Infant car seat?

I assume you've seen that Consumer Report has retracted their findings about car seat?

 

Congrats, ttabbal!!! Me, too!

I've been doing some research: Get a current copy of Consumer Reports from newsstands. It has the (now flawed) review of infant safety seats. But it also talks about how to mount them, and what works best.

Around here, the local Fire Departments allow you to drop in any time and have them look over your install and make sure you're doing it right. I am sure departments all over the country would offer the same service. You might want to drop by and talk to them--sure, NTHSA and consumers union test them, but your local fire department / rescue squad sees them in action.

It's a good excuse to tell them you appreciate them, buy them pizza, or make a small donation. (No, I am not a firefighter!)

Also, from other parents, I've been told that a convertible seat is the way to go.

 

I have a toddler now, but when I have another baby I will probably abandon the snap-in in favor of a real seat, like the Britax Roundabout.

Nate

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SteveB @ Jan 19 2007, 01:59 PM) [snapback]377835[/snapback]</div>

Congrats, and now that you won't be needing your cat anymore, I would love to have him! I recall how our cat was our child substitute and now that our child is 14, my eye again roams toward the feline. Your's particularly reminds me of the best cat I ever had. So hand him over, okay?

 

From a father of five (3 Older & 2 younger) you can't go wrong with the Graco or Britax. I also just bought two Eddie Bauer Alpha Omega Elite. ther are built like tanks and are a little tought to install, but worh it. Also, use the latch system.it is very secure. Whatever you get make sure you install it properly. usually local fire departments (at least in CA) will check your installation if you are unsure. Good luck. Children are a real blessing!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SomervillePrius @ Jan 19 2007, 09:47 AM) [snapback]377772[/snapback]</div>

Yes, I heard that their test simulated a 70-mph crash instead of a lower speed. At least they erred on the side of higher speed! If a seat got high marks at THAT speed, it must be a pretty good seat! I'd still look at what their top performers are, since they are likely to be very good (if you want just an infant seat).

 

Congrats on the new baby! I'm pretty sure all modern infant seats have snap in bases with LATCH. As you mentioned, the snap in base is very convenient. My son spent a good portion of his first few months in that seat on the living room floor.
Definitely use the LATCH belt opposed to the seat belt. We have an older Subaru w/o LATCH and it requires regular adjustment as the seatbelt works itself loose over time.

What is your toddler in now? My 2 year old is in a Britax Roundabout (his name is Nate too!) and his little sister is due in March. She will be riding in a Graco Snugride infant seat. We bought a cheap Cosco Scenera convertible from Target to keep in the Sube and all I can say is it makes it clear why the Britax is so much more expensive. Because it's WORTH IT! I am notoriously cheap by nature but I strongly believe this is not an area to cut corners. Get a nice seat with good features and hopefully it can get you through another kid or 5.


EDIT to add that most Graco snap in infant seats can retrofit to many of their bases so if you have multiple cars you can buy and extra base to keep mounted in the second car for extra convenience.

 

We have been using a Britax Boulevard and are very happy with it. As far as I know its one of the only seats engineered for side impacts by a manufacturer that does their own crash testing. For a baby bucket, we used a Peg Primo Viaggio. They are also one of the few with side-impact protection. This was before we had the Prius though, so I can't comment on fit. The Boulevard fits very well in the Prius, despite being a large seat. We used the Peg until ~6 mon, then went to the Britax in rear facing mode, then at ~14 mon turned it around for front facing. We should be able to keep him in there until he's completely done with seats, as the upper weight limit is 65 lbs.

Since the Britax (like the peg) is marketed as if it were a fashion accessory, you can often find good deals on last years fabric colors. We paid under $200 for each of ours at different times.

