Thread: Child Car Seats

Saxy and self got some VIP visitors this weekend and as 2 of them are only little I borrowed a car seat and a booster cushion. Fortunately I have access to a fairly decent variety and some qualified assistance to fit them.

Now the "qualified assistance" might sound daft if - as I did - you think fitting a car seat should be easy. Incredibly though, not all fit my car, some don't fit any car (at least not safely) and some cars only accept a tiny minority of very expensive seats - don't get me started on Honda Civics!

As I discovered this morning, even after getting an appropriate seat it still isn't that easy to fit them.

This web site is WELL WORTH a look for anyone with nippers either in the car or the home:

Scottish Good Egg Campaign It is a Scotiish campaign but it is applicable to whole UK.

And did you all know the law is changing in September for child car restraints?

New Law

Ooh, that's really helpful, had trouble with mine, as my 4 month old is the size of a 9 month old!

Just a quick question............. I have a 95 reg nissan Pulsar hatch back, now I was kindly given a baby car seat (as they costly here) and it's about 6yrs old and apparently a universal seat.

Do you think it would be a better idea to buy a new carseat and have it fitted?

Yes.

Chid seats have changed over the last six years, and also if the child seat you have been given was god forbid in any kind of accident it, it would be deemed unsafe.

Can you not order one online if expensive over there? Or get your mum and dad to bring one over?

Hope all is ok take care

Just trying to save pennies to be honest, think mum will bring one over now though

You can get them with an Auto base that stays in the car, one click and the seat is in safe. This makes it so the baby seat will fit into just about any vehicle with a 3 point seat belt or a lap belt. The base is easy to fit too.

Most of the major brands do them now. The graco autobaby is quite reasonably priced, and it passed the AA carseat safety tests in 2005.

There is so much choice out there now, it took me about 3 months to decide which one to get!

Good Luck.
R_D xxxx

Please, what ever you do never save money on kids car seats.
We had a car crash, daughter only 3 weeks old. I ended up in hospital, internal bleeding and my head got split open. My husband his knee was badly damaged and his eyelid got slit open.
My daughter on the other side was fine, nothing happend to her thanks god. The Docs in hospital said she only survived this crash cause she had a decend car seat.
Plus you should never take a second hand car seat cause you dont know if it has been involved in a crash before.

I've got to agree with curlysue on using a second hand or a seat that's been in an accident. Over here in Canuckland, if a seat has been involved in an accident the insurance company makes the parent throw it out and buy a new one. Then the insurance company calculates the depreciation of the seat and issues a cheque. The kid had an accident last year with her car and even though it was a low impact accident (less than 20km) - she had to replace both car seats before the insurance would continue the claim for the vehicle damage.

Over here we also encourage people who are getting rid of old seats to cut up the straps so they can't be used again by someone picking through the garbage.

Speaking of straps, if your seat's straps are getting all twisted and not laying flat anymore, send away for a new set from your seat manufacturer and replace them. The damage alone from little shoulders getting thrown against the twisted straps and them cutting into the shoulders is enough evidence to switch them out. You really don't want to take the risk of the straps failing in a high impact collision and the wee one thrown out of the seat or breaking a little collar bone.

There has been some mixed feeling here about the changes to the seat laws, that children under 80 pounds are required to be in a seat restraint. Had that law been in place when my kid was growing up, she would have been in a car seat until she turned 15 as she didn't get past the 80 pound mark until then. However, once I watched this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ - there was no question how I travel with the grand darlings in the car now.