Car seats with harnesses

[Tacey]

Poking my nose in from the toddler section :wave:

Alice will soon be moving out of her ERF seat to let Arthur go into it. I'm a bit boggled by the choice of car seats! She can't rear face any more as DH needs the leg room to drive.

I want her to be in a 5 point harness for as long as possible, ideally until she's over 5. She has hovered around the 50th centile for weight for ages, so I guess the car seat guidelines will be fairly accurate for her.

Has anyone got their child in a harness for longer than the minimum guidelines? What seat are you using, and would you recommend it?

Thank you!

 

[lindseymw]

What about a car seat with an impact shield instead of a harness? i.e Kiddy Guardian Pro, Cybex Pallas 2. From what I can gather, they are safer than harnesses due to the way the child "rolls" over the shield rather than the head flinging forward in an harness.

The Kiddy Guardian Pro got the top safety rating from Which.

 

[Tacey]

Thank you! Funnily enough, I was just having a look at the Kiddy Guardian Pro. I didn't realise they lasted so long! My friend has one, so I might ask if Alice can try it out. I wil have a look at the other one you mentioned too. Thank you!

 

[lindseymw]

I have the Cybex Pallas 2 which I highly recommend. I haven't had any complaints from the kids being in it.

I was going to get the Kiddy Guardian Pro but couldn't find a shop that stocked it and needed to try it out in our car first as we have odd shaped seats.

 

[jenstar]

I have the cybex pallas seats- my 4 1/2 yr old is very big for his age (wears age 6 clothes mostly) and can't use the impact shield any more but my only slightly above average size/ weight 3 yr old has 2.5kg left til the weight limit on the impact shield and and loads of height room left. (You use it as a high-back booster afterwards so there is a lot of extra height- think the manufacturer suggests up to age 12.) I'm happy that my little one will take a couple of years to put on 2.5kg weight so should be able to keep him in the impact shield a good while yet.

 

[Tacey]

How big is the Pallas seat? Our car is pretty small (Peugeot 207).

 

[lindseymw]

It's the size of a standard high backed booster but just has the impact shield on the front, which doesn't come out any further forward than the seat unit if that makes sense?

We have a coupe which is quite cramped on headroom & has smallish seats but it fits in perfect. We did have to remove the cars headrests though.

Do you have a Halfords or Mamas & Papas near you to try one out?

 

[Tacey]

Great, thank you! Yes, I can get to Halfords. Hope they have them in stock.

 

[aimee-lou]

Another suggestion - we have the Graco Nautilus for Earl, It's great - really spacious, cup holder and while We've had to take Earl out of the harness now (it was trapping his bits ) it's lovely and comfy, sturdy and reclines. Not too pricy and has fitted into a Mondeo, a V40 and an Alfa 147.

Hope you're ok

 

[Tacey]

Ooh, lovely thanks! I'll add it to my spreadsheet.

...yes really. I might be over-thinking this a bit!