Extended rear facing carseats and other carseat questions

[blou1]

Thanks shinycat! Helpful to know it works in real life with a Qashqai. How does the rolled up towel thing work please?
It is a shame about the Joie Stages, but also that so many car seat belts are so short these days. Crazy! Did you try the Stages in the front seat too or are the seat belts there just as short? Not sure if putting a car seat, even if ERF, in the front seat is very safe anyway though?

[shinycat]

Yes the short seat belt thing is so annoying, we have come across it in several cars. We were just about able to squeeze our infant carrier in, but only just. We did try the Stages in the front seat but couldn't make it fit. You have to have a decent gap between the back of the seat and the dashboard and it wouldn't fit. With the rolled up towel you basically create a pad of fabric and put it under the foot end of the base of the seat, to tilt it back more. You need to make sure it is quite secure.

[Yvette75]

The Britax hi-way 2 can be bought online from ICSC as like the TWE they buy it directly from Sweden. I know this as we bought our hi-way 2 online from the ICSC!

Whereabouts do you live? Kiddicare sell the maxway if you can get to a kiddicare.

With a tall/heavy child I would buy the TWE/maxway ahead of the hi-way 2. The TWE cannot pass the Swedish plus test as it also forward facing. Only exclusively rearfacing seats can pass the plus test.

I am yet to find a car that either the TWE or maxway don't fit so you should be fine. Also the maxway has an additional wedge for extra recline.

If cabriofix won't fit belted then Stages definitely won't.

[espoir]

My son is tall for his age, and at 3 he's still in the TWE. It's a slim fit seat, and easy to get in and out of. My opinion is that it doesn't recline well when rear-facing, unless you can push your seat far forward, but having a recline has never been an issue for DS. It must be fairly comfy as we've done some long trips and he hasn't complained and it's now straight. The seat is easy to get into as it doesn't have a side bar to climb over. However, personally I hate the buckle. The two pieces don't click together, but yet have to be together for inserting into the buckle. Try keeping them together with a toddler moving about - luckily DS is pretty good for sitting in his seat, but still, drives me crazy to do it up.

Does anyone have a Cybex? I think we'll be looking for an ERF that can swivel. I don't quite know how we'll manage to have both twins RF, as me and DH have a big difference in height so we need to be able to move the front seats. Yvette, do you have one of yours in the middle of the car? How is that working out in general (and if you need to move driver's seat)?

[shinycat]

Espoir - totally with you on the buckle, it's so badly designed! DH swears every time he uses it. I find loosening the whole thing off first helps.

[Yvette75]

Espoir,

We have a VW Passat.

We have Jessica (21 months) in the front in the TWE, behind that we have a Besafe Izi Combi which is used by Christopher and the middle rear seat we have a britax hi-way.

Rach P who posts on here has a maxway in the middle rear seat and then 2 britax adventures either side for her 5 year olds.

Only DH drives so the front seat doesn't need to move and I sit behind him as 1 in the front and 2 in the back is easier to fit than 3 in the back. Our first ERF seat was an isofix one which makes 3 in the back more difficult. We can do it in our current car.

What car do you have? Would Joie stages work for your twins as they don't need tethers? Or Joie I-anchor or Klippan Kiss 2. Cybex Sirona is very expensive, has a small shell and wont last.

Yvette

[blou1]

Thanks for the replies.

Yvette - I knew you've have good suggestions! You're right about the Hi Way 2. You can buy it online from ICSC. I'm truly sooo confused about all this I'm losing the plot!

I'm leaning towards the TWE, despite the fiddly buckle and the possible lack of recline. Another advantage of the TWE seems to be that because it can be fitted with a two point seat belt you can also use it in coaches and on airplanes? Has anyone here used it on either? We're off on holiday in a few weeks and a coach transfer from the airport to resort is included. A private taxi transfer with a standard FF car seat also hired is sooo expensive and would be an additional cost. I'm thinking of buying the TWE and taking it with us in the hope it'll fit the coach seat. The tour operator is unable to give any more info on the actual coach so it's just fingers crossed but presumably coach seats are pretty standard?

[espoir]

Hi blou, if I recall when I checked the TWE is too big for most airline seats (easyjet anyway!). I think it'd be awkward to handle tbh, and wouldn't use that as my criteria for purchasing (although I took it into consideration at the time). I would imagine also on a bus it'd be difficult to fit - we needed the front seat to go pretty far forward at least half way forward for the seat to fit rear-facing. Personally I couldn't imagine taking the TWE on holidays as it's quite big. You should try to see it first before you decide (or at least compare to similar models in the shop if you can). I know I'm quite negative about it, but it did meet our needs, and love that you can use the harness for quite a good period of time. Even though my DS is large for his age, I can't imagine him using a seatbelt at 3.

Yvette, we have a C-max. We plan to have the twins RF on either side, with DS FF in the middle. We would probably give his TWE to one of the twins. With the C-max we can't have anything that needs a leg due to a false floor. We will not disable the front air-bag, so we have to figure out how to fit all 3 in the back, preferably with the twins RF.

[blou1]

Thanks espoir. I definitely don't want DS travelling without a seat and sat on my lap on the coach. What do most people do in this situation? Last and only previous holiday with him we booked a taxi but we were somewhere more mainstream as a holiday destination so the taxi was much cheaper.

[Yvette75]

Blou,

Does he still fit in the infant carrier? Could you use that? Mine all fitted in our cabriofix until age 2 - Jessica still fits it now and she is 3/9/12 baby.

It does fit lots of airline seats but isn't FAA (?) approved so they may not let you use it.

We have never flown so can't help on that one. I do however take my children on the bus regularly in this country either sat in the pushchair or unrestrained. In a car they have never forward faced though.

Yvette

[blou1]

Unfortunately he's outgrown the Cabriofix. He's pretty tall and when I got him weighed last, in March, he was over 32lbs. I'll check the weight again later as he seems to have slimmed down a lot but I think on height alone he'll be out of the Cabriofix.
I only want to use the seat for the coach transfer as that's the bit I'm nervous about.

[Yvette75]

The weight limit is 29lb for the cabriofix and in my experience children rarely lose weight so I am guessing he has outgrown it by weight, if not height as well. Jessica is only about 21lb and still in 9-12 months clothes!

I have read of lots of people using the TWE on planes (you need to use it FF on the plane) and it fitting so I would e-mail/ring your airline. Get something in writing and take it with you if that is what you want to do and just stand your ground about it not going in the hold and going on the plane (I am assuming he has his own seat). It should fit on the coach rearfacing but if not it will fit forward facing I am sure.

Yvette

[Kelly00]

I was not aware of how important it is, to use a rear facing carseat. So we are now looking for a good seat, they seem quite good http://www.amazon.co.uk/Britax-Rearward ... g+car+seat

http://www.prams.net/ concord-reverso-plus-car-seat-isofix-group-0-1-0-23-kg-test-winner-reboarder-midnight-black-d
Any suggestions?