt unless i was in the front and i'm only 24 so that was hardly a massively long time ago. how things have changed!

i think the choice should be there obviously but i also feel very strongly that given the choice i would be far less comfortable having my children faced away from me with their legs scrunched up (tall toddlers!) bored witless staring at the rear window.

i agree with twinkle megan, instead of legislating carseats to save kids who are in accidents, maybe the EU should focus on legislating to take dangwerous drivers off the roads, i'm sure that would save many more childrens lives in the long run

preg brain took over on the spelling there, sorry!

MissHH - how do you get the child in the rear-facing seat if you have a 3 door car?

We liftet up(or what do you call it?) the driver seat and DS climed into the seat himself and I fastend his seat belt. I could have gone in to the backseat my self and put him on my lap an lifted him into the seat if he was to little to get into his seat by himself.

"i think the choice should be there obviously but i also feel very strongly that given the choice i would be far less comfortable having my children faced away from me with their legs scrunched up (tall toddlers!) bored witless staring at the rear window."

PT: Bored? They have so much more when the sit RF. If the FF they can only stare into the seat in front of them or out of the side window. If they RF they can see out of the rear window and the side windows.

please read about what pediatrics says about childrens legs. Remember that they are not little adult, they do not feel the same as an adult might do:

kidsincars.blogspot.com/2007/09/bent-or-crossed-legs-are-not-dangerous.html

Broken legs is easy to fix, the alternative isn't. Please read the report and see what it says.

Think I'm getting the obsession bug too MrsAki/MissHH...lovely eve. out but have to check the thread before turnin' in....

It isn't just the roads that are becoming more dangerous, car themselves are becoming more unsafe for children. In the past 10 years car body shells have become much stiffer to protect adults in the event of a collision, which in turn is putting more pressure on children's small frames. (Put very simply!)

The latest report clearly shows that car seat advice is not keeping up with engineering developments. That is why, although a strain on our pockets, we have to keep improving seats and keep changing the advice. Accidents will always happen even if the obvious 'dounuts' are taken off the road.

Sos for repeating myself but the thread is long now so worth making the point again...

missHH, my kids can see out the front easily (did i mention tall?) they wouldn't be able to see out the back though as it's an estate so long expanse of boot first.

you see, it's all about personal situation. i also wouldn't be able to fit 3 RF seats in our car and after feb will need three seats.

'Accidents will always happen even if the obvious 'dounuts' are taken off the road.' of course they will, but if known dangerous drivers were immediatly banned instead of simply geting penalty points then there would be a huge decrease in accidents on the roads... saving the lives of many children.

This campaign for RF is not to make parents who have already bought FF seats and cannot afford to invest in RF seats feel guilty. They bought the seats based on the information available to them at the time. Now new information is out there for parents about to buy their second carseat and that is a good thing. I think its a British thing to take good advice and more uptodate iformation as criticism.

That's it. It's not the fault of UK parents that our country is 20/30? years behind Sweeden on this issue. But if all the Mum's in my anti-natel group were given this info. from the start, I know most of them would have chosen RF. Now they just feel annoyed that we didn't know in time. (My dd is diddy so I had a few extra months which has made a huge difference to our choice's)

And agree with pinktulips about tougher penalties for dangerous drivers.

FairyMum: Nicely put, I'll just sign every word in your last post

Another Bristolian here! Am at videos and the stats...but where would you go about getting a RF car seat that fits a relatively tall 2 yr old? We have a Ford Mondeo btw....

Plus kittenchoo likes forward facing from an entertainment value....he'd be screeching with boredom the other way around and that's more likely to distract and cause an accident iyswim?

Far as I can tell, I think the seat 'shells' are the same as FF, so, so long as 'kittens' eyeline isn't above the top of the seat back, that's fine. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this anyone?)

We got our Britax Fixway (isofix) at the Volvo dealers on St. Phillips Causeway. Next day delivery. They also have a belt restrained model too, but not sure if this is only suitable for Volvo's. 'Richard' in parts might be able to help 0845 371 4484. Also, In-car safety sell them by mail order and are very helpful with fitting issues. (I had to return one as it wasn't suitable and they were very helpful...but I had to cover return postage costs....).

