Bongo Fury

Hi there

We're having real problems finding a car seat that fits in our Ford Freda for our 18 month old boy. I've searched high and low and can't find a seat anywhere. The recommended Britax doesn't have buckle crunch but Mothercare said it was wasn't safe as the belt scrunched up in the red clip that holds the belt in place at the back of the seat.

The kiddy guardian pro has buckle crunch. I read the child seat doc in the members forum and the picture of the buckle actually show it resting against the plastic of the seat which I thought was buckle crunch? Shortening the buckle strap in the van would still mean buckle crunch.

Mothercare also tried the Maxi cosi but it didn't fit.

Feeling a bit desperate as if we can't find one we might have to get rid of the van!!!

Any advice would be v greatly appreciated!!

Just wrap the seat belt around the seat bar to shorten it like everyone else does. Do a search on here and you'll find lots of people asking the same question.

Wrapping the belt around won't make any difference as the buckle will still touch the kiddy seat at any height.

Have you tried the front seat, we found the youngest would only fit in that seat as it seemed a little wider and there is no airbag. He will have to enjoy the view until we have the next stage seat which fits in the back.

Hi minimen yes but the kiddy seat is still too wide. What seat do you have?

Hi, its a Britax ASIS, I can send a pic if you like.

Hi

Is it a stage 2 seat (child held in by the car seat harness rather than the seat belt) you need?

If so try the Britax Exlplorer, it has an alternative seat belt routing that avoids buckle crunch issues. It's what's what we used for our youngest until she moved into a stage 3 seat. It fitted best in the rear seat rather than the middle for some reason.

Good luck.

Sara

We also found a Maxicosi Tobi only fitted in the front seat. Had it checked out by one a trained person the council used who seemed better than the people at Mothercare.

Have a look at the Kiddy Guardian range:

http://www.kiddy.de/en/childrens-car-se ... n-pro.html



They do well in the Which? tests and avoid buckle crunch by using a bolster and the adult seat belt.

Darron

Thanks everyone for your responses! I might PM a couple of you.
We have the Britax but Mothercare said, although it doesn't have buckle crunch, where the seatbelt goes through the red tab at the back (which holds the seatbelt tight) it's kind of scrunched up so isn't safe.
I can't work out how to get the kiddy seat (which we bought at the weekend!) to work without the seatbelt not touching the seat and therefore having buckle crunch.

You could try this company:

http://www.stopbucklecrunch.co.uk/

Sara

Sharnay wrote:Thanks everyone for your responses! I might PM a couple of you.

Here's a copy of the reply to my PM:

Buckle crunch is a bit of a confusing area isn't it!
Here are my thoughts:

In a conventional child seat, the seat itself is strapped into the vehicle. This can cause the seat belt buckle to be forced against the child seat at an unnatural angle. Buckles aren't designed to work at these angles, and could open in an impact. This is what I consider to be buckle crunch.

A seat like the Kiddy Guardian Pro uses the seat belt as the designers intended. The buckle is not at some funny angle. In fact it's being used in the same way as if an adult were strapped in.

We all want to keep our children safe, so you need to be happy with your choice of child seat. Other methods are often suggested to avoid this issue, but I feel buying a child seat like this avoids modifying the manufacturers safety system in any way.

Buckles will touch seats, they also touch adult hip bones :0)
Just avoid forcing buckles into unnatural angles and all will be well.
The Kiddy seat doesn't put any force onto the buckle. The buckle just touches the seat...

Darron