Went out today to get little one a new car seat as she’s just about outgrown her infant one….. Little did I know it would be so bloody difficult, so what yer got and would you recommend it (especially if you’ve been unfortunate enough to have a bump while it was in use). Had a recommendation for the Jolie Stages from someone who had a large accident but I’d never heard of it until today.

Concord ultimax..

This – http://www.britax.co.uk/car-seats/car-seats/dualfix

Front and rear facing, solid as a rock and should last until 3-4 year old.

Andy

Recaro Young Sport – I have 2. They’re very well padded, have side protection, can be lifted out with one hand (even with the munchkin in it) and are suitable from 9months to 12 years.

They also look ace!

Without question the maxi cosi axxis..

Or ones that have a swivel base… Bloomin back savers !

+1 for maxi cosi axis.

The wife bought it and I was like “how much??”, however since then I’ve realised it’s an awesome car seat. Well worth the money.

Besafe izi. Rear facing for as long as possible. Dd now nearly 3 and still rear facing.

Any seat where the child is rear facing for as long as possible, such as Besafe Isi.

I have the Isi in both our cars.

I work in vehicle safety and have crashed tested car seats.

We looked up the Which stuff.

They recommended Cybex Juno Fix – which we have. Its not rear facing, but uses a cushion that straps into the seatbelt and then the shoulders arent fixed in – look it up on youtube – means the head doesn’t experience the same forces in an impact as they would with traditional straps.

Its been a great seat – unlike the rear facing seats its really easy to swap between cars – and works with or without isofix. I cant recommend it highly enough.

John B … Might sound a thick question but the whole rear facing debate has me puzzled.. And you might be able to help.

But

Given that most RTC’s involve two cars and the rear end shunt being the most common.
Therefore each car will have differing kinetics ie acceleration vs deceleration characteristics on the occupants ?

Surely a child in the front car would benefit from a forward facing seat over the child in the rear car a rear facing one ?

This making the choosing of one over the other pointless as we can’t predict the mechanics of any given collision .

We have a swivel base one can’t reccomend it more highly for ease of access and back saving .
Have done the whole rear face front face argument to death before . Front face works for us rear face works for other people .

Kiddy infinity pro

Bolster holds the child in across their middle (no straps) and they can sleep on the bolster when young quite comfortably.
Weighs bugger all
Works brilliantly without isofix (and best rated by which for safety in this regard a few years back and design has been lightly updated since)
Really good vfm
Ours is currently seating or second child who is not far off 3 and is still in good nick despite food stuffs, piddle and other stuff coating it at various points. Easy to take apart to clean too.

I think benjamins11 is talking about a very similar product.
I would echo how easy this type of seat is to swap between cars. We have only ever had one seat when others we know have bought one for each car as they are so heavy /awkward /fiddly to swap about.

The rear facing ones are supposedly considerably safer, and I can see why. However there is a catch in the case of ours – the flippin thing is so big an adult can’t sit in the seat in front of it. It’s an Axkid Duofix. It has a lot of baby leg room though so I really can see our boy staying rear facing for years.

This does clearly depend on the car. Even in a Mondeo the seat in front has to be too upright for my liking. And I’m short. In a Nissan Qashqai (God awful car anyway) you won’t get an adult with legs in front of it.

It is also attached to the seat in front using tether straps. So it takes a bit longer to swap between cars than those without.

A friend has the Cybex Sirona which, although pricey, is not that much more money and looks far better quality, plus it swivels. Worth a look. Less kid leg room but looked like ok front seat room in their 3 series.

I just bought a Cybex Sirona , not cheap but what is ? Its got a swivel base, forward and rear facing and goes up to 4 years .Also its in Cotic orange #winner

Another cybex sirona here. If you live near Petersfield there is a good shop there that has a range of rear facing seats. They are more expensive but given the added safety it is worth it. There is talk of rear facing becoming law, already is in Sweden and other countries I think.

