Carseat advice

[jennyh]

Hello

In the past I have posted about rear vs forward facing seats but moving on from this I want some advice on forward facing seats for group 1 onwards. We have a pretty old 2003 Ford Focus 3-door and the ones that I have looked at aren't suitable for a 3-dr car. In addition the bases dont seem to fit our old car...does anyone have any experience/info?

Jenny

[oimissus]

we have a 2002 3 door Ford Ka and we have a Maxi Cosi forward facing seat (can't remember exact style name), fits fine and OK to get our 2 year old in and out of (she went into it when she was about 1), Halfords on the Old Kent Road helped us and fitted it, maybe go the them for some advice, they were very helpful. I'd think if it can fit in a Ka it would fit in a Focus. Didn't realise some weren't suitable for a 3 door car.

[Yak]

We have a small, admittedly 5 door, Fabia but we use a Maxi Cosi front facing one with no extra base - we just use the adult seatbelt to attach it to the car.

[oimissus]

ah, I see, no, we didn't use an extra base, just seatbelts too.

[jennyh]

Thanks. We are going to go and see Halfords in Brixton I think as they were helpful on the phone. Basically I have so far found out that you need to get something from Ford to attach under the seats in order to be able to fix Isofix if you want it. Then we would need to find a compatable carseat for our car...apparently not all will fit but this was the lady a maxi-cosi who told me and then she tried to upsell a more expensive model for 3-door cars.:) Halfords mentioned that a carseat fitted with a seatbelt in a 3-door car isnt ideal as you can never quite get in the right position to get the correct pull on the belt...apparently! We've used Maxicosi rear facing with the seatbelt for a year nearly and have been pretty confident with the fit though so who knows.

Its a bit of a minefield isn't it!?

[BellendenBear]

Ford seem to have been a bit slow at putting Isofix in as standard, at least in the Focus anyway. We used to have a 2006 Focus and had to pay Ford to fit isofix points.

I suspect that what Halfords told you about the position with a seat belt is correct. There was something in the Guardian a few months ago about the large proportion of seats that are incorrectly fitted. Don't know what the stats are, but Isofix feels much safer.

Yes, a minefield!

[jollybaby]

Our ford focus didn't have isofix brackets when we bought it, but they were very easy to install. I ordered the parts online for about ?20 and then put them in myself.

We have bought both our car seats from halfords and they were very helpful and willing to price match. From memory the range of seats was much bigger at the Old Kent Road branch than at the Brixton one but that may have changed.

[jennyh]

Ah brilliant - and did you just go to a Ford dealership?

Thanks!