Afternoon STW,

Mrs Eye has decided she wants an ISOFIX system in the car and the mounting points weren’t fitting as standard (not sure why we bought it last year). The local Ford garage want £120 for fitting them. 😯

Has anyone fitted them, is it as simple as it looks? Just 2 torx bolts from what Ive been told/read.

Thanks in advance.

You do know it’s no more secure, don’t you?

Hi
I purchased the ISOFix bar to retrofit into a 07 Ford Focus a couple of years ago, never fitted it as the car seat we got in the end was just a seat belt fit. When I had a look it just looked like a hex bolt. If you are interested let me know £15 posted.

You do know it’s no more secure, don’t you?

No, Mrs Eyes been doing the research. But do tell.

My understanding is that the mounting points are hidden underneath the seat fabric – you have to cut into it and fit the kit.

I don’t have if for security. I have it for convenience.

It’s considered more secure because you are less likely to make a mistake fitting the seat.

However if you aren’t a numpty and you fit properly with a seatbelt, it’s just as secure. In theory at least.

On the Prius the seatbelts have a ratchet function activated when you pull the belt all the way out. This lets you really seucre the seats tightly with the belt. The question is, how tight is really necessary? Some wobble might actually help soften any blows in a car accident, as long as you don’t flop into the sides of the car.

I think it’s more convenient in most cases, but some seats (ubiquitous Maxi Cosi baby job) are really easy to fit the base with a belt*, and some cars are a right pain to get the isofix points to latch.

* incidentally this particular design is just as secure with or without the ratcheting belt feature ime.

I think that’s why Mrs Eye want’s it. Once it clicks it’s in, there’s no messing about with a seat belt .

Ransos: the Focus fits without cutting, it’s the C Max you’ve got to cut the seats on.

Shuhockey, I’ll drop you a mail this evening.

I don’t have if for security. I have it for convenience.

I guess it depends on your circumstances – we always leave the seat in the car. I actually don’t like the idea of leaving a baby in a car seat when they could lie out properly in a pram, but that’s just my personal preference.

Jesus mol, you were at this the other day with someone who wanted to buy a pram; telling him that he didn’t need one and to hang the baby off his arse in a sling all day.

You do realise you can mind your own business and let people do what they want when it comes to their families don’t you?

Well I can mind my own business, but I thought the idea behind posting on a forum was to share information. That’s not a preachy post up there, it’s just some information that the OP may find useful.

I was asked what pushchair I liked, I gave my answer and the reasons. Not quite sure what else to say.

@ransos, it’s just for clunk, click really. It’s not used for extended sleeping other than an hour or two in the pub occasionally. I’d rather not be doing with the faff of seat belts. Mine gives me a nice green light and a bleep when the seat is clicked in. (Which I know is a bit lazy-arse but its what we wanted.)

My wife wants the carseat to fit on the pram etc, so it’ll click on to that and then click on to the base. It’s our first so you can excuse the wanting everything to be easy to get right and just work mentality.

She’s lined up a MaxiCosi Pebble that will fit on to the pram travel system and all that business.

Baby’s not even come yet and has practically cost the price of a Mojo, just as well I have one! 😀

Watch out for the what kid/bike seat threads over the next year!

Oh I’m not going to argue the difference on the OP’s thread. Just consider how your earnest desire to share information comes across sometimes.

I already do mate, but thanks for the feedback.

You’ll spend so much money on things that don’t get used anyway that £100 is neither here nor there.

I was a bit disappointed by the ‘still wobbly’ nature of ISOfix, and in hindsight the convenience benefit is marginal but like I say, there’s so many things that you may or may not use that I’d just say if one of you has a strong opinion on it then just go for it.

@ransos, it’s just for clunk, click really. It’s not used for extended sleeping other than an hour or two in the pub occasionally. I’d rather not be doing with the faff of seat belts. Mine gives me a nice green light and a bleep when the seat is clicked in. (Which I know is a bit lazy-arse but its what we wanted.)

I do know a paediatrician who has real concerns about extended use of car seats – bad for the baby’s back apparently. She advises laying the baby flat in the pram if you can. Still, it’s just one opinion, I’ve no idea if it’s shared by other paediatricians or there’s any evidence to support it.