Make sure whatever you buy actually fits properly in your car. We’ve got a couple of Maxi-Cosi Priori seats and a couple of Britax Duo Plus seats. The Britax seats are miles better – better belt system, easier to clean etc. Britax seem more solidly built too. Haven’t used the Maxi-Cosi seats since we got these.

This is a great place to try them all if you are near one of their branches and their service is great:-

http://incarsafetycentre.co.uk

Given that most RTC’s involve two cars and the rear end shunt being the most common.
Therefore each car will have differing kinetics ie acceleration vs deceleration characteristics on the occupants ?

Surely a child in the front car would benefit from a forward facing seat over the child in the rear car a rear facing one ?

Rear end shunts usually involve much lower forces than a car hitting something in front, or worse, two cars head-on.

The Scandinavians advocate rear-facing until 3 or 4 years old. The seats get huge though.

We’ve got one of the Recaro seats too. Only issue we’ve had is that tiny hands manage to wiggle their way free of the harness, so it ends up being a waist restraint only. I’ve got around it by fashioning a Velcro strap that pulls the chest straps close enough together to stop it happening. I’ve looked at other seats, but I think our little Houdini would get out of them just the same.

Simon_g sums it up well.

Rear end shunts usually involve much lower forces than a car hitting something in front, or worse, two cars head-on.

The Scandinavians advocate rear-facing until 3 or 4 years old. The seats get huge though.

We have a rear facing seat in a Honda Jazz and there is still room in the front seat, though I agree the seats are large.

Also make sure wahtever seat you get attaches with ISO fix.

The Scandinavians advocate rear-facing until 3 or 4 years old. The seats get huge though.

Some kids don’t like travelling backwards when they get to that age. Also not possible to fit the seats in a lot of small/medium sized cars. We actually have a Britax 2-way Elite seat in the back of a Porsche 911 that our 5 year old still uses, but obviously fitted forward facing. Takes up so much more room in rear facing mode. Certainly wouldn’t fit in a 911!

Agree it is safer rear facing though. The shop I linked to earlier are big advocates of rear facing seats and the Britax 2-way Elite is actually a Scandanavian import and not actually officially on sale in the UK. Rear facing seats for all but babies simply do not sell in the UK.

Another Sirona here, in Cotic orange….
Outstanding seat, the swivel function is brilliant. Really hard to fault it, now that I’ve forgotten how much it cost!

Also make sure wahtever seat you get attaches with ISO fix.

Unless your car doesn’t have ISOfix mounts.

Another vote for a Recaro Young Sport.

My two look like little astronauts when strapped in theirs.

Cheers for the advice. After much deliberating we’ve decided on the Cybex Sirona in Orange. Bloody expensive but it seems to tick all the boxes for both safety and practicality.

I can totally relate to this topic. There are sooo many products on the market and finally we decided on the Peg perego viaggio car seat for our son now 14 months old:

It came out well!

Another with the Cybex – great seat….far better than the Maxi Cosi one I have in my car.

🙂 I love how people seem to recommend things that cost an arm and a leg… it’s the done thing on singletrackworld.

We use one of these, and guess what? It’s easy to use, secure, easy to move and comfortable! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Madrid-0-4-YR-Rear-and-Forward-Facing-Recliner-Car-Seat-RED-RRP-79-99-/141741852898?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=IO9xG0%252BiewK42boTrJX6jwgSKmI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

I love how people are still recommending stuff 9 months after the request. I think they’ll be sorted by now!

We use what is now a Kiddy Guardian Pro 2. Works from 9 months to 12yrs. Bloody good seat. Slightly more expensive initially but works out way cheaper in the long term

http://www.kiddyuk.com/car-seats/guardian-pro-2

We just lock ours under the stairs when we go out

Cybex Sirona here too – pricey but sprog can stay rearward facing up to 4 (apparently it’s fine for them to have bent legs), it’s a swivelly one and can also be changed to forward facing too. It also has a smaller footprint than a lot of swivel base ones.

Oh , 9 months ago… Must pay attention :-/

Make sure you check out the new rules that are coming in. I think they’re called I-size.