So, I am googling UK boosters.

[Jennifer mom to my 7]

Check this thing out!

http://www.concord.de/transformer_en.html

Wonder how tall the belt guides are.

ANd, it has a shield!

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_802151_langId_-1_categoryId_165554

And did we know that the cybex has a shield, too?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_766047_langId_-1_categoryId_165554

 

[mamakc]

is the shield a good thing? I thought shields were not good? Plus it says the shield's for age 9 months to 3 years...

 

[christineka]

is the shield a good thing? I thought shields were not good? Plus it says the shield's for age 9 months to 3 years...

These shields are made differently. In countries where kids go forward facing at 9 months, it is safer for them to be in this type of shield booster than harnessed. Rear-facing is safest, but they don't have the seats to do it.

 

[DisneyWorldNanny]

I lived over there for 10 years... my dad is still there and has 3 young kids, that whole side of my family is English.

They are way behind over there.. no one rear faces anywhere past 6-9 months as a general rule.

Most of their seats other than infant seats are forward facing only (even most of the Britax models :thumbsdown Most of these only go up to 40lbs.

They have a few "combination" seats (convertibles) but they all have shameful weight limits and shell heights. It's like the land of a million CrappySports

Visit www.mothercare.co.uk this is where 99% of people buy their seats and all their baby gear. You'll be horrified to see that every car seat has an age assigned to it. There is no stress or focus on weight/heghts etc. :thumbsdown:

You'll see stuff like "rearward facing from birth to 9 months and forward facing from 9 months to 4 years" It's pretty crap...

They are very strict about installation and fitting seats to your vehicle/making sure everyone has one but it's 100% common accepted and legal practive to forward face at 6-9 months, and booster at 2- 2.5. Pretty much every single kid is boostered by 3.

The ONLY things they do right is take installation seriously and they do booster much longer than Americans because they have laws that people actually follow. My 8.5 year old brother is still boostered and so are all of his friends, no exceptions.

If only they'd get their facts right and THEN apply their strict rules, all the kids in the UK would be pretty well protected...

 

[ketchupqueen]

If there was, say, and 18 month old of mine who HAD to be FF for say, a medical condition-- I'd MUCH rather have an impact shield (NOT the same as a shield booster) than a harness. But of course, for the general population, rear-facing as long as possible is safer. I wish the shields went to a higher weight!

OP, those look neat-o.

 

[mykidsmylife]

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=126041

We were considering the Pallas for Seth but decided against it when we tried it a 2nd time and he complained....

 

[mykidsmylife]

Oh and I recomend the Pallas or Kiddy to the Germans here that will not grasp that rear-facing is safer. For those tiny 9m olds the shields are safer and they are what I recomend.

 

[Kat_Momof3]

yep, we knew the UK cybex has a shield... they can't use it over here because there is no way to install with the shield using latch.

I think it'd be great for those lightweight ff kiddos who are like 30lbs at 4-6yrs old.

 

[urchin_grey]

Yep, I'm hoping the Kiddy makes it to the US. It would be perfect for my tiny kiddo when we need to ride in another car other than our own.

 

[3acorns4Christy]

A good friend of mine didn't think too clearly before leaving the states with only a bucket seat, assuming they would have rear-facing seats in London.
I even tried giving her my, at the time, almost new rarely used MA so she had something for her son. No go.

They were shocked to find there are absolutly no rear-facing seats other then buckets there. Even the buckets are shorts heights and low weight limits.

They have the Cybex shield for their 10m old.

 

[Jennifer mom to my 7]

I actually think the rear facing info is slowly leaking into UK society. Just like it did here. It has taken years to even get people to not look at you like a nut here in the US for rear facing past 1 year old, and they still look at me like I am crazy when I talk about it.

I found this site, and there are now higher weight rear facing seats available in the UK, including the swedish britax, and the recaro polaric. And Adventure Dad's site is around, too.

http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/buyersguide.php

 

[LISmama810]

There are parents in the UK who want ERF seats. There's a site to promote it. I forget the URL but the site is called something like Rear-Facing: The Way Forward.

A while back I was in contact with the woman who runs the site. She was very frustrated with Dorel for not making their Swedish seats directly available in the UK. Apparently Dorel claimed that they "couldn't," which isn't true since they all meet EU standards. So it's more like they won't. (Or wouldn't--I don't know what has happened in the meantime.)

So yes, change is slow, but it happens.

I would hope the British Medical Journal study on RF to 4 has had some impact. (Hopefully moreso than Dorel's rebuttal of said statement.)

 

[LISmama810]

http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/buyersguide.php

LOL, perhaps I should have checked that link before I posted?

Anyway, yeah, that's the site.

 

[mamakc]

wow very interesting info about the shields! I am having a hard time picturing a 9 month old sitting in one though.

 

[Evolily]

I have a friend in the UK who is very into ERF (not from here, oddly enough). They have some specialty stores that sell seats from Sweden, Norway, etc that can RF until 4-6 years old.

 

[DisneyWorldNanny]

There are a *few* ERF options if you really really look for them and you will pay close to $1000 USD for an ERF seat but again, I have a few hundred friends and relatives over there (school friends on FB etc. who have kids and yep...all FF at 6-9 months and booster around the 2nd birthday, sometimes 2.5 or 3 )

I know there are is a very, very small group of parents who RF later but it's most certainly not as widespread as it is here now.

The good thing is that as soon as it becomes widely recognized as safer there, everyone will do it unlike America, the land of people who refuse to listen unless it's the "law" and even then, only 30% listen.

If they make it the law in England, at least 99% of people will follow. People are better like that over there. They do take car safety MUCH more seriously than American parents without any doubt....they're just doing it all wrong

Oh, and England is 100% sure they have the best seats and best laws in the world. I just had to argue with a friend that no, a TurboBooster is NOT a great gift for her son's 2nd birthday.

She posted a picture of it on her wall with "look at D's new big boy seat for his birthday! he's going to be so happy with it" I kindly wrote that I know he's growing up and seems as though he fits but to please keep him harnessed at least until he is 4, 5 or preferably 6...I kindly explained that it was much safer etc. etc. with a link to c-s.org. I also offered to recommend a seat for her.

I was attacked by ALL of her English friends telling me that their 2 year olds all rode in boosters and Americans are crazy because England (as a matter of fact) has the strictest carseat laws in the world and best seats.

She said "thanks for your concern but I already had the seat fitted to D and my car by a professional, with all due respect, they do know better than you hun so I'm keeping it and I'm perfectly happy with him using it"

Her friends all wrote "K, you're such a good mum, you would never do anything that wasn't best for D...good seat choice and I'm sure he'll love it"

I wanted to cry and just walked away...

 

[DahliaRW]

Can I say that just as a booster it looks awesome.

And if they made a ffing shield seat that went to, say, 45+ pounds I would totally want one for ds2 who is ffing now (and close to 40lbs anyways). I personally think it seems safer than a ffing harness.