Eye Jnr is ready for his next seat and Mrs Eye wants a rear facing one as they’re much safer.

Does anyone have one or can you recommend one?

BTW it has to be ISOFIX.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

One of the best sites for that is Securatot. I’ve got two Isofix ones, and one belt fitted I just got the other week. Isofix lasts until 18kgs but beltones last until whenever as it has no weight limit.

Britax Max Fix – good decent seat.
Cybex Sirona – it swivels 90 degrees to the side – and can become front facing if you want (don’t see the point myself).
Besafe Izi plus (note: Belt fixed, I know you said Isofix).

We bought one two days ago from Mothercare – they carry them out to your car so you can check they fit and don’t wipe out visibility etc. Can’t remember which one it was but suspect it was the rotating one mentioned above (which is very, very handy for getting the wee one in and out). Still reeling at the price three weeks before my tax bill…

We use a BeSafe Combi X3 – a bit of a faff to fit (we don’t have Isofix) but once in it’s incredibly solid – more rigid than the car’s own seats. There’s an Isofix version I think.

does the safety benefit outweigh the boredom factor of staring at a headrest/seat.

does the safety benefit outweight the boredom factor of staring at a headrest/seat.

+1. Ours both went into forward facing seats somewhere around 9-12 months IIRC. They’re at the stage where they’re becoming more sociable and interested in what’s going on, each to their own but I’d rather promote that than wrap them up just in case the worst were to happen.

Maxi cosi stuff seems to be pretty good in various models and sizes which is what we’ve used for our two, was pretty dissapointed with Britax kit which was crap quality for not much cheaper than the maxi stuff.

As with tonyd, I don’t think we would have lasted long with a rear facing second seat when we changed at 10 months old, especially with the first trip being a drive down to Morzine 😀

does the safety benefit outweight the boredom factor of staring at a headrest/seat.

This. Travelling with Mini Ox is a pleasure since we put him in a forward facing seat. The rear facing one drove him to distraction, even with a mirror so he could see us.

I’d say the safety benefits of a rear-facing seat is negated completely by having to put up with an angry 1 year old screaming for the entire journey.

I argued for a forward facing seat for just this reason but there’s no getting past the real world stats. Five times safer than forward facing.

Oh, and the new seat is high enough for the wee man to look through the side window.

Might be safer if[/I] you crash but I’m sure a screaming bored kid might make a crash more likely in the first place. I’m sure not crashing is safer than crashing by more than 5 times 😉

My two love facing forwards in my new car because they can see right out the windows

We’ve got forward facing seats for mini-me, he’s been in one from about 9 months / when he grew out of his one that went on the pram.

All this talk of rear facing being safer, does the car into which it’s strapped not have an impact on this? i.e. if it’s in an older car that isn’t as safe in a crash as a newer car does that have an impact on the safeness of he seat?

Ours doesn’t get bored – shes high enough up that she can see out the side and back windows, has great fun pulling faces at cars behind.

does the safety benefit outweigh the boredom factor of staring at a headrest/seat.

We’ve got a mirror on the headrest so he can keep an eye on us and most of our long drives are done at night so he’s usually asleep so staring at a headrest isn’t an issue.

Oh, and the new seat is high enough for the wee man to look through the side window.

His Maxi Cosi is on a Isofix base so he’s much higher and can see out at the moment, plus we have an estate so there’s more to see out of. And the dog usually travels next to him (belted in) so he can always start at her which he loves doing anyway.

What seat do you have Ben?

Like most others on here I’d recommend forward facing. Our little one is so much happier facing forwards.

If your anywhere near Milton Keynes this place is excellent:

In car safety centre

You make an appointment and then try their recommended seats out in your car(s). Looks like they have a new shop in Essex too. I think they import seats from Sweden.

We have the Britax 2 way elite which is excellent, but not isofix. The boy has also never got bored being rear facing, as its all he knows and its high enough for him to see important things like bin lorries.

What seat do you have Ben?

BeSafe Combi X3.

As usual in these situations, the missus researched it extensively, ordered it, then presented it to me for fitting – so I’m not an expert on the things.

