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Original poster

Car seats and buckle crunch - heard of this?

80 replies

northerner · 31/05/2005 11:22

We've got a maxi cosi priori carseat, bought from Mothercare about 18 months/2 years ago.

I was at a playgroup on Friday and they had a car seat safety woman there from our local council, basically, she looked at our ceat seat and told me it is not fitted correctly as the buckle part of our seatbelt is longer than most (common with Vauxhall Astra's and Vectra's apparantly) so the buckle of the seatbelt is too high up and rests against the base of the seat. Which means at best the seat moves around more than it should, and at worst in a hight impact collision the buckle could pop open under the strain. This is known as 'buckle crunch'

I have spoken to maxi cosi today, who are aware of this problem, and did admit that it means that my son is not as safe as he should be, but they said it is an issue with Mothercare as they sold me the seat.

Mothercare say that it is not their problem (they didn't fit the seat in our car, but did demonstrate in store on one of those seat things) At no time did they mention buckle crunch or tell me what to look for, even though they asked what type of care we had. They say it is up to me to go away and check it is secure.

So I am now left with a car seat that doesn't keep my so as safe as it should.

What do you think? Should I take this further with Mothercare or dose the blame lie with me and should I just stomach it and buy another car seat?

TIA

OP posts:

pixiefish · 31/05/2005 12:48

tissy - the britax website showed loads of seats that would have fitted my car but when it came down to it they didn't as the seatbelt was too long

lemonice · 31/05/2005 12:56

Our seat is a Britax Eclipse S (not an asis don't know where i got that from!!) and I just checked it on the Britax site and they reckon it fits which is the same result as we had from Mothercare.

flobbleflobble · 31/05/2005 13:07

Contact Mothercare HO - goods supplied not fit for purpose.
Mothercare know you want this to fit your car and they also know that not every seat fits every car - something you could be expected not to necessarily know. Therefore they should have asked you what car you have and told you whether the seat was suitable for that car. Fight your case!

SoupDragon · 31/05/2005 13:08

If it's not mentioned in the manual, then IMHO it's the fault of the manufacturer. If you are not given the facts, you can not make a decision as to whether it fits or not. In fact, if they're not given the facts, Mothercare can not necessarily make a decision as to whether it fits or not.

I would point out to Maxi Cosi that their literature is deficient in this matter and that the fault lies with them.

Ultimately, I believe the responsibility to ensure your carseat fits lies with you but you have to be given enough facts to make that decision.

starlover · 31/05/2005 13:13

unfortunately though, even if you do decide to contact Mothercare and complain... the fact that you have had it for 2 years with no problems won't help you....

tbh I would just leave it. You've had no probs so far... and if you hadn't seen this lady you'd still be happily using it...

lemonice · 31/05/2005 13:17

Surely only had no problems because fortunately not been involved in an accident!

starlover · 31/05/2005 13:18

have done a little bit of research, and I think the responsibility does lie with you.

retailers are not obliged to fit seats, nor do they have to be knowledgable about them. Therefore you can't blame them if the seat doesn't fit.

Advice from Department of Transport is to contact manufacturer to find out if seat is suitable for your car... and to try it in your car before purchasing.

I don't think you could cite "not fit for use" because it IS fit for its purpose... just not in your car!

So, it all comes down to who is responsible for making sure it's suitable for the car... which unfortunately is you!

SoupDragon · 31/05/2005 13:23

Starlover, don't you think the fault lies with Maxi Cosi for not including the information with their instruction manual for the seat.

Yes, the ultimate responsibilty lies with you to ensure it fits correctly but youcan't do this without the correct information. Had "what to look for" been in included in the instructions, the seat would have been returned right away.

I don't think much (if any) of the blame lies with Mothercare although this would have been different had the fitted the seat in the actual car.

starlover · 31/05/2005 13:25

not sure...

does the instruction booklet warn you that the buckle shouldn't be resting against the base of the seat?

it doesn't have to necessarily refer to "buckle crunch"... but should have good enough guidelines on what is a "good" fit in your car.

lemonice · 31/05/2005 13:26

Do Mothercare want to be known as responsible retailers who have staff well trained in the products they sell particularly car seats (my experience of Mothercare)or be known as irresponsible retailers of car seats who are not concerned whether their staff can appropriately advise customers, if they are inconsistent from one store to the next then it makes it difficult for customers to trust them the whole point of buying from a chain is that youexpect the same experience which ever store you use.