We hardly used the travel system – if we were spending any time out and about we’d put the little one in the pram. Only used the travel system when it was literally to nip in and out of a shop, but we mostly walk to the shops anyway.

Also its surprising how quickly they outgrow all these things.

It is a pretty good system and has served us well. Using the belt fixing is more of a faff as it goes over the legs which makes it a bit of a pain to get a baby in and out without undoing the belt. We just tend to leave ours fixed to the base and don’t remove it from the car.

As for the great pram or sling debate… we have a pram, a sling, and two harness type carriers. All are good and we use them all a lot (though only used the sling in the first few months.) We couldn’t get by with just a sling/carrier or just a pram.

Edit: we also never really bothered with the “travel system” but then we have friends who used theirs a lot. If you have a baby that sleeps in the car seat then you may find it useful. Ours doesn’t.

think its a time limit on being in a car seat position for new borns. Paranoid wife had us stopping every 1 1/2 hours for an hour when ours was first born. Made visiting the inlaws in cornwall a all day trip! But in her defence daughter is now quite tall 🙂

As for the focus isofix, my sister had it fitter to her 07, no cutting of seats and it is just bolt in, wish other car makes made it so simple

We used an ISOfix base in a car without the ISOfix fitttings with no problems , it always seemed secure enough (believe me I ragged it about a fair bit to check) at the end of the day it’s just a convenience thing rather than faffing about with the seatbelt everytime you put the baby into the car.
If you already have the system try it without , £120 isn’t a lot compared to what you will be spending for the next 18+ years but if you don’t need to spend it why bother.

If you do go for an ISOfix base, get the one that will work with the next stage car seat too, otherwise you wil be binning it in a year.

Do Fords have that feature on the seatbelts like VAG/Audi do (where you can pull them all the way out and on return they click on the racket to bypass the centrifugal lock)? If they do then a seatbelt fixing one will *feel* every bit as secure as an ISOfix one.

Do Fords have that feature on the seatbelts like VAG/Audi

My VAG doesn’t do this, I wish it did…

Does it not? Odd – my brother-in-law’s very old Passat did – it was how I found out about it.

The base will be the FamilyFix one, so it’s good for a toddler seat or whenever they’re ready (tall/heavy enough) for a booster seat.

To answer the OP’s question,

I have an 07 focus. Bought the ford part for ~ £15 and fitted it in a few minutes. The screw holes are a bit awkward to access but no cutting of fabric was required.

You could DIY, but I wouldn’t be surprised if your insurance co wanted it installed by a competent installer.

You could DIY, but I wouldn’t be surprised if your insurance co wanted it installed by a competent installer.

Eh, what’s it got to do with the insurance company? I’m not fitting a performance upgrade.

Do I have to notify them that I will be carrying a child or something?

Thanks for the answer ac282, I’ll put the money I save towards ‘other’ baby related purchases.

and if you get the correct bolts and bar, and install using a torque wrench how can insurance be a problem?

oh no certificate/record/stamp of installation I hear you say, what if previous owner had it installed?

I’d say if you want it just get bits and go DIY. There is a load of stuff out there that is spouted to separate you from your cash, the reality is most of it is easily done. You know yourself whether you are up to the job or not – if it was me it’d have been installed by now.

I’ve got an 06 Focus and fitted it myself.

15 quid for the bar from a Ford dealer.

5 quid for the t50(iirc) torx socket to fit the bolts. No fabric cutting required. lift up the seat, bolt on, drop seat back.

Eh, what’s it got to do with the insurance company? I’m not fitting a performance upgrade.
Do I have to notify them that I will be carrying a child or something?

Touchy, touchy – I’m not saying I agree, just pointing out that insurance could be an issue. IF you had a bump AND there was any issue at all with the fixings, then there may be a problem. It’s not like insurance companies to try and wriggle out of paying out is it? 🙄

I wasn’t having a pop at you.

Just the whole ridiculous insurance thing that’s all. On that train of thought they’d be voiding policies because people fitting their own wiper blades next.