Question Britax Advocate 70CS Rear Facing - NO LEGROOM

It is my understanding that the latest in car seat safety suggests children face the rear of the vehicle until 35 pounds and two years old. My son is 17 mos, 27 lbs, and 31 inches. I just purchased the Britax Advocate 70CS. When I installed it facing the rear, there is literally no legroom. I'm not completely concerned that it doesn't look comfortable (his comfort can, at times, be sacrificed in the name of safety), but it doesn't look all that safe. I am 99% certain that both his legs would be broken in any sort of serious crash. Considering he is on the short side (40th percentile) I'm wondering if other people have had this issue and, if so, what they decided to do. I heard from someone that their physician told them, "better to have broken legs that a spinal cord injury." Yikes!

You want to have kids face the rear as long as possible. The AAP recommends AT LEAST two years, preferably longer.

Britaxes are not known for their rear facing leg room. However, it's usually not uncomfortable for kids (I can fold my 16 month old in half and she doesn't care), and it's safer for all of them. But yes, broken legs, cast it, broken neck, casket. If it was their legs we were trying to protect I'm sure carseats would look very different.

Forward facing legs are more at risk because of the forward momentum, and the ability to impact things in the car. Rear facing, not so much.

http://carseatblog.com/5168/why-rear-facing-is-better-your-rf-link-guide/

Check out that link. It has links to the AAP recommendations, and the video at the bottom shows the differences in the legs between rear and forward facing.

If you don't like the leg room in the Advocate (which is not safer than the $45 Scenera, btw. It does, however, have the Britax marketing machine behind it), then why not a seat with more leg room? Incidentally, most of the seats with more leg room will also last a lot longer than the Advocate rear facing, which is the safest way to travel (thereby trumping any advantages the Advocate might have), and they also are cheaper. I'd look at the Sunshine Kids Radians, Learning Curve True Fit, Safety 1st Complete Air, Evenflo Triumph 65, and Graco My Ride.

Wendy

Just bought this seat! My child is 18 months, 28 lbs., and I have no idea how tall, but 95th percentile! So TALL. He fits with his legs barely touching RF, so it's fine.
I did FULL 45 angle recline, which is allowed. You just adjust the base.

I will keep him this way until age 24 months. I agree that there is not much legroom. We used to have an Evenflo Triumph Advanced, and it had a little more legroom but not much.

I bought this new seat because it has head protection. It's like putting him into a little shell. It's actually kind of hard to get him in RF, and I tangle the straps all the time! But I would rather deal with a little difficulty for his safety. I just LIKE seeing his head in the little shell/headrest thing, especially as he does not ride in the middle seat.

I am sure it could be marketing, but I love the side impact wings. I think this seat will last him a long time, to age 5 or more. My larger than average four-year-old is 44lbs and 44 inches, so he would fit until at least age 5 if he had this seat.

The complete air and radian seats have head wings too and last tons longer. I think the britax marketing machine has gone into overdrive lately b/c they have some much competition they didn't have 4.5y ago when we bought our britax bv.

When rf, seats are outgrown at 1" of carseat above the head or max weight so a taller shell like the complete air and radian will last longer.

When ff, overall height is not the marker for outgrowing a seat. Its shoulders at top slots, ears at top of seat, or max weight. So, the complete air and radian will last longer both rf and ff.

We have an old style bv and dd2 will be 4y in april, 47# and over 36" and only has about 1" to outgrow it. Ds2 is almost 5y, 55# and 44" and outgrew it over a year ago. If he wasn't over the weight limit he would fit rf and ff in the complete air. We don't have radians around here.

Stefanie, cpst in iowa - mom to 4 great kids

the legs won't break... someone has the research... not me (it went bye-bye with my old computer when it suddenly died last year)... broken legs are more likely to happen in a forward facing crash.

But regardless, a broken leg is better than a broken neck, which is what could also happen in a forward facing crash when they are little and have those big noggins on those small bodies.

and it's recommended to rearface to the limit of your convertible seat/as long as possible.

your seat will rearface to 40lbs OR until the child's head is less than 1" from the top of the shell.

My SD#2 has this seat for her 2.5 year old. It's installed in an Acura TSX, a 2005 I believe. Well, talk about no rf leg room! Not only that, but her DH could not comfortably drive because the driver's seat was so far forward, so they turned him FF in that vehicle, but still rides RF in their Pilot. If it weren't for that reason, Ethan would still RF in the Acura.

How the Britax fits in your car depends on the slope of the seats. I have a friend with a child the same age as my son but 6 inches shorter who swears her daughter had no leg room in the same car seat that I own (Britax Blvd 65). I drive a Honda Civic and the seats are fairly sloped, she drives a 4 Runner I believe and says the seats have extremely straight backs and that was making her have no leg room.

DS is 2.5 yrs, approx 36 in, 31 .5 lbs, and 13.5 in torso and he bends his legs to fit just fine. I don't have a pic, but I'm sure if you look around at various profiles on here you'll see that babies and toddlers sit very comfortably with their legs crossed or pulled up like a frog in their seats, some up to age 4.