Audi S4 best fit

[jrenison]

My baby (20 lbs/8months) is almost out of her infant seat, and I'm looking for the best fit for her and for my car. I've read a ton of research, and I am leaning toward Recaro or Britex. I'm concerned about it fitting in my small sedan. I can't decide, and I'm willing to fork out the cash, but I'm not sure to whom. Help!

	Britax - Click for more info Britax International has been producing reliable child safety products for over 30 years. Not only does Britax have decades of experience creating car seats and other children's safety equipment, Britax has a long standing reputation as an industry leader and innovator. Britax International is headquartered in the United Kingdom, but Britax car seats are designed and manufactured at facilities in Germany, Austria, and the United States. In the summer of 2002, Britax strengthened their commitment to creating the safest car seats with the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art crash testing facility in North Carolina. Britax car seats have a reputation around the world for being some of the safest, most reliable, and best designed child safety seats ever made.

	Infant Car Seats Infant-only rear-facing seats are for babies up to about 22 to 30 pounds, depending on the specific car seat. You will need a new seat when your child gets bigger. Infant-only seats have handles that allow you to move the seat from the car to the house or other locations. Some have a base that you can leave installed in the car, so you can just click the car seat into place each time you use it.

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

[Kalinky]

Are you near any stores that sell the seats you're looking at? They *might* allow you to try one out in your car. There usually aren't many install issues with Britax seats. I don't have any experience with Recaro seats.

	Britax - Click for more info Britax International has been producing reliable child safety products for over 30 years. Not only does Britax have decades of experience creating car seats and other children's safety equipment, Britax has a long standing reputation as an industry leader and innovator. Britax International is headquartered in the United Kingdom, but Britax car seats are designed and manufactured at facilities in Germany, Austria, and the United States. In the summer of 2002, Britax strengthened their commitment to creating the safest car seats with the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art crash testing facility in North Carolina. Britax car seats have a reputation around the world for being some of the safest, most reliable, and best designed child safety seats ever made.

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

[s4mom]

Hi,

I have a 2007 S4 avant. We purchased a Recaro Young Sport to use in it. We have the seat installed behind the front passenger. The car seat installs tightly and securely using Latch and the top tether. There is plenty of room for the seat, and my son seems comfortable.

I know it is very tempting to go FF, but I do think you should reconsider. Besides the safety concerns of moving to FF, it may not work out as well as you would like. I would trade some of the extra room for the peace and quiet we had with the rear-facing seat.

Our previous car seat was an AWESOME chicco keyfit. I miss this seat as my son will not sleep when he is front facing. My son is 14 mo, 23 lbs, and about 31.5 inches tall. As he is just a pound over the maximum weight, I put him in the chicco seat last week to confirm my suspicions. He was asleep within 5 minutes... Needless to say this is one reason I am up late tonight looking for a "second" car seat.

This weekend, we discovered something else about the Recaro car seat. It does not have locking clips that are helpful when you are using a seatbelt installation. We have a 2002 Excursion that does not have LATCH, and yesterday we put the Recaro in for the first time, instead of the chicco. My husband is dissatisfied with the installation using the seat belt. The seat moves too much using a seat belt installation in that vehicle. We made our trip using the Recaro anyway but we are going to find a seat with locking clips and that can be rearfacing before we travel again this week...

I do really like the Recaro seat, but it does have some drawbacks, some inherent to FF, and others due to the design choice not to include locking clips.

	Forward Facing Car Seats A forward-facing car seat is one in which the child sits facing the front of the car. The seat should be installed in the back seat of your vehicle. Most forward-facing only seats are for children above 20 pounds.

	Rear Facing Car Seats A rear-facing seat is one in which the infant faces the back of the car. Always install a rear-facing seat in the back seat of your car. This is the safest position for an infant. NEVER place a rear-facing seat in the front seat of a vehicle with passenger airbags.

