Looking for a short convertible seat...

[Cali Mom]

My parents have a FPSVD installed RF in the center seat of their over 10 year-old 4-door Mercedes (bucket-type seats). They both find that the car seat significantly impedes their visibility out the rear window of the car.

Can anyone recommend another convertible seat that is shorter? Do they all have that base??

Thank you!

p.s. My daughter is 15 months (31 inches, 22 pounds) so she'll be in the seat for awhile.

[NZ Child Restraints]

cosco scenera
safety first something...
roundabout

[natysr]

Would you be willing to let them install it behind the driver's side?

[ThreeBeans]

She's rearfacing, correct? Try installing the seat at more of a 45 degree angle than a 30 degree angle, that will give more viewspace for the driver.

[azgirl71]

I agree with Threebeans.

As for shorter seats:
Britax Diplomat
Roundabout
Cosco Scenera

Keepin mind htough these seats only harness to 40 lbs :(

[Cali Mom]

Thanks for the recommendations! I was just looking at the measurements on carseatdata.org. What about the Evenflo Triumph? Is it really only 21 inches tall?

[azgirl71]

I am sure it is. It is not the Evenflo Triumph advance though. It is the old Triumph. Just so you know ;)

[Cali Mom]

Got it. One more question. What about the Radian 65? Carseatdata.org doesn't have its measurements...

[azgirl71]

Very tall! It is 28 inches, but narrow.

[scatterbunny]

Just be aware that by choosing a seat with a shorter shell your dd won't be able to rear-face as long. Many babies are too tall to rear-face in the regular Triumph at 12-18 months, 20-25 pounds because of the short shell. :(

[minismom]

the radian has a tall back but it also sits low on the vehicle's seat cause there's no base. and it installs very reclined so it might not block the view.

can you try installing your current seat in one of the outboard positions to see if it works better before buying a new one?

[Cali Mom]

Okay, driving myself crazy here looking through old posts... I got momentarily excited that the Safety 1st Uptown would work as a cushier alternative to the Scenera, but then I saw a post that it's taller. Is that right? Even though it doesn't have a base?

I'll also try installing it outboard.

I really appreciate all the feedback!

p.s. Why don't the manufacturers list the seat dimensions on their websites?!? It seems so basic, but I'm having such a hard time getting real data. The Evenflo site is terrible and I can't even find the Uptown on the Safety 1st site. But I digress...

[ThreeBeans]

Did you try installing the seat more reclined as I suggested? It's a wonderful seat, I'd hate to see you spend money on a different one when a simple adjustment could fix the problem.

[singingpond]

One other seat that's definitely shorter is an Alpha Omega without its base. I wouldn't normally recommend the seat (although/because I own two of them myself), but I do find it useful as a RF seat -- goes to 35 lbs. RF, and doesn't take up too much space front-to-back or top-to-bottom. For comparison, we also own a Radian, a Marathon, and a (Britax) Wizard -- the AO is definitely much shorter than any of those.

Oh, several people have mentioned the Scenera. I owned one briefly (less than a week) and was unhappily impressed at how tall it was, since it does have a base. May not be so bad top-to-bottom (w.r.to your visibility problem), but it definitely took up a lot of space front-to-back in my vehicle.

Katrin

[scatterbunny]

I'd avoid the Alpha Omega because you'll just need to remove the base, but the Enspira is basically an AO without the base. :)

[Cali Mom]

Did you try installing the seat more reclined as I suggested? It's a wonderful seat, I'd hate to see you spend money on a different one when a simple adjustment could fix the problem.

I'll try. I'm honestly not as concerned about having to buy a new seat because I've been needing to buy a seat for my husband's car anyway so we can just take the FPSVD and get my parents a new one. But it would certainly be easier to adjust the one we have so we'll give it a try. I actually had been thinking that seat looked pretty upright, so maybe that is the problem??

Thanks again!