Car seats not fitting.

[Hazel]

Hi girls,

Just popping in from the second tri to ask a quick question.

Hubby and I have gone out today and looked at prams and travel systems and none of the car seats fit in my car or my hubby's as the seatbelts are too short . I thought about getting longer seatbelts but can't seem to find any on the internet.

Hubby is now hoping I'll let him buy a new car .

Anyone else had this problem?

 

[Bee]

Nope not had this problem

What car do u have?

 

[Hazel]

Daewoo Lanos T reg and a Hyundai Accent P reg.

 

[Bee]

Ah right


Hmmm could u not google it and see what car seats can fit - I am sure people have found something, Or ask at the car garages and see if they know what would fit

What car seats did u try?

 

[lauramleigh]

Did u try ones that come on a stand ? If not have a look at them.. e.g. graco, maxi cosi e.t.c that way the seatbelt only has to fit onto that...

 

[Hazel]

I didn't think of getting one with a base . I think I will do another trip to Mothercare and try them in the cars. I'm glad I started looking already.

Also another quick question. Would you recommend having baby in the back or front seat? (This is our first baby )

 

[lauramleigh]

If u have passenger airbags they arent allowed to travel in the front..
I had my son in the front when he was little but they can be distracting for u when u are driving..
Its personal choice really on where u put them if u dont have the airbag..

This baby this time will have to go in the back cos we have airbags..

Forgot to say they can work out a bit expensive but still cheaper than a new car

 

[daftscotslass]

We got our Graco travel system in Toys r Us. They were very helpful and checked it all fitted first. Was playing with it yesterday!

Our car seat will go in the back as we have front airbags.

 

[crystabell]

Hi,

I have a Ford Focus and have bought the Mamas and Papas car seat. When I tried to put it in the car I had the same problem with the car seat. Luckily I was able to buy a base for it and now it fits in perfect. The bases are handy too as it means its easier to get the baby in and out of the car.

We put our baby in the back seats of the car. Its advised that if your car has an airbag in the front passenger seat then they will need to go in the back. If you don't have an airbag in the front though it will be fine to put baby in there but I think I prefer that she is in the back rather than the front of the car.

Crystal xx

 

[leckershell]

Yes, unfortunately, and we were looking at Maxi Cosi's which are pretty small! The problem with our car at the time was the shape of the seats, not the size. We had a Honda Civic Coupe.

There is a company called Cobra (in telford shropshire I think, google them) and I'm sure there are others that do the same thing, that can build new back seats or seat belt extensions, but we decided against it because we weren't convinced it was 100% safe. They are a good company don't get me wrong, but we weren't sure it was a good idea (for us).

So yes, we ended up with a new car. What car do you have btw?

 

[leckershell]

Just read your second question re: front and back seats. You can only have them in the front seat if your car has the option to disable the airbag (if you have one, I think most cars do) and you need to check with your insurance company whether or not this would invalidate you.

Back seat all the way. Not scientifically minded, but in my personal opinion, much safer.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

I haven't even checked our carseat fits
It came with the travel system/
It has a base so i'm guessing it'll be ok...

 

[Sherlock]

What car seat were you trying? You can check the makers websites for most good brands to see if they fit your car.

We had to review what we wanted and ended up opting for a Britax First Class Si which is from birth to 4 years old. We don't like the baby carriers and as our travel system has a pram that sits up into a rear facing seat and then when big enough we move into the forward facing buggy, we were not worried about having the baby seat out of the car to carry round. This way our car seat costs £120 and will last till 4 years old. Rather than spending £80-100 on a baby carrier for 9 months then another car seat after that. Just that it remains in the car and baby has to be taken out of it when not travelling. But that works for us.

The Britax also has a special wedge under it that will ensure it fits onto a sloping seat properly. It fitted our car perfectly and was very solid.

Where did you go to try to get them fitted also? It might pay to avoid Mothercare as I've found them to be pretty poor with their attempts at fitting. They could not get our travel system choice to fit our car (Jane Slalom Pro Matrix cup seat) and said it was a no go. We went to an independant store and they fitted it fine, but we didn't like it once fitted hence changing our mind and going for a Britax.

Its cheaper to change your mind on your choice of car seat than it is to buy a new car. We nearly said lets look at another car but then sense won out for us and we went back to the drawing board for a couple of days and came up with the Britax car seat and are actually happier with this than our original choice. We kept the same pram/buggy travel system, only without using the Matrix cup as a baby car seat.

According to the Britax site the First Class Si would fit your Hyundai but not the Daewoo. Britax site and car seat fit finder info

 

[Sherlock]

I haven't even checked our carseat fits
It came with the travel system/
It has a base so i'm guessing it'll be ok...

I was told 50% of the car seat (infant carrier) had to be in contact with the actual car seat. Anything less than that and it was considered unsafe and not recommended to use. Also you have to have enough seat belt etc for them, so defo worth fitting it in your car and ensuring it all works properly. We tried some with bases and even those didn't fit our actual car seats as well as we would have hoped and meant we could not consider them.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Thanks for the info
I'll have to check it out! Can't at the moment as OH is at work with my car and the car seat is at his parents house but will check it all out tomorrow! I really hope it fits!

 

[Hazel]

The only problem with ours is the seat belt being to short .

We had another look and can get the car seat in the front of Hubby's car as he has no airbag and a long seat belt but wanted it in the back ideally.