Anyone used a Maxi Cosi priorifix in a Ford KA?

[DeJaVous]

I've been trying to keep DD in her rear facing seat for as long as possible. She's 10 months and 9kg and whilst the MC cabriofix goes up to 13kg, she really hates being in it now and I'm going to have to get a forward facing one very soon.

It seems the the maxi cosi priorifix has done the best in crash tests, but I'm worried it wont fit in our microscopic car.

Anyone got any experience?

We have two maxi cosi priorifix in the back of my corsa (5 door though) and they fit fine. I like the seat belt tensioner on them as then you know you have a secure fix (important if you ever have to move the car seat into different cars)

Thanks merry! I think the KA is a bit smaller than the Corsa, but it gives me a little hope

if you have a problem it will be getting it over the seats..

i have a renault clio (3 door) and and maxi cosi priori

it does get in.... but the seat has to be in upright (not reclined) position, and you have to lift it in at a very specific angle....

at that exact angle its easy enough, but any way else it is not possible... one you have the knack its fine.

Go along to mothercare and ask to borrow one to see if it fis in your ka

(I expect it will, but if its like mine you have to lift it up high and sort of twist and turn it in)

If you are really interested in safety, then have a look at www.rearfacing.co.uk before you buy a forward facing Group 1 carseat.

The evidence suggests that keeping your child rearfacing to the age of 4 would improve their chances of surviving a serious collision by 5 times.

verybigbird - I am aware that rear facing seats are far safer, however as far as I understand it is also incredibly important that a car seat is correctly fitted.

I'm not in the UK and haven't been able to track down any suppliers of RF seats in this country. It seems to me that it would be irresponsible to order a seat that may well not fit properly in our tiny 3 door car.

Having to put DD in a FF seat is something that really worries me, but it seems that I have no choice.

We've got the maxicosi priory and love it. Until two weeks ago we had a cabriolet with sports seats in the back, it made fitting the seat interesting. One of us has to kneal in it while the other secured it but it did fit securely and has been fine.

Only drawback is DS can get his arms out of the straps no matter how tight we make them but he is nearly 2, skinny, strong and able to force his arms across his tummy.

Have you checked their website to see if it is compatiable with your car.

The only information I can find is about ISOfix fitting, we don't have ISOfix in the car so it's not a lot of use!

It seems to me to be worth getting an ISOfix seat anyway, we're likely to get another car in the period of time DD will be in this seat.

What about their non-iso fix seat then, the tobi.

A Toby might fit, but TBH I want an ISOfix.

You'd have to check whether you can use non-isofix fittings on the isofix seat, I guess. We have the tobi, and it's very good (in a Fiesta and a Micra), so can recommend if you do go down that route.

What country are you in?
If you did want to explore RF seats, you could try contacting the administrator of the rearfacing website; she may know of someone with a RF seat & the same make & model of car as you. Just a suggestion.

Hope you find what you want.

Good point Habbibu!

vvb, I'm in the Netherlands. Will see if I can get in touch with that administrator...

You can usually install non-isofix seats on seats with isofix - we have.

If you wanted, and let me have the make and model (and year) of your car, I could ask DH to take our RF seat to a dealership (he works near loads of them), and try our seat in the same car. He could measure the distance between the dashboard and the rear of the front passengerseat/driver's seat (if legroom for you & any partners were an issue).

Our RF seat was not sold in the UK, but imported from Sweden for about £300.
HTH.

Also, if you contact Cathy at the Essex In Car Road Safety Centre on +44 1268 297593, she probably be able to give you information on the fitting of both FF and RF Group 1 seats in your car - she spends all her time fitting seats into various makes & models, and advising people on car seats. (It is a free service run by Essex County Council, not linked to any retailer, and therefore impartial). She is passionate about car safety and will be able to give you some ideas of what might suit your vehicle.

Thanks for that vvb. I don't drive (yet) so no idea about model numbers and stuff. It's a Ford Ka, they all look the same too me

It's very kind of you to offer DHs services, if you really want to do feel free but it sounds like a lot of bother to me.

I'm trying to get in touch with maxi cosi, I'm pretty sure they are a Dutch company.

Ah ha. I've tracked down a supplier of the BeSafe iZi Kid in this country

Thanks for getting me on the right track again, I'd pretty much given up hope TBH.

Glad to hear you've found the iZikid. That's what we use, so if you can't try the seat before buying let me know all the details of your car and will try to find an equivalent here and put seat in.

Thanks!

Are you happy with the seat?

It would be fantastic if you could try it out for me, but I really don't want to cause a lot of bother. I can't get to the supplier as they are at the other end of the country, the lady I called to was pretty sure it would fit though.

Our car is a 1999 model Ford Ka.

Very pleased with the seat, DS loves it. Did a lot of research beforehand, and we are happy with how it has performed in crash tests etc. DH assures me it is simple to install (although have to admit I haven't done it personally), and there is apparently an isofix version which should be available from this autumn (or so I was told when I purchased the non-isofix version from www.toddler.se earlier this summer). Both that website, and the BeSafe people were very helpful.

