Aussie baby seats

Hi Guys,

I been, quite, um, "amused" with the idea of car seats in australia for a while. For example, my wife borrowed this baby capsule from a friend. I thought "brilliant, it'll be better than the reversable car seats we have here"....



Did you spot the first dangerous, downright staggering issue ............................ THERE IS NO SEATBELT HOLDING IT IN ................................. OMG .... one of the kids must have unplugged it trying to get there seatbelts on and off. I only noticed this yesterday. How long has it not been strapped in for








No it's not the kids fault it had been undone... Check this out, the lump of excrement is so huge, it covers *both* seatbelts..... You can't get to the bloody things without sliding the baby capsule out of the way..... Which of course is another issue with it.





THe idea of this lump of shit is you can lift the center part out and use it like a basinnet and not wake the baby up .................. Ummmm..... spot the problem You must first unstrap the top anchor, then lift the center part up and out of the shell. This *may* be possible in a hi-roof Hi-ace van, but I don't have one to try it in. It's sure impossible in every car I own. Just like the reversable car seats we have it's so bloody huge, it has to go into the middle seating position (unless you have legless people in the front seats). So to put the baby in and out, you must "lean in" 1/2 the length of the back seat without falling over while holding the baby. Lift the baby to roof height (without slamming them into the roof) and lower them over those straps and down into the seat. Removal is the reverse gymnastics routine.

The best bit .... this is the fully strapped in seat.



You can strap 'em pretty tight into the mighty CX where the center belt is *not* inertia real. This is fitted correctly to a car with inertia real belts. What a laughable piece of shit. This is what aussie regulations force onto us.

I swore if I ever needed to get a baby seat ..... I'd buy an ISOFIX one from somewhere.

Guess what ... We have a bloody good reason to get a new car seat .... and we know own a junky modern car that has ISOFIX mounts. The somewhere it was ordered from turned out to be Germany. There the only place I could find that would courier to australia.

THis is what the rest of the world uses (except australia where is "not approved" ).



Hmm, the instructions are in german ..... ..... There is one knob and one releasing latch on the entire seat. Even the dumbest moron could figure out how to fit it ..... That one knob, turn it out the mechanical latches wind out of the back of the base.



"CLICK" ... that was hard. Time taken sofar 10seconds. The base is full of structural metal, it weighs a lot more the the entire car seats I have here. Note: the green telltale on the latches to show you it's latched correctly (for those too stupid to just pull on it and see if it comes back out ).



"CLICK" That was 15seconds..... The seat is far heavier than any of the seats here too. It's full of load bearing frames and metal. It can drop in forward or reverse facing. I obviously chose reverse.

Were upto 25seconds now, turn that knob and withdraw the arms that are latched into the seats.... This will take maybe 20seconds. The seat will now be rigidly locked into the seat back. Were upto 45seconds.

Note: No straps, you can just lower baby staight in and out. Very safe, nothing in the way. It's that bloody firmly tied in, I reckon if I hooked my engine crane to it I could lift the car around by the baby seat. I simply cannot emphasize enough how much better than the shit we put up with in australia is.



We don't have to put it in the middle and crawl half way across the car with a baby to put it in. Note: we can access all the seatbelts now. I have moved the drivers seat fully back..... Yes it will still go FULLY back. I can't even reach the pedals now :roflmao:




Look at the framework in the back of the seat. she's seriously strong.







You know how Aussie seats when expensive are just the same but have huge "cushion" like inserts to make it look all cozy. The insert is NOT cozy....... It full of impact foam, the same stuff fitted into crash helmets. It's actually ****ional padding for babies, not fluffy shit to try and sell the seats to parents.

Why can't we buy these here

seeya,
Shane L.

Bloody hell, if I made a mess like that in the back of the Ro80 when I was a kid my Dad would have skun me alive!!

i have a friend staying atm and she has rented a corolla for a few weeks. while i was fitting the child seat (for her 2yo) i noticed that the corolla has the isofix fittings in it. it seems like such an obviously good idea to hook the bottom of the seat into them and not have people frigging around trying to secure a child in a seat, with an inertia reel lap/sash belt! i fail to see how that can be adequately done without using one of those optional metal brackets which join the two belts together down low.

i sure hope the faceless committee/s which regulates these things pulls their collective fingers out and approves isofix asap.

shane, i am totally with you on this one.

when i bought the seat i was most bemused that you can pay (in the shop i went to) anywhere from $190 (which i paid) to $550 for a car seat with the same specs (ie one which does up to about 4yo).

Haakon said:

Bloody hell, if I made a mess like that in the back of the Ro80 when I was a kid my Dad would have skun me alive!!

Click to expand...

It's mostly the camera flash against the black leather. But yes, it is all dirty. It's just a junky poogoe, so no biggie. One thing I don't worry about is cars, you gotta live. Any damage to the back of my CX for example we can look at in 20years and say "remember when XXXXX chucked up everywhere and stained it there " It's very hard to not put shoes all over the leather when they were trying to get seatbelts fastened around the baby seat (that completely covered and obscured the latches) and booster seat.