Are the 5 x safer figures not from the manufacturers of rear facing seats? and do they not relate only to frontal collisions?. Given that my driving preference is not to drive into stuff I hope there is in fact more risk that I will be involved in side impacts in to my car (no difference in safety) rear impacts into me (forward facing better) or no impacts in which case happy interested child chatting to me and looking for dustbin wagons and busses.

Like helmets it essentially boils down to a personal value judgement. There is no right answer. Mothercare are fab to buy from .

@ Ben Thanks, read your earlier post but not the name!

Sorry 😳

The “5 times safer” relates to the fewer accidents in countries where rear facing is the law.

Kids heads are proportionally massive to their bodies, their necks can’t handle the force as well as adults , hence rear facing being safer. The people here arguing for “forward facing”…it’s just dumb.

Edit: Sorry by accidents i mean fewer fatalities.

Do rear-facing seats force you to put the front seats forward much? Obviously depends on the seat, car and driver, but our rear-facing baby seat has to go behind the passenger seat, because I struggle with lack of leg room if it goes behind the driver seat. Is this likely to be even more of a problem with rear-facing toddler seats?

Our little one is ready for a new seat, and there’s a good chance we’ll be needing two seats at the same time in future.

We got a BeSafe rear facing one too. The stats are not the manufacturers’ marketing claims, they reflect official testing. It’s worth noting that there are several countries where front-facing is illegal until something like 4 years old. Our little chap is perfectly happy in his – as mentioned above, he doesn’t know any different, and can see plenty out of the side window.

Bit more expensive, bit more of a faff, but seemingly genuine safety benefits – makes it a no-brainer if you ask me. Saying “yeah but the little one might get a bit bored and grumpy that way” is an entirely different sort of no-brainer!

PDW:I would say it does take up more space compared to a forward facing but it is still very much doable.

my wife’s got a hugely impractical Scirocco and I can sit in the front passenger seat with the rear facing seat is behind me. So it’s definitely doable. I’ve got a rear facing seat behind me in my car, which is a Hyundai Santa Fe (so big car) and the seat touches my seat’s back (which is no bad thing) and I’m 6’1.

If you get a belted rear facing – you can actually put it in the middle of the seats (which meants both rear seats to the side of it would be somewhat compromised, depending on the width of the car of course) as the backrest will then have a bit more space sticking up between the two front seats.

so the direction a passenger is facing reduces the chance of an accident??

The stats and rational all seem to be based on high speed frontal impacts as being the most dangerous and causing the most risk to a forward facing child. Also real world is based on driving experience in countries with different traffic conditions and historically different car safety standards . Trends in passenger injuries in rural Nordic countries involving saabs and Volvos may well be different for different reasons.

The safety happiness socialisation and brain development off ones offspring is a highly personal and emotive subject not assisted by calling others dumb or brainless.

Oh what an arse…

Approx 15 months ago when we were buying our seat, we went with Maxi Cosi FamilyFix as that took a Pebble Group 0 seat and then we had planned on using the Pearl forward facing jobbie which dd is about ready for now. I’ve just checked on Maxi-Cosi’s site and lo, they now do a 2wayPearl, but surprise **** surprise, it needs a new base – the 2wayFixBase.

I’m sure they could have designed a rear facing Pearl seat; after all the Pebble faces rearward anyway. But I suppose that wouldn’t get a load of anxious parents reading that rear-facing seats are the new must have up till 4 years of age, trooping off to Mothercare and John Lewis to spend £375 on a new base and seat.

Pah! 😡

Might be safer if you crash but I’m sure a screaming bored kid might make a crash more likely in the first place

The other issue, aside from boredom, is discomfort: where do their legs go when they are rear-facing at age 2? I don’t find sitting with my knees round my ears for two hours particularly comfy so I doubt my daughter would 😀

Still, there are good arguments for them and they are standard in some other countries, like Sweden: http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/

Oh what an arse…

Our sentiments exactly. We went down the FamilyFix route as well DD and have the exact issues as you do.

The only difference I can see to the FF and FF2way is the foot rest thing as a the Pebble is the same for both bases.

