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Original poster

Multimac car seats

28 replies

jude9 · 22/04/2009 18:46

Has anyone seen these amazing car seats?
Let's you seat 4 children safely across the back seat of a regular car..... have a look on www.multimac.co.uk
Think this might be the answer to the perennial problem of trying to squash 3 seats in safely.

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 18:53

oh that's pretty cool actually! I wonder how safe it all is

sazm · 22/04/2009 21:17

have you seen the price of it?
its cheaer to buy a bigger car!

thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 21:24

really? what car are you going to get to seat 2 adults and 4 children for under £1500??????

sazm · 22/04/2009 21:31

galaxy/zafira/land rover/maverick/sharan/ plenty choices and if you are spending more than that on a car why not just buy a 7 seater,

thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 21:34

for under £1500???? seriously?
actually, fwiw, the rear seats in the vast majority of 7 seaters are not recommended for use with child seats anyway.
but that aside I honestly find it hard to believe you could get a 7 seater for that price.

plus, some of us don't wanna drive buses! lol

sazm · 22/04/2009 21:41

if you look at second hand cars for sale there are LOADS for under £1500,
the only 7 seaters that arent suitable for any car seats are ones with rear/side facing seats,
TBH if you didnt want to drive a 7 seater you wouldnt have 4 kids?

thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 21:54

you might be blessed with twins?
you must live in used-car heaven cos we've just got a new car and trust me, there wasn't anything around for that kind of price. but maybe we just live in an expeinsve place or something? dunno.

it isn't just rear/side facing chairs actually. it's anytyhing in the back due to the crumple risk of the area. was a thing on tv about it not that long ago and the risk of sitting right at th eback
and some, such as the renault grand scenic, actually say in their handbook that the rear 2 seats are not suitable for use with child car seats

sazm · 22/04/2009 22:06

obv though the twin thing is a chance you take,have a look on ebay/adtrader/friday ads/freeads theres LOADS of second hand 7 seaters, we were just offered a zafira for £400, but yes i am one of the few who dont particularly want to drive a bus thats why i still have my gorg little car,
TBH i wouldnt buy one of those seat thingys even if i had a spare £1500,i dont think theres any way that could be as safe or as comfy as 3 proper carseats,

Original poster
jude9 · 22/04/2009 22:15

They're definitely safe....have passed all the tests in Sweden which is one of the strictest places in the world when it comes to safety. And they get anchored into the car when they're fitted.

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 22:19

well i am converted! beats squeezing 3 seats across the back of my car! lol

hmmmm, dp likes the look of it too, being a man and all that lol.
once it's in is it IN forever sort of thing? or can it be removed easily?

sazm · 22/04/2009 22:24

it says on the website it just fits in with the cars own seatbelts,

thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 22:37

no it doesn't, it says it's bolted on

How It Fits
Multimac is secured solidly to the car chassis with tether straps which simply bolt on to the two existing mountings for the rear seat belt buckles.

The adult seat belts are not used. It is completely independent of any existing fittings and has been designed as a self contained, energy absorbing structure.

Adjustable front legs complete the secure installation. It can probably be best described as ?big-isofix?, and hopefully all car manufacturers will eventually provide pre-installed Multimac mountings

thisisyesterday · 22/04/2009 22:38

but there is a handle you can buy for easy removal? lol

sazm · 22/04/2009 23:24

when i searched the bit for -does it fit your car,it said that they hadnt tried it in my make/model but so long as the measurements were given when it was ordered it should be fine as it fits in with the standard seatbelts!

sazm · 22/04/2009 23:33

also depends what age your lo's are, i wouldnt be happy putting a child under 2/3 in one of those forward facing seats,as i wouldnt think it would be v comfy,also no recline,i couldnt imagine a 12/18m old sleeping in that,
the baby seat doesnt look very supportive either,i'll stick with my maxi-cosi lol

thisisyesterday · 23/04/2009 20:04

children under 3 go in the rear-facing seats.
the design is swedish, so designed to take them rear-facing til 15kg

sazm · 23/04/2009 20:10

ooh right,the rearfacing seat didnt look very big,

mommy6 · 24/04/2009 13:43

If you were to fit that into your car it would change how many seat it had.So you would have to change your details on your log book.Not sure if you can do that or how easy it would be.

sazm · 26/04/2009 00:43

it would also cause you problems with your insurance,as you would need a certificate from the authorised dealer to say it was fitted correctly and it wa safe,

charlotteolivia · 26/04/2009 01:45

you have to declare it with your insurer it says, but it is apparently a positive thing because it improves safety.
it is removeable. it is bolted ontop of the existing back seats, but you are able to remove it.
It says you could get 4 x 12yr olds in it....hmmmnnn

ejgroves · 17/09/2010 12:14

We have have recently bought a multimac and minimac for our 4yr old, 3yr old and 3 month old. It's a great idea but I have to say I find the minimac hopeless.

The minimac seat is actually quite upright and relies on a triangular foam insert to make a safer travelling position for an infant. The sides of the seat are very shallow and provide little support for the head or neck. Our daughter is already falling asleep with her head hanging over the side of the seat which is neither safe nor comfortable for her. Without the insert in though she is in a very upright position which is not good either. Sazm is right, the seat is not very big and there's no way in my opinion it could accommodate a 3 year old, it's too narrow and there's no room for the child's legs. My 3yr old son isn't even able to fit into it and he's not a particularly big child.

I'm really rather disappointed with the whole thing and I'm not really sure how we are going to be able to find a way to provide our baby with a safe and comfortable ride, we've tried head and neck supports but without much success as the seat is so shallow. It might work better for 3 older kids who can all face forward, I would also say though that the seats and headrests have little padding and are actually quite hard to sit on.

castleonthehill · 17/09/2010 13:11

The third row is a seven seater like a grand scenic, zafira or mazda is no more dangerous than putting your children in a very small car in the back. In the third row of a grand scenic you can put your child in a booster with back and existent it to fit a very tall child which is not possible in other I have tried and not possible in a clio. Which gives your child side impact protection which is the most likely crash

4twins · 13/10/2010 21:08

hi

Completley overpriced for what it is.

Do multimac discount or insist on the price advertised. What have people who have bought it on this website actually paid?

£1300 for 4 seats when you can buy seats for less £80 each which can be then be transferred to a booster seat by removing back (eg mamas and papas seats).

It is a shame as multimac could really corner the market and sell a lot of these if reasonably priced say around £600 each (i.e double price for 4 mamas and papas seats with boosters)

By pricing properly they could sell a lot more and make higher profits to cover all the research and development and patent etc fees paid. I assume that the product owes the company a lot of money but by selling a lot more at a lower price will mean more profits.

Real shame as this product could really be big if marketed properly at the correct ptice. £1299 ??....not quite rather keep the mpv !

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2010 21:17

but 4twins, not everyone can afford to upgrade to an MPV, so this may be the cheaper option.
or they might want the choice of just running a smaller car which will save on car tax, insurance, petrol etc

PaisleyPumpkin · 13/10/2010 21:19

The idea appeals to me. I can see that they would be cheaper than running a massive car.

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