Car Seat Fixings

[janh]

In the interests of research (just curious really) - those of you (most, I think?) who currently have a car seat for any stage child - are any of your seats actually bolted to the car rather than fixed with the seat belts?

I have an Isofix (Britax) as my Merc has isofix fittings. So no need for the seat belts - az alot less hassle!

When I had three car seats on the back seat I used to used anchoraage points not seat belts as they were more secure and I knew they couldn't accidentally get popped open like a seat belt does.

Does that mean you never needed to take the seats out temporarily and put them in another car, then, Alibubbles? I can see that the anchorage points are a lot more secure but aren't they very fiddly if you do need to change over? (And have you used anchorage points for a rear-facing baby seat at all?)

It seems that life turns in full circles! When our first was born in the 70's you could only get seats with anchorage points, from 9mths and then they progressed to a harness, also with anchorage points. There were no seats for newborns, they travelled in a carry cot on the back seat. It was the devil's own job to remove a seat and sometimes garages didn't fit the points to solid parts of the car, just a plastic moulding, for instance. When seatbelt seats came in we welcomed them with open arms!

Now we're in Indonesia people look at us as though we are mad because we have a booster seat for our 6yr old. Hardly anyone wears seatbelts at all but the driving is crazy so we 'belt up' every trip.

Hi, Suedonim, that's what I thought about anchorage points too! My brother had 3 children in 4 years in the 70s (well, he didn't have them ) and was constantly drilling new holes in the bottom of his car to shuffle seats and carrycot straps about, I was always afraid the bottom of his car would drop out one day!

Obviously what Alibubbles used were proper strengthened holes, in the metal not the plastic (did they really do that? How stupid!!!) and the Isofix things sound even better, but it does sound as if it leaves you stuck if you need to use more than one car - oh, unless the Isofixes are easily unplugged and the other car has the connections too, is that how it works?

Can't keep up with the technology these days...

I've often wondered exactly how the Isofix works JanH. Are all cars compatible because I've noticed in the brochures that car manufacturers sell Isofix seats and I've wondered if they only fit their own cars. We have two (seatbelt) car seats for our two cars (necessary because I drop DS at nursery and DH collects him) but they still sometimes get put in grandparents cars etc.

Not all cars are compatible Bozza. We have a Toyota Avensis, which has fixings for the Isofix, but it wasn't on the approved car listing. When we phoned them, they had no plans to put our car on the list, as testing has to be done. Consequently, we did not buy the Isofix, as it was £60 more than our second choice, and we didn't want to risk putting ds in a car seat that had no safety guarantee. (Obviously ds was the major priority, not the cost!!)

We now have the Maxicosi Priori, which I think is fab.

LOL, Janh - I have visions of your DB driving around in a colander!!

Isofix is the fixing that is part of a car when it is newly manufactured. They are standard on a lot of new family cars and this is the way car safety is supposed to be going. The problem is there is onnly one Isofix seat you can get that I know of and that is the Britax.

When I find the rest of the info I'll post again, off on the school run now!

I'm pretty certain that new VWs have Isofix, and they do sell the seats, but I haven't seen the VW seats tested by Which? or WhatCar?, which would worry me a little. I'm sure I read an article recently (rather vague, this am, sorry!) saying that Isofix wasn't all it's cracked up to be, as there aren't enough fixed points per car seat. How many fixed points are there on your car, Alibubbles? The gist of the article was that if there is only one fixed point, the seat can rotate in a crash, causing worse injuries than if the seat is secured by a seat belt (3 points). I'll go and see if i can find the article.

Ok, found an article (but not the one I was thinking of) on the AA website (theaa.com, sorry can't do links). The point is that the Isofix idea is only partly developed. Cars which have Isofix at the moment only have two fixing points, which means that the car is vulnerable to rotation in front or rear impact collisions. To a certain extent the cushions of the cars seat protect the child seat against rotation, but there is no standard for the composition of these cushions, so an Iso fix seat is only safer than a non-Isofix seat if it has been specifically tested on that make and Model of car. The AA is worried that as Isofix fittings are standardised, Isofix seats could be used in a car that has the fittings, but for which that seat has not been tested. I hope this makes sense!

