How old is this seat?

southpawboston

New member
nania airway

not sure if it's really in stock, but if it is, hasn't this seat been discontinued for awhile? what's the newest it could be?

at that price, assuming it hadn't lost a few of years of life in a warehouse, would it make a better combo seat than an APEX?

what was the deal with this seat? was it a "liked" seat or a "disliked" seat in the CPS community. what were the pros and cons? was/is nania a respected name? where is it from?
 
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crunchierthanthou

New member
You just like it because it's blow-molded plastic. ;)

I honestly don't have any experience with it. I had to look it up the other day when someone asked about it in the carseat forum. FWIW, it never had a recall in the few years it was made. :p
 

nisi

Senior Community Member
Short answer (I'm going to be totally unprofessional for a moment):
Run! Fast!

Longer answer:
It hasn't been made for 3-ish years so anything left in stock is at least that old. It was pretty difficult to use. Rethreading the harness was quite a process and the harness adjuster lever was difficult to access (but I guess that could be a plus for Houdini kids). Yes, the shell was blow molded, but the back and base were two separate pieces, and it seemed to come apart if you so much as looked at it wrong. It wasn't any taller than the other combo seats on the market and it most likely wouldn't be the last booster a child would need. The tabs that held the harness in under the shell were plastic, which personally made me a bit nervous. Some technicians had concerns about the unusually long crotch strap. The manufacturer (Nania, aka Safety Baby, aka Car Seat Specialty, formerly Renolux) has a less than stellar reputation (google it). However, for parents on a tight budget who were aware of its shortcomings and would take the time to use it properly, it was a decent option. The only option really, because at the time it was the only HWH seat under $200 (unless you lucked out and scored a great deal on a Futura on ebay)
 

scatterbunny

New member
Yeah, no. :( We had one for a short time until we could afford a Husky, and used it for awhile as a spare after we had the Husky, eventually selling it to an equally CPS-obsessed mom locally who desperately needed a HWH seat to fit three-across in a small car. I was happy to be rid of it, she was aware of the issues with it, and needed it for what it offered.

I had issues with the back coming apart from the seat portion, with the harness adjuster (HORRIBLE to tighten), with the install (always seemed to want to slide forward at the base even when it seemed tight side-to-side), with the long crotch strap (didn't feel it posed a safety problem, but it sure wasn't comfortable for Hayley).

Here's a pic of Hayley in it (scroll down to bottom of page): http://cpsafety.com/articles/FFAlbum/Hayley.aspx
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I knew your interested would be piqued :)
Hey, you can see my high ride on that page!

I had an Airway. "Octopus" would have been a more apt name...it was straps and straps and straps (LATCH, Tether, one long harness strap with no splitter plate, even straps holding the shoulderpads on!), and the back and base would fall apart, as if it had no spine... I felt MY (and Jenny's, and a couple other people here) kid was safe in it, because I'm a tolerant and clever cps tech... for the other 99.9 percent of people out there, it's a nightmare of a seat, I can't imagine anyone using it right if they aren't online doing their research, lol.

:)
 

scatterbunny

New member
OH YEAH, the stupid double-strap loop thing that holds the shoulder pads on! GRRR, I *almost* considered cutting those things off. The straps were thin and because of the grippy harness pads that couldn't be removed the straps were always twisting inside the shoulder pads and we couldn't easily get the twist undone. I had two Cosco seats before the Airway, and folks complain about the Dorel twisty straps (especially way back then), but I never had an issue with them, only with the Airway.
 

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