BMW isofix incompatibility?

[JillyBaby]

Hi,

Have just been shopping for car seats and established at Mothercare that Maxi Cosi Cabriofix and Britax Isofix will fit fine in DH's car (a 2002 BMW 5 series).

When I subsequently went into Halfords to compare their prices, the guy there told me that there is a problem with using these type of seats in newer BMWs because the car's chassis (which the ISO fix directly attaches to) is actually TOO rigid. He said he thought the BMW seats had some kind of device that meant there is just a little bit of give in the event of a accident.

Has anybody else ever heard this?

I can't find anything on the web, and we'd rather not pay twice as much for the BMW seat if we don't have to, but the guy said it was mentioned during his car seat training and I don't see any reason why he'd make it up......

No help i'm afraid, Have you gone to a BMW specailists? (sp) Really don't know where would help. I would like to know though, we are ttc and DH has a M3 series. Loves it too so not likely to sell for sake of car seat methinks.

Not tried that yet.

I don't know how to phrase the question in such a way as to be sure I'm getting a straightforward answer as opposed to one which is designed to persuade me to buy the seat from BMW.

Good luck anyhow. I will be having this problem i expect when we have lo's.

Bump - anybody?

DH spoke to a friend last night who's into BMWs in a big way (runs an Alpina Owner's club) and he reckons the guy in Halfords was talking rubbish.
As long as the Cabriofix fits in my Audi, I think that we'll go with that one as I believe it comes out top in safety tests etc. and I like the indicators on it that show you've got it in the right position.

Just thought I would add that we have a BMW X3 (2005). Previous to this we had a Audi A3 Sportback (2006). When DD was big enough to go into a forward facing car seat we got the Britax Isofix. Fited perfectly in the Audi.

Had to change the car but checked first that the seat would fit ok. Britax website said it would. However when fited in the BMW X3 although the isofix points go in fine the seat rocked backwards and forwards slightly.

Went to Mothercare and they said it was perfectly safe. We were not happy with that and they said we could ring Britax direct and buy an elastic band type thing (not sure what he was talking about).

I wasn't happy with this so we decided to get a new car seat to be on the safe side. Went to another Mothercare store and tried the Maxi Cosi Priorifix. This seat should have also fitted accourding to BMW and Maxi Cosi but it was actually worse than the Britax one. Sales assistant got the manager and he tried it. He couldn't understand why it had been passed as safe as rocked and wasn't by far secure enough. He was going to contact Maxi Cosi to enquire.

We ended up getting a normal seat belt car seat as it just seemed safer for our particular car.

Sorry this is sooooo long, not sure why it is but just trying to explain properly. Not even sure this will even be any help to you if you're talking about rear facing car seats, hope it is though

Thanks very much for your post. I have tried both the Maxi Cosi and Britax Isofix (rear facing) seats in the BMW with Mothercare assistants and they both seemed to fit fine. Really the question arising from the Halfords guy was whether there was some kind of issue with it being TOO rigid. I can't see it myself and can't find anybody else who can.

I still have to try them in my car, coincidentally an Audi A3 Sportback, before we buy one.

I might still try talking to a BMW dealer to see if they are aware of any issue.