	Chicco - Click for more info Chicco makes car seats that are tested for safety and comfort. Italian-made Chicco is sold the world over to discerning parents everywhere, mainly because they are thorough with their design but each children’s product they sell is simple to use and stylish. All of Chicco’s car seats have certain universal elements: they’re lightweight, they are easy to install or use, each have the extra perks like canopies or liquid levelers for added convenience. Take a look and you’ll find an up-and-coming competitor for some of the best car seats on the market.

	Chicco Key Fit - Click for more info The new and improved Chicco KeyFit infant car seat (dubbed the Chicco KeyFit 30 thanks to its enhanced-to-30 lbs harness) has the same great features of the original KeyFit, but with a higher harness weight capacity. It is recommended that a child stay in a rear facing car seat for at least the first year of his or her life, and this infant seat from Chicco assures that your child will.

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

	LATCH LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. It is a system mandated by the Federal government in an effort to standardize and simplify the installation of child restraints without using the vehicle's seat belt system. New vehicles and child safety seats manufactured on and after September 1, 2002 will be equipped with the LATCH system. Cars, minivans, and light trucks will be required to have anchor points between the vehicle's seat cushion and the seat back in at least two rear seating positions, and a top tether anchor (with the exception of convertibles). Child safety seats will have a lower set of attachments that fasten to the vehicle anchors. Most forward-facing child safety seats will also have a top strap (tether) that attaches to the top anchor in the vehicle.

	Top-Tether A top tether (or top strap) is the supplemental attachment now standard on almost every new carseat in the USA. Top tethers can be used with either the seat belt or with the lower anchors (as part of the LATCH system). In other countries, their use may be required by law. A top-tether is simply a strap that connects the top of the carseat to an anchor mounted in the vehicle at a location behind the carseat, usually the parcel shelf or a point on the floor of the cargo area. It is designed to prevent the forward movement of the top of a forward-facing carseat in a frontal crash. This reduces the head excursion of the child, and can reduce the chances of injury. Almost all current carseats can only meet the tougher new federal safety standards when the tether is used, even though they must still meet the minimum safety standards without a tether.

[SusanMae]

1 yr and 20 is really old and out dated advise for when to turn your child Forward Facing. The AAP, NHTSA and SafeKids now reccomend(and have for over 5 yrs) that children remain RF to the limits of their convertible carseats. Keeping in mind that the top of their heads can be no closer than 1" to the edge of the shell at the top of the seat.

When they are RF--the can get a better recline to nap. And more importantly in a crash--that WHOLE carseat back is going to take most of those crash forces--not your child. When FF, those crash forces are spread out over your childs body via the harness. Also when children are FF---they are 4 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash. In Sweden they RF their children for 4-5 yrs and they have less than 1 death per year from car crashed in the under 5 age group, but here car crashes are the number one killer of all people 1-34 yrs.

As to your seat---there have been some issues with the new Recaro convertible seats that have come out...so I would go with a tried and true Britax right now--at least until Recaro has worked their bugs out. If you have a BRU or a TRU you can take the seats out to your car and do a "test install to see if they'll work for you. Also with an older baby with good head control...you can install the seat a little more upright. That 45 degree recline is for newborns.

Susan,CPST

	Forward Facing Car Seats A forward-facing car seat is one in which the child sits facing the front of the car. The seat should be installed in the back seat of your vehicle. Most forward-facing only seats are for children above 20 pounds.

	Britax - Click for more info Britax International has been producing reliable child safety products for over 30 years. Not only does Britax have decades of experience creating car seats and other children's safety equipment, Britax has a long standing reputation as an industry leader and innovator. Britax International is headquartered in the United Kingdom, but Britax car seats are designed and manufactured at facilities in Germany, Austria, and the United States. In the summer of 2002, Britax strengthened their commitment to creating the safest car seats with the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art crash testing facility in North Carolina. Britax car seats have a reputation around the world for being some of the safest, most reliable, and best designed child safety seats ever made.

