Anyone had problems strapping in a car seat?!

[scaredbuthappy]

We got a jeep travel system which came with a newborn carrier/car seat. It isnt particulary huge but we spent about 45 mins trying to put it in! We thought we should obviously have a practice putting it before baby arrives but it was a right ordeal! The seatbelt is sooooo tight it feels like the car seat is breaking under the tightness. We did this in the front passenger seat and just about managed it (after alot of huffing and puffing) but putting it in any of the rear seats is a complete lost cause as the seatbelt is nowhere near big enough! I thought all cars had to be suitable for a car seat and i like i said the seat is hardly huge compared to some! Has anyone else had any newborn seat problems and is there anyway to make a seatbelt longer??

 

[Suzie and Faith]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-CAR-SEAT-...ryZ72229QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You can buy seat belt extenders - i searched on ebay and found a few like the one in the link above!

Can you get a base that would fit your car seat? that's what we've got and it means that we literally will be able to click the car seat in and out without having to faff around with the seatbelt. Ours was a bit of a squeeze too though! annoying isn't it!

 

[abcd1234]

you need to check your seat is compatible with your car, they arnt all ok with everything, in fact i know for example that a corse will fit hardly any car seats as the seat belts are too short.

If there is no slack in the belt you cannot have that car seat in that car, its not safe. you also will need to either have no front air bag or have it switched off before you can safely put it in the front.

I'm not sure what websites will show you what is compatable but if you goolge it you may find it, or post what cat seat it is and you car make model etc and im sure someone will find a way

 

[peach]

other than the seat belt extender or the base i cant thinkof anything else sorry hun x

 

[Charlie:-)]

I have the Jane Pro Matrix Cup and it wont fit in my car either (we did know this before buying as we tried it in the car at the pram shop), it does fit hubby's car though and we were always going to buy a second car seat so we had one for both cars. Plus the Jane doesn't come with a base and I wanted one with a base for ease of use in my car.

Sounds like the seatbelt extender may be a good option for you.

 

[Sherlock]

Cars are not all standard, many don't fit certain makes/models of car seats. You cannot rely that your car will fit *all* car seats. Hence always trying them out and having them fitted at the store for a test run before you purchase one.

We tried about 5 baby carriers and none fitted our car seat properly. We opted for a 0-4 car seat from the off instead.

 

[DebbieM]

I'm fairly sure you're not meant to use seat belt extenders with car seats......

 

[Suzie and Faith]

I'm fairly sure you're not meant to use seat belt extenders with car seats......

OOOH i didn't know that! (not a problem for me as we managed to get ours in) but it's worth checking out the safety regs on that then!

I know you can actually buy longer seatbelts (not extenders) and it'd be a case of replacing the seatbelt... but that's a lot of hassle!

It might be worth buying a different car seat - one that will properly fit. Maybe you could just use the other one with the travel system or even sell it on ebay or something!

 

[Tick-Tock]

we also had to try ours out at the shop... it fitted nicely in the front.... but had to put the seat back as far as possible to make the seat belt long enough (have you tried this it may give you just enough slack). But wouldn't fit in the back so we had to buy the base which requires much less seatbelt..

Hope you get it sorted..

J
XX