Halfords Graco Junior Reduced to £25.59

isayoldchap

Apologises if in the wrong place.Unsure if this maybe just a local offer.

Popped into Halfords Crawley(WS) last and they had about seven of these
Graco Junior booster car seats.These ones are sub coded Tarmac Stripe and are similar to the ones on their website(Metroplolitan £39.99), but have no padding on the armrests and slightly less cushion padding on the seat.Originally £31.99 down to £25.59
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/categorydisplay_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_categoryId_60959_langId_-1_parentcategoryrn_60959_crumb__topcategory_60959_sortOrder_ascending_sortResults__beginIndex_0_brandFilter_

Hope this helps someone:beer:

user55

These seats did VERY badly in safety tests, to the point they shouldn't even be allowed to be on sale, according to some reports. Pay another £15 and keep your child safe!

Scarlet_Fever

user55 wrote:

These seats did VERY badly in safety tests, to the point they shouldn't even be allowed to be on sale, according to some reports. Pay another £15 and keep your child safe!

hi there, is the test that said these were bad avail online/?

jammy123

It was in a which report

isayoldchap

user55 wrote:

These seats did VERY badly in safety tests, to the point they shouldn't even be allowed to be on sale, according to some reports. Pay another £15 and keep your child safe!

Hi
I hope you can show the results you may have.I have only found good things and gold awards for this item.These wouldn't be the 'Which' results by any chance?I spoke to the Training Manager at Graco by phone who actually said that Which were unable to show what problem they found with this model.

This is the safety standard r44/03 it also has
http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/standards/r4403.htm

I look forward to seeing the Which report especially the quantities on test.

I have also included Graco's website who state that this seat has actually done well in the awards
ceremonies.There is also some magazines that give it the thumbs up,be it for design ,comfort, but as I understand not a safety test as such(Spoke to Mother & Baby magazine also).Surely they can't all be wrong can they?Furthermore would Halfords really sell it if they knew of a potential danger ,would they?Asked Customer services at Halfords if they were aware of the Which report.I
expect a recall of the product if there was a serious defective.
My interest is my childs safety.Unsure whether spending £15 extra will tell me if the seat is safer or not.Look forward to your posts and welcome to MSE.
http://www.graco.co.uk/product/carseats/and_up/junior/junior_features/

I have reserved judgement for the time being.

Sazere

From someone who uses two of these I would like to say my boys are very comfortable in the Graco Junior car seats. We have recently progressed to these from the Britax seats (Eclipse and Elite) with the harnesses and these are much better. We found that both our then 4 and 3 year old would constantly take their arms out of the harnesses no matter how tight they were pulled. Also our 4 year old used to moan about the harness bit between his legs hurting.

Now our boys are 5 and almost 4 they sit in these Graco Car Seats and are really comfy, the seat belt sits perfectly accross their bodies and they do not bother to mess with the belt at all as they are comfortable. These car seats are just the right height for them so they can see out of the windows and all around them. Also the seats are easy to swop from vehicle to vehicle.

Sazere

http://www.rsa.ie/publication/publication/upload/p48-50_child_car_seats.pdf?PHPSESSID=dfe30cbb4aa1f7322eb752e10cc97631#search=%22graco%20junior%20safety%20test%22

This is the link to the relevant page of the Which Report but it doesn't actually explain why the Graco tested so poorly in their tests! This is what Which have written about the car seats they advise purchasers not to buy!

DON'T BUY
We’re disappointed to report that some of the
seats we exposed as inadequate as long as two
years ago are still on sale. As the table, ‘Child car
seats to avoid’, right, shows, we don’t
recommend these seats either because they
won’t offer adequate protection in a severe
crash, or because they are difficult to install,
which increases the risk of injury in a crash.
They are better than no seat at all but, if
possible, buy a safer model as soon as you can.
The seats all meet the current minimum legal
safety standards (ECE R44/03), but we’ve long
said these standards are not high enough.
Manufacturers should make seats as safe as
possible. We think simply making them safe
enough to pass minimum legal requirements is
irresponsible. We contacted the manufacturers
to ask why they still sell these inferior seats.
Mamas & Papas, which supplies three of the
poorest seats – the Navetta Carry Cot, the Elan
and the Passaggio – told us: ‘All our products
comply with the current standards. If the
experts feel that the legal standards require
revision, then Mamas & Papas will be happy
to comply with any revised specifications.’
Britax, which produces class leaders like the
Duo Plus and the Cosy Tot seats, also still sells
some shockers, including the Cruiser Plus,
Ranger and Trio. Britax told us: ‘All our products
meet and exceed the current standards, but we
also work to our own more stringent standards.’
Concord failed to tell us why it still sells
the Trimax X-Line when it has other good seats
such as the Lift Protect and Lift Evo on offer.
Meggy, Storchenmühle and Graco declined to
tell us why they’re still selling the Kombi,
Starlight SP and Junior Plus.
Your child’s safety is too high a price to pay for
these seats. Don’t buy them

maplegirl2011

isayoldchap wrote:

Hi
I hope you can show the results you may have.I have only found good things and gold awards for this item.


these gold stars and awards are normally from baby magazines, who do surveys every year and you fill in what products you think are the best buy etc. therefore these awards are just based on readers opinions and not on any scientific test unlike the which crash tests. personally i wouldn't buy the graco junior. we had one and we stopped using it when we read the report and got the britax hi-liner instead. it is always redued to 39.99 in lots of places and actually came out very near the top for safety(couple of % in it) compared with the which winners. the graco came out at 36%. i think it's main problem is the lack of side protection. if you compare to winners of which report, they are all really padded for side impact protection

isayoldchap

Having accessed the comments on here and the Which report,followed by my
research,I have returned the car seat to Halfords and received a full refund.
I am currently looking to buy the Maxi-Cosi Rodi XP.This has done very well in the tests and I like it's got height and width adjusters.Currently approx £73 on a search.Thanks for all who have commented.:T