It'll all wipe off with a damp cloth when I get to cleaning the car. All the junk there is the rugs and crap out of the baby seat I removed.

seeya,
Shane L.

alexander said:

i have a friend staying atm and she has rented a corolla for a few weeks. while i was fitting the child seat (for her 2yo) i noticed that the corolla has the isofix fittings in it. it seems like such an obviously good idea to hook the bottom of the seat into them and not have people frigging around trying to secure a child in a seat, with an inertia reel lap/sash belt! i fail to see how that can be adequately done without using one of those optional metal brackets which join the two belts together down low.

i sure hope the faceless committee/s which regulates these things pulls their collective fingers out and approves isofix asap.

shane, i am totally with you on this one.

when i bought the seat i was most bemused that you can pay (in the shop i went to) anywhere from $190 (which i paid) to $550 for a car seat with the same specs (ie one which does up to about 4yo).

Click to expand...

All the cars we have had this century have had ISOFIX points installed. It seems to be a better system - I'm sure I saw some time ago (last 6 to 12 months) that ISOFIX was going to be made legal in Australia soon. The Yanks have another system where belts are affixed to ISOFIX points .

2353 said:

All the cars we have had this century have had ISOFIX points installed. It seems to be a better system - I'm sure I saw some time ago (last 6 to 12 months) that ISOFIX was going to be made legal in Australia soon. The Yanks have another system where belts are affixed to ISOFIX points .

Click to expand...

last i heard as we not all that long ago had another member of the family arrive when i pushed a few as to when isofix was going to happen and i was told, not a hope in hell, the system we have leads the world in safety

the isofix is a great system and one that should have been adopted years ago

maybe the same old twits that want a useless club permit scheme are involved :crazy:

ISOFIX will be legal here next year.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/165625/isofix-child-restraints-to-be-legalised-in-2013/

The american "latch" system is apparently identical to the ISOFIX system. It appears some reverse facing isofix seats still have the top anchor belts though. This one doesn't. You know, I wouldn't even mind if it did. It so well designed I'm not worried about it not being there. The weight of the thing is amazing. It must weigh in at 35kg. It's all the metal re-enforcing in it. A standard seat is maybe 5kg.

seeya,
Shane L.

mistareno said:

ISOFIX will be legal here next year.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/165625/isofix-child-restraints-to-be-legalised-in-2013/

Click to expand...

Yeah they said the same thing in 2011 ..... I'll believe it when it happens.

seeya,
Shane L.

2353 said:

All the cars we have had this century have had ISOFIX points installed. It seems to be a better system - I'm sure I saw some time ago (last 6 to 12 months) that ISOFIX was going to be made legal in Australia soon. The Yanks have another system where belts are affixed to ISOFIX points .

Click to expand...

I have just acquired a '99 Series II Xantia, but I wouldn't know an Isofix point if it bit me!

What do they look like, and where are they?

Cheers

Alec

Not sure about the Xantia, they were bloody hard to find int he 407 (I checked they were there before I ordered the seats). The c4 had a label/arrow pointing towards them. The 407 ..... they are actually "inside" the seats backs frame. There is a slot cut in the leather, if you feel inside this slot you can feel the ISOFIX hoops.



You will find no mention of them in an Aussie sold cars handbook either way. Even if fitted.

seeya,
shane L

Thanks Shane - makes sense now. Just checked the Xantia - no luck

Cheers

Alec

This is the seat I purchased either way:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390437774046

How the hell they can post it from Germany for 70bucks when it's huge and ways a ton is beyond me. It would probably cost me double that to send it from ballarat to melbourne

seeya,
Shane L.

shane, couple of questions...
does the isofix set have the rear anchored belt too?
is that leg attached to the front of the seat base, intended to brace onto the floor?

ta

alexander said:

shane, couple of questions...
does the isofix set have the rear anchored belt too?
is that leg attached to the front of the seat base, intended to brace onto the floor?

ta

Click to expand...

The leg is just a drop down prop. I imagine it supports the seat in a heavy front impact.

seeya,
Shane L.

mistareno said:

ISOFIX will be legal here next year.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/165625/isofix-child-restraints-to-be-legalised-in-2013/

Click to expand...

any article i read they are still not 100% that it will be introduced or can give a date

DoubleChevron said:

The leg is just a drop down prop. I imagine it supports the seat in a heavy front impact.

seeya,
Shane L.

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THe Scenic has a point below the seat for the pole to be attached to.

2353 said:

THe Scenic has a point below the seat for the pole to be attached to.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what that's for. There bloody difficult things to fix though. I just googled "fitting isofix seats" as you made me think I had somehow done it wrong. Gee's, this certainly is difficult crap compared to the seats we try and strap in with seatbelts out here

DoubleChevron said:

This is the seat I purchased either way:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390437774046

How the hell they can post it from Germany for 70bucks when it's huge and ways a ton is beyond me. It would probably cost me double that to send it from ballarat to melbourne

seeya,
Shane L.

Click to expand...

Link not working for me - ebay comes up but no seat showing

Surprised isofix is not approved here Our daughters have them in Skoda, BMW, Golf and our Megane has them as well.
Babypunting shops sell lots of isofix seats, illegal it seems but i doubt it.
Daughters have their b'seats isofixed with an extra strap going over the back seat and there is a hook on the backrest to hook it into - easy.
The wobbly baby capsule you demonstrated - the seatbelt needed a cheap clamp ($5 from baby punting).
to lock it into place - easy as well.

The German seat and fixing system looks awesome! Don't know what's wrong with Australian officialdom? Products that are approved in Europe should automatically be kosher here If they products come from outer Mongolia or Sudan etc then i can understand that our officials put their stamp of approval on.
To answer my own question - probably too many public aristocrats here struggling to justify their salaries and jobs.