Childrens Car Seats in an Elise

james · Post by **james** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:36 pm

I splashed out and got a Recaro Start, yes it fits but its heavy and to be honest my parents' "spare grandparents baby seat" fitted better. Its a britax something and is arguably safer as its secured to the seatbelt and then the baby is fixed to the seat using the inbuilt harness.

With the Start, baby and seat are secured to the car in one go, which means more G force going through baby if there was an accident as the force of the seat is transferred in addition to the baby through the seatbelt.

Hope that makes sense.

Matelotman · Post by **Matelotman** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:05 pm

james wrote:I splashed out and got a Recaro Start, yes it fits but its heavy and to be honest my parents' "spare grandparents baby seat" fitted better. Its a britax something and is arguably safer as its secured to the seatbelt and then the baby is fixed to the seat using the inbuilt harness.

With the Start, baby and seat are secured to the car in one go, which means more G force going through baby if there was an accident as the force of the seat is transferred in addition to the baby through the seatbelt.

Hope that makes sense.

The Recaro doesn't have a 5 point harness does it ???
My little lad is only 2 and therefore has to be harnessed in by law

james · Post by **james** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:26 pm

The Start doesnt have a harness (just a lapbelt) but my 17month daughter uses it all the time. I wasnt aware they had to be harnessed in.

Skyenet · Post by **Skyenet** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:21 am

james wrote:The Start doesnt have a harness (just a lapbelt) but my 17month daughter uses it all the time. I wasnt aware they had to be harnessed in.

Forward-facing child seat
Group 1: for children weighing 9-18 kgs (20-40 lbs) roughly from 9 months - 4 years.

Once children have outgrown a rearwards facing seat, the best option is to use a Group 1 seat with an integral harness, the large area of the harness helps to reduce the risk of injury if there is a crash. The bottom attachment between the legs will also prevent the child from sliding under, and out of, the harness.

They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front.

Once again, it is safest to keep children in this type of system until they have outgrown it. Only move your child to a booster seat once they have exceeded the maximum weight for the child seat, or the top of their head is higher than the top of the seat.

Post by **pete** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:25 am

We've got a pair of Britax somethings which were the cheapest in the shop and fit pretty well. They have an integral harness and then as teh vchild grows you stow the harness and the seatbelt hold tehm and the seat.

To argue the other point, if the child is secured by just the seatbelt, ie the seatbelt is holding them into the child seat in the event of an accident, there is only one amount of slack to be absorbed. If the seat has it's own harness then with the best will in the world the seat will move (and the child in it) until the slack on the seat belt is taken up and then the child will continue to move until the slack in the harnes is taken up. I'd sugeest teh child will do a lot more moving until the arrester action kicks in in the seat with the integral harness.

Having said that the harness is very good for stoppingt hem moving around normally. you can realy ratchet it down tight so she hardly moves

Pete

Matelotman · Post by **Matelotman** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:07 am

james wrote:The Start doesnt have a harness (just a lapbelt) but my 17month daughter uses it all the time. I wasnt aware they had to be harnessed in.

I don't know the specifics of the law but as skyenet touched on - it's all to do with weight (although the halfords "expert" told me they had to be harnessed in under the age of 3).

I would say that the Recaro was a Group 2 (stage 3) seat 15-25kgs (age 4-6)

http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/types/index.htm

rossybee · Post by **rossybee** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:24 am

The recaro starts I have are the ones that "grow with the kids" ie adjustable in all 3 directions, from 9mths to 12 years

Also has integrated speakers, which can be connected to any mp3/PSP/DS etc