The plan is to eventually introduce three-point Isofix fittings, to overcome the problem of rotation, but due to the variability in the way that cars are constructed, this so far has not been achieved.

Ok try this

Clever girl, Tissy!

Thank you - have just read it - blimey it's complicated. It's such a good idea really but I don't see how it can ever be completely universal and fit everything from eg a Peugeot 106 to an enormous Merc. Volvos have (or can have?) an integral child seat, or even 2, as part of the back seat - I think - well, I think it's Volvos - which sounds like a good idea too but obviously they are a fixture and no use if you have another car too.

Alibubbles, presumably your car just has the 2 fixing points, as the single Britax seat is the only one available (but 10 out of 10 to them for putting so much into it.) But the rotating thing sounded as if it would only be a problem in cars with softish flattish seats and there can't be many of those these days. (A friend of mine had a Kangol Stage 2/3 carseat about 14 years ago and that only had a 3-point belt, so in an emergency stop the child was likely to submarine (or rotate) right out of the seat, what kind of idiot designed that I wonder?)

I think if I was at the stage of buying a carseat now I would probably still go for one that fits with belts but make sure it was properly strapped in (but even that is difficult if the car's buckle strap is too long, which it was in a car we used to have.)

My husband has just bought a brand new VW Passat, advertised in all brouchures with Isofix fittings, it was only when we tried to buy a Britax Isofix carseat, that the fittings had not infact been fitted on any Passats, but had in the Golfs and Bora's? They said they would put the fixings in for us. In the end we when for a Britax one where you use seat belts.

Well done Tissy for finding the info. Yes my seats do have two Isofix thingy's on each seat, so I have in actual fact five sets, three in the middle row and two on the rear seats. It does mean that we could swap from car to car as our other car is a merc too, but DH isn't too keen on the idea of a baby seat in his convertible and me using it for the school run! I do actually use seat belts for my seats as they are all for age 9 months up, like the Britax cruiser and the Ranger, which I think is useless for a wriggly child.

I would be interested to know if any one has used the Prince or the Zoom (Mercedes own car seats) Some kind lady emailed me when I was asking for one on the notice board, but she wan't impressed. Just wondered if any one else had an opinion on them as they are so expensive, but to have a child in the front you need to be able to turn off the airbag and it can only be done with a Merc dedicated seat with a transponder. The booster seat without a back costs £135!!
As I have a full car on the school run, very soon I do need to have a 6 year in the front, as the baby will have outgrown the 1st stage car seat with transponder otherwise I won't have enough seats.

My husband has just bought a brand new VW Passat, advertised in all brouchures with Isofix fittings, it was only when we tried to buy a Britax Isofix carseat, that the fittings had not infact been fitted on any Passats, but had in the Golfs and Bora's? They said they would put the fixings in for us. In the end we when for a Britax one where you use seat belts.

Suedonim, it was just like a colander ! He had a Morris Marina for quite a while, I'm sure you remember them too, from the Wonder Years at British Leyland, they never had a lot of structural integrity even without having perforations across the bottom, it's a blessing they never had an accident in it!

Oh lord, what a style disaster, Janh! I expect it rusted away!! And they came in a dreadful poo-colour paint job. We had a Brit Leyland 1100 as a company car in that colour and it looked just like the contents of a nappy. 'Twas never the same after DH crashed it.

So Isofix is not all it is cracked up to be. Becausmy DH has company cars and so not total choice about when he changes and what to we decided against it. Also my Ford Ka did not have Isofix. We've just ordered a Fiesta which I think has Isofix so once we move onto the booster seat stage it will be something to think about....