International Family, Volvo XC90, Three Kids - Advice please!

[jtaylor379]

We have three kids and are living Prague, CR having moved from Denver, CO USA last year. We drive a European Volvo XC90 - meaning no locking seat belts and ISOFIX. There are two ISOFIX locations - outboard seats in second row. Our youngest, 20 months is about 25 pounds and is sitting rear-facing in a US Britax Roundabout. He has not yet outgrown it, but will soon. It is installed using the seat belt with locking clip and also Latch attachments are connected to ISOFIX. Middle child is four and is about 37 pounds and is sitting forward facing on the other outboard seat in the middle row in a Chicco Xpace EU stage 2 seat for 9-18 kg. Installed with top tether and ISOFIX. EU seat means no chest clip, too.

My oldest, six and 43 pounds is sitting in an EU Britax KidFix High Back Booster. He is secured only by the seat belt, gets in through the trunk of the car since the third row is not possible to access with the other two seats in the ISOFIX positions. This seat does have ISOFIX connectors. On occasion I will put him in the front seat, with the seat in its most rearward position.

What would you all do in this situation? Where would you put each kid and how would you install the seat? We also have an American Britax Roundabout 55 from America sitting in the garage that we could throw into the mix. We could use it to keep the youngest rear facing when he outgrows his current seat.

I have read it is not "legal" to be using an American seat in an EU car and mixing the ISOFIX/Latch but I don't know for sure. Either way, I CANNOT find seats with high rear facing limits for sale here (beyond the age of two), which is why we have continued using the Britax Roundabout. I also cannot get a five point harness seat for my oldest. All kids of that age/size are in high back boosters - even my middle son is ready for a HBB according to the standards here.

Oh and add to this the inconvenience of not really being able to use our third row well and my oldest climbing in and out by the trunk.... That's the last on the list of concerns. If one seat could be installed in the center position in the second row, we could then access the third row easily. But then we are losing one ISOFIX position.

I'm frustrated and feeling anxious that my kids aren't as safe as they could be, and technically are using Latch seats with ISOFIX for which I don't necessarily understand the greater implications. My greatest priority is to keep my youngest rear facing when he outgrows his current Britax Roundabout. Recommendations? Go to Sweden?

We should have bought a mini van.

Thanks for any and all recommendations.

 

[newyorkDOC]

You cannot mix isofix/latch and seat belt installation. It's one or the other.

Personally I wouldn't be that concerned with legality. Aside from Swedish seats (which, btw, you can order off carseat.se and they ship worldwide and which are all EU approved) your best bet is really the American seats for HWH. The only European seat that harnesses beyond 18 kg in FF position is the britax TWE but you will hear that Swedes do not harness kids FF due to increased neck loads in an accident. They also don't really do 3-across bc buckling and loading is a PITA.

 

[cantabdad]

First of all, you are doing a great job keeping your kids safe despite the challenges of living overseas. And the XC90 is inherently a very safe vehicle.

I agree with newyorkDOC -- don't worry too much about the legality of the situation. Technically US carseats don't meet EU specs and vice versa, but if you cannot find what you need locally, then the US Britax is a great choice.

Also, I believe Isofix and LATCH have the same technical specifications (with regard to the lower anchors) so I wouldn't worry about that part, either. However, you shouldn't use *both* the seatbelt and Isofix to install the same carseat, just one or the other.

Going from oldest to youngest:

- A 6-year-old who is over 40 lbs./18 kg is safe in a booster seat as long as he is mature enough to sit in the proper position. Most LATCHable boosters (including the Kidfix, from what I can tell from the UK Britax website) do *not* need to be LATCHed/Isofix-ed into the vehicle to work properly. This is more of a convenience feature and prevents the booster from moving around when not occupied.

- Middle child seems good for now. When he/she hits the 18kg limit you'll have to either move to a booster (again, perfectly safe for a mature child, though many prefer to wait till age 5 if possible) or find a harnessed seat with a high limit, possibly from the US.

- Youngest is also good for now and could move to the spare Roundabout 55 when necessary.

- If loading through the trunk is a pain, you could move the Roundabout to the center seat of the 2nd row (install using the seatbelt and the carseat's lock-offs, or the locking clip if this particular carseat doesn't have lock-offs) and move the booster into the newly available outboard seat. The XC90 has lots of room but you'd have to see how well everything fits and whether the oldest has enough hand clearance to buckle the seatbelt.

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks to you both for the responses. I appreciate you taking the time to help and have some increased confidence in my car seat decisions and limitations for now, given where we are living.

Cheers,
Jessica