You're more than welcome to come round and have a look at mine if you like...I'm in Southville. (This goes out to any MN's in the area if you're interested?) A few other MN's have offered to do this in other area's too on one of the other threads. And a friend of mine has the ultimate RF seat 'Besafe-isi'? (acc. to tests) which is belt secured, and would be willing offer viewings

The boredom, entertainment issue has been covered already in this thread. Children are sat up high and can see plenty. We have a mirror for looking at each other, and checking all's well etc. Might be difficult to change a LO who's used to FF to RF...I don't know?

Omg!!! I've just googled the besafe Izi and its nearly £900!!!!

How is this possible? I could put DS in his own car for that and let him pootle around! lol!

We don't have Isofix though I don't think.....argh..getting confused now!

Southville is not far from me! Am in Fishponds! I don't have a car seat for you to drool over but invite is still extended for a cuppa and some cake! CAT me if you are up for a RL meet....I don't scratch....

Think that price is wrong. They are expensive (around £300 depending on exchange rate as you have to import this one yourself), but def. not that price!

Cuppa and cake...lovely...thank you . There should be 2 little 'markers' on each of your back seats if you have isofix. How old is your car? I think it's standard for cars in the last 4? (maybe more?) years. The belt restrained one's are just as safe when correctly fitted and £229 inc delivery from 'In-car safety'. Just make sure that the seat belt sockets aren't too long as they are in my 'Drivable Hairdryer' 'Kia', as this caused 'buckle crunching and makes the seat unsafe....

Hope I'm not making this more confusing than I need too. Will CAT you in a bit...Pocketpixie awake and hungry.

I've just googled it and that price came up -in English pounds! Take a look on google and see what you come up with so I know I'm not going mad!!

Have taken the number of In Car Safety and will ring them to get more info re fitting into our Mondeo etc...will have a hard job convincing DH though - he's from the Middle East and over there - the majority of families don't use car seats at all, let alone forward facing ones!!! Yes, I know......

I have see´n the £900 for BeSafe too, but that is one company that is trying to flea people. They are not that expensive elsewhere. Just because it came up on a google seach does not mean that it is the only option
There is lots of info on the available outlets in the UK here for those interested. I most point out that it is always safer to buy a seat from an outlet where you can get it installed professionally. Beats mail order any time.

(Not that I had any trouble fitting and installing our seat, and I got it in the post, but I still have to say that, IYSWIM)

So I wasn't going mad then

I have just been to Halfords and apparently you can't buy seat belt clips to hold the chest straps together in car seats to stop children escaping the straps. However, he had never heard about RF seats for older children either and was astonished when I told him that Norway/Sweden had been using them for 15-20 years.

We have a long way to go I think.

Monkies

There's a thread from last week where someone found some £2.99 belt clips. Or In-car safety have some at £12.99.

I spoke to the very nice supply manager at head office at Halfords and although they're aware of the seats we're on about, she told me that UK parents don't want them... (As I keep repeating, how can people possibly want a product they don't know exists?)

They've also just updated their car seat range and she said they probably wouldn't look at changing it for two years...

Hopefully, if more people ask, this could change sooner. I had no idea that some area's of retail are so slow moving.

Maybe the manufacturers are the ones to target too, as I'm sure the moment they realise there's money to made, the seats would be in the shops before you know it? (Britax cus. services 01264 386 034. They make the seats in Anover for export only....and will direct you to In-car safety for imports...just silly)

Sorry PiJC, for not believing that price...unbelievable mark-up

Ok, I've just been on the website that was mentioned on one of the clips www.rearfacing.co.uk

The clips I've seen from the links posted are pretty harrowing and they do pretty much speak for themselves. I am gobsmacked, horrified and angry that certain car seat companies will market the car seats for forward facing here and rear facing in other countries - in fact the website even has a petition about it.

The issue as I see now are as follows:

Parents can buy the car seat online and try to fit it themselves, but one of the news clips featured had a car expert saying that even their best people struggled with the fitting of a rear facing car seat - so to my way of thinking, a correctly fitted foward facing seat has to be safer than an incorrectly fitted rear facing seat! What about journeys in relatives cars too? I've often took our car seat out to put in my sisters car so we can take DS out on a day trip.

Pixie - I've checked our car manual - we do have isofix points. Do you think the Volvo team that you mentioned would sell us the rear facing and fit it correctly?