Child Seats

August 29, 2005

Hello all :) My 1st post here !

I've just bought a Mk1 (??) 96 'P' 5 door 2.0 gx with intergalactic milage and she needs some serious tlc but has a full service history & drives like a dream :thumbsup:

We went for the Rav 4 to help my wifes back when putting our 2 girls in the car. Our eldest daughter is 4 and is currently in a Recaro sport seat which has been fine when fitted in our previous Nissan and my A4 but due to the 'c' post being so far foward in the Rav 4 the seat seems to have an awful lot of foward movement before the belt takes hold (even when fully tightened using the ratchet).

Sorry if I've rambled on but I'd be greatful to hear what everyone else is using & their experiences.

Thanks in advance

Chris

August 30, 2005

Our eldest daughter is 4 and is currently in a Recaro sport seat which has been fine when fitted in our previous Nissan and my A4 but due to the 'c' post being so far foward in the Rav 4 the seat seems to have an awful lot of foward movement before the belt takes hold (even when fully tightened using the ratchet).

Hi Chris,

Presumably the seat is the type with its own straps which is then secured in the car using the seatbelt? We've just bought a Mk1 RAV and I found that there was loads of movement in my son's seat when I fitted it (I can't remember the make & model at the moment, but I'll check later). However, by sitting him in the seat, for extra weight, and really pushing it back and down into the RAV's seat, I found that I was then able to get it tight enough on the seatbelt to be a good fit. It's definitely a real pain to fit in the RAV compared to any other car though! :angry:

Hope that helps.

Richard

August 30, 2005

Thanks for your reply Richard,

It's the Recaro Start so it doen't have it's own belts it uses the seat belt.

Anyone else use a group 3 child seat in the back of an early Rav4 ?

August 30, 2005

I am using a Recaro Start in my 5dr 04 model - agree the car belt upper mount seem quite far forward of the seat but will still do it's job in my own opinion - I have the actual car seat in in rear-most sliding position to give our son some leg room but one option would be to slide it forward I guess.

Will be interesting to know what seats everyone else is using - I am looking for an ISOFIX seat (booster type) but cannot find any ...

August 31, 2005

Hi Amh,

I think your right in that the base still doesnt move so it must be doing it's job.

I popped into our local car seat stockist yesterday for some advice and was soooo impressed by the new 'Jane indy plus' that I had to buy one !

You'll be pleased to hear that it's also the only isofix seat on the market at the moment.

have a look here : http://www.jane.es/seguretat/index.php

Not too pricey either, I bought one for £99 :)

Chris

August 31, 2005

Thanks for your reply Richard,
It's the Recaro Start so it doen't have it's own belts it uses the seat belt.
Anyone else use a group 3 child seat in the back of an early Rav4 ?
←

My daughter's using this type of seat (although it's not a Recaro one) so I'll check it when I get a chance and see how it is.

September 22, 2005

I popped into our local car seat stockist yesterday for some advice and was soooo impressed by the new 'Jane indy plus' that I had to buy one !
You'll be pleased to hear that it's also the only isofix seat on the market at the moment.

Hi Chris,

Since your profile mentions a '96 RAV, I assume that you're fitting the JANÉ seat into a Mk1 RAV using the seatbelt to secure it rather than ISOFIX. If this is the case, how does it overcome the problem with the upper seatbelt mounting being further forward than the child seat?

After your previous postings, I took a look at my daughter's group 3 Bebe Confort seat and saw that it suffers from the same problem of the positioning of the seatbelt mounting. It also doesn't seem to sit flat on the seat base, thereby allowing the seat to tip sideways. We visited ToysRUs and Mothercare at the weekend, but the 'car seat experts' at both couldn't come up with a solution. We did look at the group 3 seats that have their own belts, similar to the group 1 and 2 seats, but my daughter's very close to the weight limit where she'd have to revert to using the car's belt to hold her in, so that doesn't get us anywhere.

We're getting to the point of considering replacing the car just to try and sort out this problem, so if the JANÉ seat does the trick, it'd be great to hear about it.

Thanks,

Richard

September 24, 2005

Hi Richard,

It seems all the car seats suffer from the same problem when fitted to cars where the 'C' post sits foward of the rear seat back.

I spoke to 2 different car seat specialists and they reassured me that this isn't a problem as long as the seat base (of the child seat) doesnt move foward, after all, any tall person sitting in the front of a car with the seat base adjusted far back would have the same problem (as they would sit behind the 'B' post seatbelt mounting).

I'm now happy that a small amount of foreward movement from the upper body (whilst not ideal) is acceptable, however I always make sure that the ratchet of the seat belt is enabled (by fully extending the belt after fitting) so to minimise any extra movement caused by my daughter moving or leaning foward when seated.

Finally the reason I changed from the Recaro was because I was so impressed by he additional side protection offered by the 'Jané Indy Plus' along with my daughter sitting alot more securely when she falls asleep.

Incidently I have now changed both of my Recaros for Jané's and managed to sell both the Recaros second hand for more than I paid for the Jané's :)

September 24, 2005

We have a Racaro start, but using it in the front, so can't help much :( .

September 24, 2005

I can't help either,

...but welcome to the forum, and good to see another mk1!

September 25, 2005

Does anyone know of any Jane stockists - I can't find any clues on their WWW Site and none of our usual outlets seem to stock them - anywhere in Hants, Sussex or Dorset will be ideal :)

We have a Recaro which is a great seat but I am after a Jane for the RAV to save on swapping seat between cars and to make use of the ISOFIX fitment if possible.

September 25, 2005

There are lots of suppliers available through a Google search but we bought ours locally from 'BabyGear' in Camberley, Surrey but they are also available brand new on eBay for £99+p&p

Chris

September 27, 2005

Thanks Chris - not too far so will go there in a couple of weeks time and take a look - Andy.

September 28, 2005

There are lots of suppliers available through a Google search but we bought ours locally from 'BabyGear' in Camberley, Surrey but they are also available brand new on ebay for £99+p&p
Chris
←

We just bought ours from here:-

Baby Basics

Can thoroughly recommend them - £97, helpful, quick delivery and free shipping :)

Andy