car seat safety ratings??

Short of paying for Which?, how do we find out safety ratings for infant car seats?

Thanks!

go on google and type in car seat safety that will bring up a link to the which? website that should help if not just try some other sites

good luck love anne-marie x

Hi Kimberly i am a member of which, what stage vhild seat are you looking for a i'll copy and paste the results on here!

Louise xx

Louise, that'd be so great! DH is reluctant to join for some reason

We're looking at infant seats - so infant or combination really. Thank you!

• Price: £200
• Score: 82%

Our testing has become even tougher since we made this a Best Buy in 2006, but it still passed with flying colours – achieving our first 'Excellent' child seat result.

Crash protection is excellent, and the instructions are clear.

• Price: £190
• Score: 79%

The Best Buy Britax Cosytot Isofix was the first seat for newborns to use Isofix mounting system. It's easy to install and offers excellent stability – protecting children well in front and side crashes.

Designed for babies from birth to about a year (13kg), this rearward-facing seat uses a support leg that rests on the car floor rather than a strap for the third mounting point. The support leg needs a flat, solid floor, so it won't suit all cars – always refer to the manufacturer's guidelines before buying.

• Price: £95
• Score: 78%

This Recaro seat is designed for babies from birth to about a year (13kg) in rear-facing modes. It offers great protection in Isofix mode, although it's not as safe when used with the adult seat belt.

It comes with a base which is secured using the Isofix mounts, and has a support leg that rests on the car floor rather than a strap for the third mounting point. The support leg needs a flat, solid floor, so it won't suit all cars – always refer to the manufacturer's guidelines before buying.

Hi Kimberly, above are the 3 infant seats in the which best buys. They do a 5 star rating on ease of use, safty etc, so have a look at which ones you'd be interested in and i'll send you the rating for you on them. Hope this helps, i have just brought Kyries second car seat on their recommendation!

Louise xx

Thanks so much - you're a star! Those were the three we were focusing on so that's brilliant!

Kimberly

Hi Louise,

We are looking at second car seats now for our Son, do you know what the Which ratings were for 9KG +?

We have been looking at isofix models - the Maxicosi, Britax and Recaro but not sure what the crash ratings were! Which one did you go for?

Thanks in advance!!

J

Hi, we just brought the priorifix for Kyrie. We really liked it because it had a leg support that sits in the footwell. Just seemed really sucure, and the isofix i think is worth having as it makes the seat more secure. I got hers in pink for £179.99 from two left feet and they also have it in black for the same price, as they are selling off the 2007 coulors before the release of he 2008 range next month. Will list the full review in the next message.

Louise xx

BEST BUY

This Best Buy from Maxi Cosi is the safest Group 1 seat for children from one year up to about 4 years (9 to 18 kg). 

This seat can be fixed using Isofix mounts or seat belts, and has a support leg which rests on the car floor for additional stability. The support leg needs a flat, solid floor, so it won’t suit all cars – always refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines before buying.

There’s also a clever feature on the support leg that tells you if you’ve installed it correctly – an indicator turns green when the leg is properly seated on the car floor.

The Priorifix is well padded and provides good leg support. It has a very high back, so tall children can continue to use it up to the point where they reach the weight limit.

It has clear instructions and is very easy to use, but at a hefty 11kg, it’s difficult to handle – you’ll be best off leaving it installed. However, this weight contributes to its crash performance, which is good in both front and side crashes.

Pros: Very easy to use, good finish quality, high back rest makes it good for taller children within the weight group, good padding and leg support, comfy

Cons: Very heavy to handle, child’s view is limited, seat cover is hand-wash only

Contact details:Maxi Cosi 0208 236 0707

• Price: £170
• Score: 70%

The Duo Plus can be used in Isofix mode, with 2- or 3-point (using top tether) mounting, or can be secured with a 3-point adult seat belt. As an Isofix seat, its all round performance is good enough for it to earn the Best Buy recommendation.

This seat is designed for children from around a year old to about 4 (9 to 18kg). It's well made and easy to use, with clear instructions. Padding is excellent, and it offers good leg and head support.

j, these are the best buys for the 9-18kg stage. We looked at both and went with the maxi-cosi as it scored 75% as apposed to the britax which was only 70%. As i said before, the leg support definately swung it for us!  We recieved it today, and had no probs getting it in the car.  Hope this helps xx

Kimberly, found this article on a government website promoting car safety.

ISOFIX stands for "International Standards Organisation FIX". It is a standard for installing child seats into cars and is intended to make fitting child seats quick and simple.

When cars are manufactured, ISOFIX points are built into them. Child seat manufacturers also build ISOFIX fitting points on their child seats. This will enable ISOFIX child seats to be simply plugged into the ISOFIX points in the car.

ISOFIX is an essential development because many people find it difficult to fit child seats correctly, and many surveys have found that a high proportion of the child seats are not fitted securely enough.

Most child seats are currently designed to be fitted by using a car's adult lap and diagonal seat belt (or sometimes, just a lap belt). However, car seats, seat belts, and their anchorages vary dramatically between different models of cars. Car seats have different shapes; some seat belts are much shorter than others, the position of the anchor points differs so some are further forward or have shorter stalks than others. All these factors make it virtually impossible to make a child car seat that fits all cars, and sometimes tricky to fit a child car seat correctly.

ISOFIX is designed to solve all these problems. The ultimate aim is that any ISOFIX child car seat you buy will fit your car simply by plugging it into the ISOFIX points.

The other benefit of ISOFIX is that it will create a rigid link between the child seat and the car to provide extra solidity.

All new cars are fitted with ISOFIX points, but it is important to make sure that any ISOFIX seats that you use in the vehicle are approved for it. It is not yet the case that an ISOFIX seat will fit in every car with ISOFIX points.

Many of the child seat manufacturers have a fitting list on their website that tells you which cars their seats will fit in, and you can click on the links below to take you to the fitting lists on different manufacturers websites

• [b]Britax[/b]
• [b]Maxi Cosi[/b]

Your car's manufacturer, or a child seat retailer, may also be able to advise on the makes of seats which fit the ISOFix points in their vehicles. It is also best to visit a retailer with your car if you can, and ask to try the seat out in the car before you buy it.

To find out if your car has ISOFIX points, contact the manufacturer or dealer.

Hi Louise,

Thats fantastic thanks for this information! We were looking at the maxi cosi priorifix as we have the cabriofix now and its fab. So this has just confirmed it!

 Hope Kyrie likes it too!

J

x

Yeah she does thanks! She's a big girl but she looked small in it which will hopefully mean she'll fit in it for a while!

Check out the website two left feet tho, they were the cheapest we could find, spent about an hour looking! and we ordered it saturday and recieved it today!

Louise xx

Hi, I really like the Mamas & Papas Skate buggy (saw it yesterday and its very smart) but undersatand it is only compatible with the Primo Viaggio SIP car seat.

Looking on the web there are lots of comments about this being poor for support around the babies head. Has anyone got any experience of view about using this seat please?

Matt bell 2 - I had the primo viaggio sip car seat.  I bought another within about 8 weeks. The support's fine but it's not the best on the market.

Very cumbersome, extremely heavy and my little girl looked so uncomfortable it used to stop me from taking her anywhere.  The seat is in a very upright position so when she fell asleep her head used to loll forward.  My first pram was the mama's and papa's travel system.  Again this was replaced very soon after buying it with a Loola travel system (pram and creatis car seat) - wish I'd bought  this first.

Which report only mentions the good the bad and the potentials.

Not all car seats are tested but main players are.  You can subscribe for a one week trial period for £1 - well worth it to compare the market.