car seat 9mths - 4yrs isofix?

[mum2oneloudbaby]

do you have an isofix seat?

i am trying to find the next seat and i am bewildered.

i like the mamas and papas as it seems to have a good safety rating but would like an isofix seat as we move it between 3 different cars and it should minimise possible fitting errors

however have been warned against an isofix seat because they are heavy and bulky.

what is your experience?

After MANY hours of researching, it seems that the rear facing group 1 car seats are indeed much safer.

Unfortunately they're a bit more tricky to get hold of in the UK.

My options are the Recaro Polaric, or what I really want is the Maxi Cosi Mobi which I can't seem to find a stockest for in the UK. Have emailed Maxi Cosi to ask their advise.

oooh thanks all for the experiences. it's very interesting. my mum has the scenic so i'm glad you got onto that as we would never have known!

OK after lots of researching...... I have actually decided to stick with the Priori Fix.

I did look into rear facing car seats but it seems that all of these seats also have a leg!! So same problem with teh Scenic.

The only isofix car seat I could readily find with a decent safety rating (Which?) was the Britax Duo Isofix.

I went to Halfords today and they fitted the demonstrator model in my car so I could have a look. It was very interesting to have the two car seats side by side. I came to the conclusion taht I wasn't going to benefit from changing to the Britax one. !

STUPID underfloor cupboards!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on your other thread.

It's a blardy minefield isn't it!

Renault (and many others) use the Duo Plus Isofix for their NCAP crash test. FIL (who is a road safety expert) said that the NCAP test was the gold standard for crash testing. The Duo Plus has also done well in German testing.

So the Duo Plus is the best carseat for a Scenic. They are good carseats (though the little buckle guard thing is a PITA)

that's interesting mrsgb. Would be good to get your FILs opinion on whether using the Priori fix would actually be less safe than the Duo plus because of the leg. The way I see it, the only difference between the two car seats is the leg, so worst case scenario in the event of an accident the leg would go through the cupcoard door. ?

I guess what I'm trying to work out is whether there is any point of me changing my priorifix to the duo plus.

I can't ask FIL at the moment; he's sadly ill. I would say from various conversations with him about car accidents in general, you can't predict where a leg will go in the event of an accident. An average accident is roughly equivalent to a fall from a three storey building. Are you confident you'd know where the leg would go with that sort of pressure on it (bearing in mind it's supposed to be braced at both ends and it's effectively moving free against a cupboard door). It could possibly move against the seat and be knocked sideways into your child, maybe? The seat is designed to be braced against the leg and may move far more if it isn't braced against the leg. If a seat moves downwards more than it should, the big risk is your DC is then catapulted upwards out of it (have seen the pictures of when this happened to a crash dummy. It is not good )

Seriously, I'd change it. Sorry.

oh god didn't think of that mrsbg. That's a pretty scary prospect

Well i've just spoken to Cathy at the Essex car safety advice place (phone number on the other thread) and she has given me hope.
In theory any car seat with a base with a leg is not safe because of the footwell (in the scenic - or any car with a footwell storage thingie).
If you can make the leg reach into the storage area and sit on the floor of the car it might be ok.

The seats we have (recaro) may be ok though because they have a ratchet thing that slides the base right back into the seat so the 'foot' of the bar is not actually sitting on the storage thing but on the normal floor of the car. Does that make sense???

Anyway, we're in Essex so i may arrange a trip to see this cathy lady and she will confirm if they are ok. Though i really don't want to be told to change now!!

Also, with the recaro seats, they can be fitted with just a seat belt so that is another option.

hth somebody

justkeepswimming, thank you so much for that. This is making me feel seriously stressed out!!

I phoned Recaro yesterday and they said their seats weren't suitable for my Scenic because of the storage thingy. The rearfacing ones have legs. Which Recaro one do you have?

I really had my heart set on a rearfacing seat. The ratchet thing, do you mean that you can move it so that it's almost touching the carpet bit of the car seat, ie where your calves rest against?

Please come back and post if you visit cathy lady

I also phoned the lady in Essex, she's v good! We talked about the Recaro, I mentioned to her that Recaro UK had told me it was a no no for the Scenic and she said, well then it is a no no. So that's out then.

She said she believed that seat belt car seats are actually safer than the current isofix ones. This does actually make sense. Isofix seats are anchored directly to the car, so in the event of an accident there is no give, so a lot more force results in teh passenger . Seatbelts stretch somewhat and therefore reduce the amount of force in the passsenger by up to 25%!!!

I've booked an appointment with the incarsafetycentre (Milton Keynes) tomorrow morning, am looking at their rear facing seat belt car seat.

Will post again tomorrow when I return. x x

I spoke to her yesterday too, she really knows her stuff!

I hop eyou find a solution at the in car center, it's such a difficult process.

Success!!!! I have bought a Britax rear facing seat belt car seat. It's very sturdy and am happy with how solid it feels with the seatbelts. DD not so sure about being 'the wrong way round' but she'll get used to it!!

Now I just need to sell my Priorifix

Great news! I'm sure you'll shift the Maxi cosi without too much trouble.

Hopefully. x x x