Before asking DH to trial in a Ka, will call the In Car Safety people tomorrow and ask them whether they have fitted the seat to a 1999 Ka. If they can't help, will ask DH to have a look for you.

BTW, if you, or your partner, are tall, it might be a wise precaution to set your passenger seat so that you have a 76cm gap between the back of the passenger seat, and the back of the rear seat (where you will install the carseat), as RF seats do take up more room and there is obviously a corresponding reduction of legroom for people in the front.

Will be in touch tomorrow.

Very pleased with the seat, DS loves it. Did a lot of research beforehand, and we are happy with how it has performed in crash tests etc. DH assures me it is simple to install (although have to admit I haven't done it personally), and there is apparently an isofix version which should be available from this autumn (or so I was told when I purchased the non-isofix version from www.toddler.se earlier this summer). Both that website, and the BeSafe people were very helpful.

Before asking DH to trial in a Ka, will call the In Car Safety people tomorrow and ask them whether they have fitted the seat to a 1999 Ka. If they can't help, will ask DH to have a look for you.

BTW, if you, or your partner, are tall, it might be a wise precaution to set your passenger seat so that you have a 76cm gap between the back of the passenger seat, and the back of the rear seat (where you will install the carseat), as RF seats do take up more room and there is obviously a corresponding reduction of legroom for people in the front.

Will be in touch tomorrow.

oops

Glad to hear it suits you!

I called the In Car Safety people today but Carol wans't there, she's supposed to be calling me tomorrow.

I'll definitely try measuring in the car when DP comes home (tomorrow evening). From memory I don't think it's possible to put the seat that far forward It is a minuscule car.

Oh, and it turns out it's a BeSafe iZi Combi not a Kid that I can get. There doesn't seem to be that much difference. It's had to know.

Thanks for all the help you're giving me, by the way

Yes, the combi is supposed to be identical to the iZikid, but can be used FF as well as RF. Both the manufacturer and www.toddler.se confirmed this to me, and we actually tried the combi in our car before buying the izikid.

However, have just phoned the Essex car seat lady for you. She said she had not fitted the Be Safe to a Ford KA, but that she would be concerned that you might not have enough space, even with the front seat as forward as possible. She reckoned you might even have an issue getting the seat in through the doors.

The Be Safe is one of the smaller RF seats, although she said that the
Nordic Two Way Elite might be a viable alternative - it looks like a booster type seat but has a 5 point harness. You can angle it (putting the child more upright) to allow more legroom in the front.

She had had an answerphone message from someone with an 010 31 code (not sure if that was the Netherlands) and if that was you, she intends to call you back from home later (her office phone doesn't do international!)

Sorry this isn't more positive news. Let me know whether you want me to ask DH to find a KA to trial the seat with.

Wow vbb! Thanks for all your help, so kind of you!

It was indeed me Carol had a message from, I wondered why she hadn't called back and was going to try again tomorrow.

DP will be home in an hour or two, so I'll be able to measure in the car, TBH I don't have much hope at all. If it looks like there is any chance of getting it in I would really appreciate it if your DH could trial it for us. I'll get back to you on that though. It fitting through the doors or not isn't an issue, as long as it will fit behind the front seat we can always get it in through the boot with one of the back seats folded down IYSWIM.

I'll have a look at the Nordic Two Way Elite but I would be weary of ordering a seat from overseas if it's not 100% certain that we'll be able to use it...

I so so so hope I will be able to get an RF seat to fit, but I get the feeling that it's going to be impossible

DP is setting up a company and although it's going exceptionally well there isn't much chance of us being able to replace the car before next spring

Well, a couple of things occured to me after I was MNing this afternoon.

Firstly, one way of getting round the problem might be to install the carseat in the front passenger seat (assuming that you can safely disable the front passenger airbag). This is apparently common practice in Scandinavia. It might be acceptable to you if it is generally you and your DS in the car with only occasional trips with 3 occupants.

Secondly, if you are both tall (like ourselves) you might have to wait until you change cars to get a RF seat - if so, look on the rearfacing website forum, I posted a list of cars that are more likely to take RF seats and tall adults. These included some vehicles that were not prohibitively expensive, as in some cases, slightly older models of vehicles allowed more legroom for the passengers front & back.

To get an idea of whether you could install the seat in the rear and still fit comfortably and safely in the front passenger seat, you need to position the seat where it would need to be, then measure the shortest distance horizontally from the back of that seat to the back of the seat where the Be Safe seat would be installed. If the distance is 76cm or greater, you may be able to fit it all in, but I have no idea how big a Ford KA is, and from what Cathy said this afternoon, it is unlikely to be a goer.

At the end of the day, you might have to use a FF seat until you can upgrade your car, and then perhaps look at the seat again when you make that purchase. FF seats are pretty cheap, so it wouldn't be a huge loss financially, but I can understand if you are less than happy with that in terms of safety for your DS, as I felt pretty much the same frustration when we were looking for seats and couldn't find one which would allow me in the car at the same time!

Anyway, let me know how you get on and I'll ask DH to investigate further if you need him to.