Not having tried a2way seat in our FFbase I don’t know if the bigger one will work. I might pop along to Kiddicare and see if it fits.

@ GrahamS

We’ve got a little car – a Forfour – and with the rear-facing seat behind the passenger seat it’s a little cramped at the front but still enough space for me to fit with my knees brushing the dashboard – I’m 6’1″.

Herself is coming up for 4 years old, and still has plenty of leg room, running out of vertical adjustment now so we’ve only got a few months more with this seat I think.

Our sentiments exactly. We went down the FamilyFix route as well DD and have the exact issues as you do.

I can’t be sure from the website eyerideit, but a quick google threw up somebody’s question to Maxi-Cosi on Facebook:

Maxi-Cosi UK
Hi Lindsey

The 2way Pearl can only be used with the 2wayFix base. It is not compatible with the Familyfix.

The bastards added a smiley face at the end of their answer. I might go and troll their Facebook page and ask why they couldn’t have designed a FamilyFix compatible rear facing seat. 😈

^ That doesn’t look particularly comfy to me eyerideit – little one looks okay but your eldest looks to have her knees forcibly bent and splayed to the sides.

I’m probably looking at this through the eyes of an old man with bad knees, but my legs would seize up if I was sat like that for a few hours.

How do you deal with changing DVDs etc? Looks like she’d struggle to reach the headrest herself never mind an adult leaning in from the passenger seat.

Never used rear-facing seats with our two it would have been too distracting to look at them while driving.

Far better to have them facing forwards and enjoy the full experience of how a real Dad overtakes

*cough*

It’s not for me to decide Rocketman, Mrs Eye is in charge of all baby based decision. I merely act as research and procurement.

Maybe it’s because of my *Dad overtakes* she wants a rear facing seat. 😯

Graham, DVD’s???? It’s all on iPad these days.

Another recomendation for the in car safety center in Milton Keynes, they’ve got the best range we could find. In the end we got Kiss2’s (isofix) as it was the best fit on our Passat also got Britax 2 way elites (non isofix) in our Focus (these were the best fit in the Saab 93 we had prior to the Passat)

I’d recommend going somewhere you can try the seats in your car, we ended up sending one back as it didn’t fit then going up the MK when we got a new car.

My boys (2 1/2 and 1) are happy facing backwards but then they’ve never known anything else…

Graham, DVD’s???? It’s all on iPad these days.

Aye we still use DVDs in the car – not sure I’d want my iPad being held up by a sleepy 3 year old where I can’t catch it. Plus DVD players are dirt cheap these days so we can just leave it in the car ready to go. It plays off SD cards too so easy enough to carry stuff about.

Maybe it’s because of my *Dad overtakes* she wants a rear facing seat

🙂

If ours were still small enough – I would go rear-facing based on the safety research.

Thanks for the help everyone and especially to swedishmatt – for the link.

I just tossed an £800* Aprica seat into a skip.

does the safety benefit outweigh the boredom factor of staring at a headrest/seat.

That’s the reason we turned our kid around at about 14mo or so. That and her comfort. After all, that’s the same reason I don’t sit rear facing in the passenger seat 🙂

And the 5 times safer quote – I wonder what that really means? Five times more likely to die? Injuries are five times worse?

* no, we didn’t pay that for it

And the 5 times safer quote – I wonder what that really means? Five times more likely to die? Injuries are five times worse?

The “5 times safer” relates to the fewer accidents in countries where rear facing is the law.

Kids heads are proportionally massive to their bodies, their necks can’t handle the force as well as adults , hence rear facing being safer. The people here arguing for “forward facing”…it’s just dumb.

Edit: Sorry by accidents i mean fewer fatalities.

These figures are not made up by the manufacturers, they are the result of safety research.

Someone asked if it didn’t make a difference if your car is old and unsafe. Yes it does. Your child will be five times more likely to die in a head on collision, whether it’s a Roller or an old 305. I can put up with a bit of frustrated crying given those numbers. And it’s nothing to do with driving into things – more to do with the standard of others’ driving.

I was driven into last month, doing 30 on the high street – my car was written off. You cannot legislate against other peoples’ stupidity.