Question on rfing seats in England

[christineka]

Here's my situation -

We are formerly from Canada and are now living in England. In Canada I was hyper obsessed with carseat safety (just like you! LOL Cool Cool Mr. Green ) but here in England things are *different*.

Only a year ago, in 2006, did they bring in laws to have children in booster seats to 80lbs! Shocked (this has been law in Canada for a number of years now)

5-point harnesses are not mandatory (or available!) for infant (bucket) carseats. There is only *one* kind of 5-point convertible carseat available (Britax First Class)... and while there are many forward-facing 5-point carseats available - NONE of them have the "chest clip"! (neither do the infant (bucket) seats! This feature I always felt was SO important when I lived in Canada, as it helped to prevent the shoulder straps from slipping off the shoulders.

So... my question.... My older 3 kids are in booster chairs and I feel fine with that - but my baby (5 mos - approx 16-17lbs) is in a bucket seat (3-point harness). I really feel that it is not the safest seat.

We went to the store a couple weeks ago and were going to buy (the only available convertible carseat) the Britax First Class. It looks excellent.

but.

When we went to install it in our car they could not get a safe fit in any of our car seats! Shocked (when rearfacing) (this was due to the funny shape of the bottom of the carseat. Instead of it being a square or rectangular shaped base, it has "wings" on the sides of the base, so it does not fit into "shaped" seats in cars. Buying a new car is NOT an option right now.)

The store clerks were not understanding of my dilemma at all and insisted that Britains standards in carseat safety were top-notch! <snort> Rolling Eyes Their only suggestion was to wait till baby was 9 mos and then put him in a forward-facing carseat! Shocked

That is so not acceptable to me. We have always kept baby rearfacing until they were too heavy (weight-wise) and had to turn forward. (close to age 2)

If the infant bucket seat were a 5-point harness, I would feel much better about just leaving him in that until he outgrew it... but its not.

So... (okay finally getting to the question now! LOL) Do you have any suggestions as to what we could use for baby? or what you might do in this situation? Have you heard of anything which is available in the UK?? I have done numerous searches, but not turned up anything yet.. but possibly you may have found something in your searches?

What I find frustrating is that Britax makes SO many GOOD carseats - and they are a British comany - and yet NONE of them are available to purchase in the UK!!!

Thanks!!

[Unregistered]

Here's my situation -

So... (okay finally getting to the question now! LOL) Do you have any suggestions as to what we could use for baby? or what you might do in this situation? Have you heard of anything which is available in the UK?? I have done numerous searches, but not turned up anything yet.. but possibly you may have found something in your searches?

What I find frustrating is that Britax makes SO many GOOD carseats - and they are a British comany - and yet NONE of them are available to purchase in the UK!!!

Thanks!!

Check out this thread here:

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/wb2/default.aspx?action=91&read=393502&fid=56&prv=425902&nxt=422433

There are lots of people who have posted trying to figure out what will work with their cars and they even started up a campaign to make rearward facing an "issue" in the UK!

[snowbird25ca]

Check out this thread here:

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/wb2/default.aspx?action=91&read=393502&fid=56&prv=425902&nxt=422433

There are lots of people who have posted trying to figure out what will work with their cars and they even started up a campaign to make rearward facing an "issue" in the UK!

I didn't read the whole thread there, but found that there is a site that has come out of all the discussion: http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/ From a very brief look around it looks like this might have some useful information there.

[christineka]

I posted this for an aquiantance. That website looks like it is the best answer for her. Thanks,

Christine

[An Aurora]

Well, first, the 3 point harness in Europe is WORLDS different than the 3point harnesses in North America. They fit children much better.

Now, the chest clip is NOT any safer than the Euro method (grippy pads on harness straps). The chest clip merely is a precrash positioner, holding the straps where they need to go in case of an accident. Most of the time, as long as you have the straps nice and tight, the chest clip really doesn't do much. More often than not, it's misused (placed at the child's belly) anyway.

Also, it is arguable about safety standards in the UK vs. US/CA. Since they are independently tested, we really have no way of knowing how they perform safety wise.

But, golly the lack of ERF options in England is astounding. :thumbsdown: I can definitely feel your frustration on that one.

[TechnoGranola]

Only a year ago, in 2006, did they bring in laws to have children in booster seats to 80lbs! Shocked (this has been law in Canada for a number of years now)Unfortunately this isn't a Canadian law, but rather a province specific law. The province I live in has no such law. :(

[mommytojoshmadty]

Hi, i have two britax first class car seats and have had issues with installation with certain cars. Just to clarify if you are doing it right, the britax website has a fit finder thing where you put in your car details and it tells you if the seat will fit. did you try that?
If it deffo does not work in your car, there are a couple of other rf options that i have only just recently learnt about..... Mothercare have an own make rf seat, check out mothercare.com, graco have one called a graco mini or something similar, check out graco.co.uk, and there is also one by concord, although i viewed this one yesterday and the shop assisitant didn't even know how to install it and reading the instructions was not much help either....!!!!!:confused:
apart from these, there are no other options in the UK.
good luck with your quest. :)