Car Seat Mega Thread! Please post all your car seat questions here!

Anyone know of a company who give a decent discount for multiple seats? I think we need 4, we're sharing drop off & pickups so 2 for us, one for childminder & MIL will be collecting sometimes also. 3 are ISO fix, one isn't.

I'm thinking of the Joie Stages as it's extended rear facing to 18kg & last until child is ready for a booster seat. It's €175 in halfords & they'll give 10% off for multiple buys. Anyone with experience with it, is it sturdy?

Love the britax dual fix, is it worth €470, I assume it wouldn't be feasible to swap between cars?

Suucee wrote: »

I have 2 joie stages. Tbh i didnt know anything about erf and wanted to switch my 2.5yr old back to rf but needed a new seat for the baba too. Budget was very tight so went with the joie.
Bought 2 in halfords and got the discount. The lady fitted the ff (to show us how its done) and rf and then left them rf.
She was very good. Checked the kids in them too.
Told us what to look out for if ever switching our car.
So the seat it self is great. Very quick and easy to move from car to car.
Very comfortable by the looks of my 2 kids.
And can easily remove covers to wash (not as easy to put back on)
The only down side ia the seat belt ia in the way but you get used to it. my 3 yr old climbs in herself and climbs over it. While i easily lift my heavy 13mnth old over it.
We have the 13 mnth old behind driver seat as OH has seat further back when driving and he never really sits in passenger seat. We do need to watch that he is not moving driver seat back too far though.
I have fitted it ff on occasion for my 3 yr old in my parents 3 door car. (No way would they manage to climb in to the back to strap her) and it was fine then too.

Succee how is it installed when it's rearward facing....is it just a seatbelt? Or are there tether straps? Does it feel secure?

Thanks so much for that. I'm doing a bit of research today and was wondering do you know is it against the law now in Ireland for a newborn to be in a front facing child seat?

I'm looking for a rear facing seat for my 14 month old....Any reviews of these two options would they be any good?

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9109304/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CNursery%7C14417537/c_2/3%7C18793869%7CCar+and+booster+seats%7C14417572/c_3/4%7Ccat_14417572%7CCar+seats%7C14417573/Trail/searchtext%3EBABY+EVENT+OUT+AND+ABOUT.htm#tabrev

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3459342/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CNursery%7C14417537/c_2/3%7C18793869%7CCar+and+booster+seats%7C14417572/c_3/4%7Ccat_14417572%7CCar+seats%7C14417573/Trail/searchtext%3EBABY+EVENT+OUT+AND+ABOUT.htm

They both appear to hold up to 18kg and up to until the child is 4 years old.

I wonder is there anywhere in Ireland you can purchase the Swedish style rear facing car seat? Or does it have to be ordered online?

I was reading an article which says it is better to stay rear facing until the age of four OR LONGER and most Swedish style rearward seats hold up to 25 kg. Maybe that would be a good option to go with. I cannot post this article as I'm a new user however I'm sure you could find it by typing in the title "What’s so special about Swedish car seats?"

http://www.boots.ie/en/Hauck-Vario-Guard-Car-Seat-Black-Grey_1291808/

I recently purchased this seat - was about the cheapest extended rear facing seat that I could find, boots had an additional 10% off then for their baby event. No complaints with the seat so far.

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Bah, thought it was the bomb until I got to the bit where it's only rearfacing to 4 with isofix. One of our cars is isofix, the other isn't-this looked awesome

We had the same problem re. isofix but it was possible to retrofit the isofix bars. Not sure if this would be an option - cost approx €50.

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Really?. I just assumed it couldn't be done/wouldn't be safe?

My car was already drilled for it, so it was a bolt on job, so perfectly safe. I just contacted the main dealer and they were able to tell me what to do and supply the parts. They said it is a regular request.

I would say if you contact a main Honda dealer that would be able to answer you pretty quickly if it is possible or not.

CaoilfhionnM wrote: »

They both appear to hold up to 18kg and up to until the child is 4 years old.

I wonder is there anywhere in Ireland you can purchase the Swedish style rear facing car seat? Or does it have to be ordered online?

I was reading an article which says it is better to stay rear facing until the age of four OR LONGER and most Swedish style rearward seats hold up to 25 kg. Maybe that would be a good option to go with. I cannot post this article as I'm a new user however I'm sure you could find it by typing in the title "What’s so special about Swedish car seats?"

We've ordered the be safe combo as our second stage car seat, can be used up to 18kg RF and 25KG FF. reason it only goes to 18KG RF we were told is that car manufacturers won't stand over isofix past 18kg.

Millem wrote:

Succee how is it installed when it's rearward facing....is it just a seatbelt? Or are there tether straps? Does it feel secure?

Sorry only seeing this now. Its seat belt. Yep i feel they are nice and secure.

Hi all, we need to upgrade our seats. We have 3 children aged 3, 4 and 6. The three year old will be moving into her sisters evolva and I have to find 2 high back booster seats.

Is there a seat that can be used with a harness for over 20kgs?

My main problem is the the current high back booster I have ( was using with harness until now) is that the head support blocks the seatbelt from retracting and I don't trust my 4 our 6 year old to sit back all the time.

Is there anyone out there that has 3 seats in a grand scenic that work properly with just the belts?

All in all wrote: »

http://www.boots.ie/en/Hauck-Vario-Guard-Car-Seat-Black-Grey_1291808/

I recently purchased this seat - was about the cheapest extended rear facing seat that I could find, boots had an additional 10% off then for their baby event. No complaints with the seat so far.

I found this was rated as a don't buy by Which. Here's the information on why:
We have had to rate this Hauck as a Don't Buy with a score of 0% due to its poor performance in our frontal crash tests when used in Group 1 format, forward-facing, with the base attached to the car by the seat belt.
Our lab experts also discovered that the harness could not be secured tightly enough on our newborn test dummy unless the seat minimiser is used. On the models we tested no seat minimiser was included. Hauck has confirmed there was a batch issue where some seats were sent out without this included, but all seats should have one included.
For a safety issue like this, where there is a risk a wriggly newborn could free themselves from the shoulder straps of the harness, we limit the total score as follows:
Group 0+ belted base - 35%
Group 0+/1 Isofix base, rearward-facing 42%.
Our Don't Buy threshold is 40% or below.
Hauck says this issue has been rectified, and all seats now have the seat minimiser, but if yours arrives without it please contact Hauck for a free replacement. Do not use the seat with a newborn without this in place.
The Hauck Varioguard performs much better when the base is installed using Isofix -in Group 1 mode it scores 73%, but as we assume you will want to use the seat in all modes possible, and we cannot know what type of crash you may be involved in, a good score in one area cannot compensate for a poor performance in the frontal-crash tests.




You have to be a member of Which to check all the reviews, but its well worth doing. I'm currently researching options for a carseat for when my older child is travelling with a grandparent.