Car Seat Q

SebsMum

Hey, I know we have a few car seat buffs in this group and I need your advice, please!

We are traveling home to the US (VA/DC/MD) for August and I am hoping to avoid buying a new car seat for Seb by bringing along our current seat, which is the Britax 2-Way Elite.  I know the laws differ in the US (from the UK) and I want to make sure my seat is legal before lugging it all the way there!  I've done some searching, but I'm having a hard time getting US sites to come up and find the right page.  Soooo my questions are: 
Is there a website I can search to find what seats are legal/illegal?  -and- If my seat turns out to be illegal, what cheapish seats do you recommend?

Thanks in advance, safety experts!

SingleMom31

I don't know the answer, but if you're on Facebook, join the Car Seats for the Littles group. They have techs both in the UK and US and I'm sure they'd know.

kescalera

Did some quick research via google & it isn't legal in the US 

"Cheap" to recommend - I'd hop on Amazon and start browsing their selections. You can then look up individual safety ratings once you know what models are in your price range.

Good luck!

nanabanana06

Unfortunately I don't think you can use imported seats without prior authorization. Since this seat is not sold in the US and not tested to US safety standards you can't use it. There are plenty of cheap US seats you can buy though. I know this cuz of a poor toddler that got into an accident a few years ago and had to have a halo on due to internal decapitation. The parents had to jump through hoops to get a Swedish car seat imported so that they could keep her RFing during her therapy, since at the time US seats weren't designed for RF till 3-4 like they are now.

SebsMum

Thanks for the advice, guys!  I've done a brief search on Amazon and it's nuts how much cheaper RF seats are in the US!  Suddenly, this is an opportunity for us to pick up a second seat for baby #2 on the cheap.  Thanks again.

LittleFish1

I believe our seats are not legal in UK though... we have different requirements. (Something about one step to remove LO from seat in UK so no chest clip & there is a different version of LATCH in UK. Car seats for the littles has a few options in the $100 & under price range.

LittleFish1

csftl.org/recommended-seats/

here are their reccomended seats. (just in case termonology is different in UK for the type of seat, you're looking for a convertible seat)

SebsMum

Thanks for that.  I figured when I returned home that I would remove the chest clip, but having an actual website with a list of seats is much better.  It's so funny that they all come with cup holders, I just never thought of that as an issue. :P

Now to learn all about the differences in LATCH... sigh.  You would think car safety would be one of those universal things. :-?

SingleMom31

You can always use a seat belt to install it when you get home. In the US, our cars/seats are only designed to LATCH up to a certain weight and after that, need to be secured with the belt anyway.

SebsMum

That's good to think about.  TBH I didn't know what the hell you all were talking about with LATCH because I just use a belt to get the seat in.  I have googled it since and it appears to be similar to what we call Isofix here.  My car doesn't have an Isofix bar, so a belted seat is the way forward!

SingleMom31

Ahhh.  Starting in the mid-2000s, all cars here are required to have them (so if you rent a car, it'll undoubtedly have them) to improve the ease of car seat installations.  They're little squared off rings that are in the crease of the back seat(s), similar to Isafix, and then there's a top teether point on the top or back of the seat if you're forward facing to hook into.  Most people think that it's easier to install seats that way since you just clip the clips from the car seat to the rings, but if you're already used to doing a seat belt install, it's probably pretty even.  The odd part of all of it (IMO) is that the anchors are only rated up to a certain weight (65 lbs including both the child and the seat), so if your car seat goes to 70 lbs, you have to switch before your child grows out of it anyway.  Seems like a fail on the part of car manufacturers.

nanabanana06

Just and FYI if your car seat has rigid LATCH you do not have to stop using it once you hit the combo weight of 65lbs like the law states. The new law is only for non-rigid LATCH seats. So, seats like my Foonf can be installed with LATCH regardless of the combined weight of the kid and car seat since it has rigid LATCH. Same with booster seats. It's safer to use booster seats that have a rigid LATCH system since then the seat doesn't become a projectile in a crash.

SingleMom31

@Nana_Osaki06‌ - What would normal convertible seats have - rigid or otherwise? Specifically, we have a Britax and a NextFit.

nanabanana06

I don't think any of them have rigid LATCH. My Clek Foonf does, but it's only in FF mode (which is normally when you'd need it anyways). Rigid LATCH is when the LATCH connectors at attached to the steel frame of the seat, not to belts. This is why the laws changed for LATCH.

LittleFish1

@SebsMum I believe the Car Seats for the Littles has a UK group. Saw your note about possibly removing the chest clip once back in UK - you'd better check and see before doing because the few times I have seen anything about the chest clip & lack there of in the UK, it sounded to me like the seats are desiged differently. In the US seats, the chest clip holds the harness straps in place, so incase of accident, the straps are correctly positioned so child is held in place. Without the clip, straps could slip off shoulders and not function properly. The UK design is different to prevent slipage.

Also, it sounded like there are different ways to direct the upper (chest) portion of the cars seat belt around the UK seats vs. US (however I might be mixing up methods for the infant seats with the convertible seats ... hence why saying to find out).

SebsMum

I'll have to have a look at the straps and everything when I get there, but I have often heard expat moms here complain about the lack of chest clip because they feel like the straps themselves aren't secure enough.  That lends me to believe that everything is the same, just without a chest clip.  I'll look into it more carefully before just deciding that though.

It's strange how safety concerns differ.  Infants tend to FF here right out of there bucket seats, but all newish cars have the safer rigid LATCH-like system.  I agree with a one-touch release in case of emergency, here, but the predominance of way too early FF seems to counteract the good intentions.

ExcitedAunt2b

This is the one we have for Morgan, it's inexpensive and I love it!

https://www.walmart.com/ip/16932760?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227000889285&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=41944653550&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=34923302590&veh=sem

ExcitedAunt2b

I was worried because it was so cheap, but Morgan loves it!  It's lightweight and installs super easy!

nanabanana06

For a travel seat the scenera is perfectly fine. For every day it's probably not the best. It has a really small shell and isn't good for RF or FF really. The Cosco APT is a much better seat for everyday in the cheap seat market. Either one typically needs to be installed with a pool noodle to achieve the best angle though.

ExcitedAunt2b

Oh great...that's our everyday car seat.  Now I'm freaked out that we have a crappy one and I need a better one.

What is the best, in your opinion, car seat that won't cost me a year's salary and will RF and FF for as long as possible?

nanabanana06

It all depends. With sales and coupons I've seen seats like the Graco Size4Me/MySize/Headwise and Chicco Nextfit for as low as 100$. I really like both seats. They have really tall shells and RF weight limit of 40lbs. There are many good seats though that don't cost a fortune. The big thing with the Scenera is that it's outgrown RFing around 36" or less and then outgrown FF around 40lbs or less. It's made of all plastic too. Newer seats are designed to last much longer, and many higher end seats are almost all steel framed. So, like my Radian has a complete steel frame. That drives cost up.

ExcitedAunt2b

Thanks @Nana_Osaki06, I will look into one of those seats for Morgan.