Spongebob Kids Embrace car seat

[LISmama810]

I was just as skeeved as many others by the owner's shady behavior, so I won't fault anyone for not wanting to buy the seat based on that. (I imagine, though, that his actions were more an example of misguided social marketing than an overt act of deception.)

However, I'm not sure the fact that this is a new company is necessarily a bad thing. (It's not like all the established companies have a great track record, and everyone has to start somewhere.)

Granted, companies self-certify their seats before NHTSA gets ahold of them, so it's possible these seats haven't passed testing and it's all a big fraud. I highly doubt it, though, because a company would have to be pretty darn stupid to spend so much money on development, manufacturing, and marketing for something that's going to get yanked and lead to fines and lawsuits. To equate them with Grandma Knows is ridiculous.

Although I personally find the seat ugly, I do think it's great that it exists. I imagine it will keep at least a few 2- and 3-year-olds out of boosters.

 

[menfusse]

Well, I'll join the herd of black sheep and say I like it too, mostly because of the yellow harness, lol. My kids do watch spongebob on occasion, and E really liked it, though not as much as her cow seat she said.

DH on the other hand went nuts for it and was like "Now THAT is cool."

 

[erikanohelani]

The website shows one with a Spiderman cover, but it doesn't look like it's on sale yet. I'd probably go for that one first.

http://kidsembrace.com/products/safety.aspx

I'm curious about this seat, since I want to purchase a new seat in March. I guess I'll wait to see reviews.

 

[Patriot201]

I find Spongebob to be incredibly offensive and 100% inappropriate for small children, so I would not ever even begin to consider buying this seat.

Spongebob is just like Flintstones, Simpsons, and Funny Guy. They are all cartoons that were written for adults, with adult humor and adult themes. I would never purchase propaganda from any of those shows because they are not for children.

Oh, and that seat is hideously ugly. That's one more strike against it in my not-so-humble opinion.

 

[christineka]

Call me Prissy pessimist, but the people around here who put their little kids in boosters do so for two main reasons: ease of portability and cost. The kids' embrace seat in booster mode is about as portable as a backless booster, but at $140 more, I don't see it being chosen over the backless booster. Also, most people around here buy car seats in store. They choose the cheapest: cosco scenera, cosco hbb, chase, evenflo hbb, and the cosco ambassador. Unless walmart gets this seat in stock, the masses aren't even going to know a spongebob car seat exists. If they really want one, they are more likely to make an aftermarked cover for their $40 cosco hbb than to go online and buy a $160 seat.

 

[mamakc]

I don't like sponge bob, I don't let my kids watch sponge bob, but I think the seat is way cute. The sponge bob one is way cuter than the racing one. The Dale Jr. Seat is creepy, this one is cute. I would never buy it though, because we don't like sponge bob around here lol. The yellow cupholders and yellow harness are a win for me. I appreciate that they are doing something different, even if I wouldn't buy it myself.

 

[Polola0628]

I read that it only has two harness slots. Is that odd?

 

[Polola0628]

I was googling a little tonight and found the patent applications for the seat. It appears they have several patents.. I found these pdfs:

Batman, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D524559.pdf
Dale E. Jr? http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D533363.pdf Glad they nixed that idea, it's kinda creepy as it's an actual person, lol...
Spiderman http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D584899.pdf
Princess http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D591961.pdf
Buzz Lightyear! http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D591960.pdf
and this one http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D591063.pdf I guess another Nascar driver? I'm not a nascar fan, as you've probably noticed

I found this as well:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20080197679.pdf

I don't like how they have a prototype with a snack tray (figure 9)... seems dangerous IMO.

 

[ketchupqueen]

I read that it only has two harness slots. Is that odd?

Reminiscent of the Cosco HBB... The slots on that are low, too.

 

[mamakc]

LOL that princess one is weird. Cinderella on steroids!

 

[fyrfightermomma]

ANd holy dirtiness on a yellow harness!!!!

 

[Baylor]

So my Walmart is carrying these. Saw it in person and while I am not buying one.. I was thinking.. Maybe it will encourage people and kids to harness longer than 5 mins after their third birthday.

They had both the nascar and the spongebob one.

 

[christineka]

So my Walmart is carrying these. Saw it in person and while I am not buying one.. I was thinking.. Maybe it will encourage people and kids to harness longer than 5 mins after their third birthday.

They had both the nascar and the spongebob one.

Wow! You need to go back and photo it or something. My walmart is highly unlikely to get those in. It seems they've quit carrying the nautilus, so now the only hwh seat is the safety 1st 3 in 1.

 

[Baylor]

I took photos of the nascar one.. The spongebob was still in the box.. give me a minute.. Baking chocolate cake!

 

[LuvBug]

So my Walmart is carrying these. Saw it in person and while I am not buying one.. I was thinking.. Maybe it will encourage people and kids to harness longer than 5 mins after their third birthday.

They had both the nascar and the spongebob one.

While I think they are kind of hideous, I agree it may encourage parents to use a seat that isnt a lbb once they reach the age of 2

Kids can be quite demanding, so if they beg for a spongebob carseat for their birthday and enjoy sitting in it, it probably would have some good results.

 

[Baylor]

They were not priced out yet and were not there yesterday. I am going back tomorrow and see what they are priced at. I had my 90 yr old Grandmom and 3 yr old in tow..

 

[Baylor]

The box said 159.99.. but there was no big sign.. So I wonder if they will be cheaper than that? Will look when I go back.

 

[robbertbobbert]

I see why kids might like these, but I find them really, really creepy. Especially the hands on the cupholders part.

I can just see myself driving at night alone and looking over my shoulder to change lanes or something and mistaking the creepy spongebob face for a person/demon/ghost/something that will eat me alive.

 

[Polola0628]

Here's a video of the seat in action
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGvMsPn5aOU&feature=share"]YouTube - ‪CarSeat Shortened .mov‬‏[/ame]

The KidsEmbrace facebook page had posted photos of an improperly installed seat (photos of the video shoot) with a wayyy too young to be FFing (probably legally old enough though) kid (see video).

The Dale Jr Photos FB page also posted a photo off Jeff Gordon in a car with his 4yo daughter Ella in his lap. I commented that she needed a car seat, and got removed from the page. shame.

anyways, there's the seat in a video if anyone is interested in anything other than photos.

 

[Kat_Momof3]

could you post a link to that pic you mentioned?