Please please help with newborn car seats

twigpig

Hey all, looking for some help on car seats please! About to head for the nearest cliff!

My car is a 2011 Mazda 2 and has isofix. I'm getting conflicting advice about what isofix bases and car seats are "compatible" and "safety tested" with my car.

My understanding was that any isofix base could go on my car, and my car guide and mazda website confirm it's "compatible with any isofix base", but Maxi Cosi and Mothercare confirm that Mazda haven't safety tested it, so although it would fit, they can't confirm it would be safe???? I've confirmed with Mazda that this is indeed true. Mazda also confirmed they've only "safety tested" and would recommend the Britax system, where although they've not tested the car seats, they've tested the isofix base, so as long as I use a base, that would be fine.

Now, there's no way that everyone with a mazda 2 is only buying Britax......

This seems to be getting overly complicated. I also rang Mama's and Papa's to ask them how they would know my car is good to use with their isofix bases and they said as long as they fit, they could see no problem.

Please help me. If I have isofix, should I just buy any brand that fits with isofix. It would be "compatible" but not necessarily "safety tested". I'm finding it hard to believe that everyone goes through this just to buy a car seat. Of course, I want our baby to be safe, but think I'm getting the run around.

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.......

LandyAndy

I have a MAzda2 but my children are a little old for car seats.

I think you should be careful not to confuse safety tested with safe.

onlyroz

Isofix is nothing fancy - it's just two metal hooks that the chair or base clips onto. Why don't you go to Halfords and get the staff to demo it for you (in your own car if you want) and then you can see for yourself if you think the system is any good.

4nnabella

You can still use the seatbelt to secure the base unit into your car, this is what we are going to be doing with our Maxi Cosi base.

But onlyroz makes a good suggestion - go to a Halfords and get them to demo it for you.

twigpig

Thanks for the replies. I've had a look at the isofix system and would prefer this to a belted system so I can get baby in and out of car in the rain as quickly as possible especially whilst they're still small.

I guess my query is around that not all manufacturers seem to have a list of safety tested cars, and is this phrase "safety tested" that I keep hearing a load of rubbish. Is it simply a matter of checking that it fits my car?

Sammy85_2

As long as the Isofix base is compatable with your car then i dont think its an issue?

Safety tested i would assume is more to do with whether they did the crash tests with that particular brand of seat in the car?

I would, as others have suggested, go to Halfords. They can check their compatability lists and will check and fit the base for you.

We've gone for the Maxi Cosi Pebble and Family fix base in our car, there was no mention of Safety testing or anything like that, Mothercare just said it was compatable with our car.

heretolearn_2

I think yo are getting a bit hung up on this.

Isofix is an international fitting system for car seats. All systems you will buy in the UK will have passed all relevant safety standards and tests, both the isofix itself and the car seats.

there is no need to test every possible combination of the two together - can you imagine the logistics of that? Every model of car with every model of car seat? Constantly all the time every time a new car or car seat is released? The fact that the isofix system is approved and sold, and the car seat is approved and sold, means the two will be perfectly safe together.

All this teaming up of car manufacturer and car seat manufacturer is just marketing. There is a deal to recommend these particular products. In the same way that washing machine manufacturers recommend a particular brand of washing powder for 'the best results in our machine' it's just twaddle (yeah right, no other washing powder works properly in that machine?). Presumably Mazda and Britax have a mutual marketing agreement. Honestly believe us, it doesn't mean that other brands of car seat are not safe in Mazdas. Really think about it for a minute. Seriously you think that a car set will be passed for sale if it is secretly only safe in some car brands but isn't safe in other car brands? Acar seat is a car seat is a car seat. They will fit differently in different cars, so that's why you shop around, but the safety of the actual fitting is the same.

brians_daughter

Best advice i can give is contact your local councils road safety team. they can advise you from an unbiased and practical point of view. My road safety team even let you hire car seats (if say you didnt usually drive but had hired a car to go on a special trip etc) They advised me with all of my children.

grey_lady

You could sign up for a free trial of Which? their website has lots of info car seats, including crash test safety results. I believe that the maxi-cosi came out top if it was with the base.

Sammy_Girl

I second the Which report. They will show you the best buys and worst buys from their safety testing for car seats.

Nephthys

Hi Twigpig, we have a Mazda 3 (2007) and got a Recaro Young Profi Plus with the isofix base. The Mazda seatbelts were not long enough to go round the seat so we got the base. It was also used in my car (Ford Fiesta and then a Hyundai I30) with the belts with no problem. The advantage to the Recaro being that it's the same base for the Stage 1 seat which he has only just moved into. On a personal note - DH preferred the base as it was quicker and he felt it was more secure. I didn't mind the base but I had to put the seat in it and then bring the baby out to it when he was heavier as I couldn't lift the seat onto the base. However, I hasten to add that I have muscle weakness so this was just easiest for me!

No one ever mentioned safety testing to us and we had emailed Recaro to ask about belts fitting the seat. Their response was that if there was isofix in the car then it was best to use that so they never even mentioned safety testing. Get someone (Mothercare, Halfords etc) to test the base in your car and see if the seat will fit in correctly - the passenger seat may need to move forward a bit and you should check there is enough room for a passenger should you have one. I would also recommend the Which trial - just to set your mind at ease.

We seem to have been unusual in having a Recaro seat - every other child I have seen has been in a Maxi Cosi, lol!