Lastly, and perhaps more controversially there is the used question. In general every one says to never ever buy a used car seat. They may have been in an accident and be undetectably compromised. In general everyone will also tell you it doesn't matter what seat you use because they all pass the government test so they are all safe. As an engineer, I strongly disagree with both of these positions. I truly believe the government tests are a joke (30mph head on, no side impact testing). As someone else mentioned, the fact that some seats passed CRs accidental 70mph side impact test clearly shows all seats are not created equal. On the second front, it is very true that you should not use a seat that has been in an accident. It is also true that there are a whole lot of used seats out there that have not been in accidents and are perfectly safe. I think this is particularly true of infant seats since they are used for such a short amount of time. I also believe that a seat that has had its strength compromised by an accident will have visible signs of distress. There will be some sort of discoloration or deformation of the plastic or foam near stress points, such as where the seat snaps into the base, where the belts come together with the seat etc. You should absolutely take the seat completely apart and look for any signs of trouble. You should also try and buy direct fro the original user, I would hope not many parents would lie to your face about compromising your child's safety.

A new high quality seat is always preferable, but given the choice between a cheap new seat and a top end used seat I would consider (in fact I did) going with the used. We decided that it made more sense to put our money into the convertible seats since the kids would spend 4+ years in them. For us this meant having to compromise a little on the cost of the baby seat that they would only spend 6 months in. In the $80 price range, I fealt more comfortable with a used Peg Perego seat than what we could have gotten new for that price.

Rob

 

Greetings -

I bought the Prius as my wife and (New) baby were not going to fit in my old truck. After all our research and more importantly feedback from friends with kids we bought the Britax. It really is a terrific seat and of course we have two bases, one for each car. We also have the 'stroller' which the seat snaps into - which is terrific and well worth the money. The neat thing about the Stroller base is not only can you snap in the car seat, but they also make a stroller 'seat' attachement that is larger for when your baby larger - you can still use the same stroller base.

The only thing the Britax doesn't have is the 'S' shaped handle which I admit looks easier to carry. But the seats with the S handle are larger and the Britax fits perfectly in a standard shopping cart - which I doubt the larger 's' handle carriers do.

With regard to the Prius specifically. The Britax fits fine behind the driver's seat. I put it that location becasue I usually have my (BIG) dog as well, and he needs the wider passenger seat down. Unfortunately, unless you are a small person, I find to get the car seat in and out you have to leave your seat back very upright, or have the driver's seat moved forward. So frequently I have to move my seat back upright when I get out, in order to take out the car seat, and then after putting the seat back in, get into an upright drivers seat and recline the back again. YMMV. If you had the whopping big car seat with the 's' Handle, that's probably going to be a problem. Or you're going to put it on the Passengers side and just torture them.

The other thing is not such a big deal, but if you have the britax seat snapped in to the base, you can not put up or down the passenger seat (without taking out the car seat.) You can with just the base in obviously.

The other nice thing about the Prius is, if you want to try and keep your baby awake while driving you can leave the 'rear' dome light on so they can see stuff, and it really doesn't impede your visibility at night.

D.

 

I'm a father of a 2-yr old, just went though this recently. For the car seat, Check out Consumer Reports and other references to find the best that you can. Then make sure it works correctly in the car that you choose. Seats are all different and any given seat will fit in some cars better than others. If you already have chosen a seat, then take it with you to the toyota dealer and try it in the car before you buy it.

For the Prius; my current car seat that was spectacular in my truck and my wife's old car didn't fit well initially in the Prius. The Prius back seat has a little hump in the middle and the seat wanted to rock back and forth no matter what I did. The answer was the Mighty-tite seat belt tightener. These things are fantastic, I now use them in all our cars:

Mighty-Tite - Car Seat Belt Tightener - Sunshine Kids - Babies "R" Us

You clip this thing on the belt and use the lever and ratchet action to crank it down as tight as you can. In my truck I can put all my strength into the child seat and it will not move at all. In the prius I have to put a significant amount of force on the seat to get it to move side to side at all. The trick is crank it down really tight, then come back a couple hours later (after the Toyota car seat gives a little) and crank it down again. Now the child seat is in super tight. I have no idea how anyone gets a car seat tight enough without these things, they're awesome.