Original poster

northerner · 31/05/2005 13:47

I'm at work right now so can't refer to my instruction manual. Will go through it tonight with a fine tooth comb.

At the moment I just feel really cross that I've got myself into this situation. Could kick myself for not going somewhere who did fit the seat in my car.

OP posts:

lemonice · 31/05/2005 13:53

To be positive at least you found out that it didn't fit without experiencing a tragic consequence and by mentioning it here a few more people might have their seat fitting checked.

Original poster

northerner · 31/05/2005 14:03

Thanks lemonice - you're right!

OP posts:

cerys · 31/05/2005 14:11

a few years back my mum bought a car seat for DD1 for the car she had at the time. Our local Mothercare fitted it and said it was fine. Mum had it checked a few months later by someone at a similar event to the one Northerner went to and was told it didn't fit and there was buckle crunch. Mothercare responded with "we're not experts,we just sell carseats" . I did pursue it at the time but then my dad was diagnosed with cancer and I never saw it through to its conclusion.
I do think that Mothercare advertise that they are trained carseat fitters and so should take some responsibility. I know you can buy carseats online, but Kiddicare etc aren't making any promises that things will fit in your car!
Good luck!

babaworshipper · 31/05/2005 14:16

FWIW you can't just ignore it. Buckle crunch means the seat belt is likely to come unbuckled in a crash - not very safe.

lemonice · 31/05/2005 15:34

On reflection and for some reason this issue seems to have got me thinking, because it is safety orientated I think - why is it that when so many car seats are incorrectly fitted they are allowed to be sold by retailers who don't care whether they are capable of saving a child's life.

Perhaps ROSPA in conjunction with car seat manufacturers could kite mark retailers whose staff are fully trained in correct fitting. Perhaps it is too specialist an area for some retailers to operate in.

Original poster

northerner · 31/05/2005 15:43

I agree lemonice. The woman fom my local council says she gets so frustrated that there are so many car seats out there and so many differnt makes and models of cars that it is a mine field. She beleives that the car manufacturers have a responsibility to provide, safe and secure child seats. After all they market them as 'family cars', so should be able to accommodate all of the family, safely.

A Mumsnet campaign perhaps?

OP posts:

Janh · 31/05/2005 15:50

From Which magazine last October. (They say do not buy a car seat over the internet.)

lemonice · 31/05/2005 15:52

I'm surprised there isn't some sort of campaign to improve child safety in cars.

It seems a bit ridiculous to buy a car seat at all if it may not be effective in an accident and the customer would seem to be the least able person in the chain to know whether they have made a wise choice. I was also shocked that car seats do not by law have to protect a child from side impact crashes. If dishwasher manufacturers can liase with detergent manufacturers so that they endorse each others products why can't car and car seat manufacturers liase together at the design stageinstead of apparently working independently from each other. In car entertainment has to fit in each model of car you don't have gaps down the side of the CD player where it doesn't quite fit in the slot.

babaworshipper · 31/05/2005 16:50

must admit I got our seat checked by the loca; road safety unit as well. Was hell getting an appointment but well worthwhile.

lemonice · 31/05/2005 17:10

That's interesting Babaw.

What is a local road safety unit, is it to do with police or council or neither?

misdee · 31/05/2005 17:24

i hate buying cart seats. which is why my dd3 2nd stage car seat will be an ISOFIX one.

misdee · 31/05/2005 17:28

mind you our local store has been fab. they really checked the fit on our seats. and had nop problem with the safety inspector checking them afterwards.

babaworshipper · 31/05/2005 17:28

Loca police run the road safety unit. We rang up the loca police HQ made an appointment then they checked it all over gave out loads of into and a bit of a chat on basic safety like checking the seat every time etc. Well worth while.

Xena · 31/05/2005 17:36

Britax's website shows what car seats are safe for which cars, although we found it hard to find a carseat that fitted all cars that the DC's would be traveling in ie mine DH's sisters parents.
I read a which report just before DD1 was born (shes 3 now) that said although the Maxi cosi side impact protection was good, its fron impact was the worst on test the same month that was published Mother and baby had rated it top in their test giving it extra marks for it SIP. I wrote to them asking how they could recommend it but they never replied.

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