	Rear Facing Car Seats A rear-facing seat is one in which the infant faces the back of the car. Always install a rear-facing seat in the back seat of your car. This is the safest position for an infant. NEVER place a rear-facing seat in the front seat of a vehicle with passenger airbags.

	Convertible Car Seats Convertible seats are for infants and toddlers. The seat can be used as a rear-facing seats for younger children, and switched to a forward-facing seat on the child's first birthday if the child weighs at least 20 pounds. However, experts recommend keeping the child in a rear-facing position until he or she outgrows the weight or height allowed by the safety seat.

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

[RECARO cares]

Just to give my two cents.....

Just recently RECARO has published a Consumer Advisory to NHTSA, retailers and some blog sites due to the fact that some Como seats manufactured prior to Sept. 17th 2007 may have a variance in the friction strength of the 3-point guide. I thought I would post some of the information we released to give you more input on the terminology of a 3-point guide (as RECARO calls it) and its purpose.

In the RECARO world, the term ‘lock-off’ has been replaced with the term ‘3-point guide’, which is a more accurate description of purpose and function of this part in the industry. The purpose of the guide is to improve the child restraint system geometry for certain vehicle applications and does not create any safety advantage or disadvantage whether called a guide or lock-off. The crash safety performance of the Como seat is not affected.


The 3-point guide is not a safety feature; it is used to aid consumers in proper installation and positioning of the child restraint system. There are some applications where proper installation may be slightly difficult, due to a less compatible vehicle seat or seat belt. Child restraint geometry may benefit from using the 3-point guide mechanism in these instances, rather than over tightening the vehicle belt system.

Let me just re-iterate that your seat is completely safe. If you feel as a consumer that installation of your child seat is difficult in your vehicle application, RECARO can provide you with a locking clip at no cost, which can be used with your vehicle seatbelt system. We will ship this to you at no cost with an instruction sheet. Don't give up on us yet

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Holiday!

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

	RECARO Como - Click for more info The RECARO Como convertible car seat is an excellent choice for parents who want a high quality, long lasting car seat for their growing child. Thanks to its 5-70 lbs weight capacity, forward or rear-facing convertibility, and adjustable harness and headrest, the RECARO Como may be the only carseat you will ever need. The Como convertible child seat is a safe and comfortable seat that features RECARO Side Impact Protection (SIP), plush microfiber fabrics, and a thick adjustable headrest.

[SusanMae]

I think the issue with the Recaro convertible seats...is the info coming out prior to the seats said that they would have lock-offs. And that's even what the first instruction books had and what was on their website(I believe). A lock-off takes the place of a locking clip, locking the belt when the belt does not lock on it's own in a non-emergency situation. Maybe Recaro didn't understand the defination before they made their seats and wrote their instruction manuals. For parents---a locking clip can appear confusing and hard to use...and many are just plain scared of them. So a lock-off offers a way around that and doesn't seem nearly as daunting.

Also from what I understand Recaro has lock-offs at the rear facing belt path. I don't understand why Recaro has choosen to have lock-offs or "belt clamps" for RF, but not FF.

It does seem to me, at least, that Recaro said that they would have lock-offs, and then when they didn't perform as they were supposed-Recaro decided to change the name and function rather than do a recall and provide a replacement peice that would work as originally intended. Furthermore---I just check the online version of the Signo instruction manual. I did not see anywhere in there that you would need a locking clip. And the instructions for installing via the non-locking Lap/shoulder ELR belt seemed to indicate that the belt guide would hold the belt tight, when we know that is NOT the case. There is NO directions that include needing a locking clip with a non-locking belt.

Recaro should INCLUDE the locking clip if it's needed. It shouldn't be something a parent needs to go buy at the store or have to wait for you to mail to them. Meanwhile they are driving around with their child unsafe or stuck at home while they are waiting. Or even worse---not realize that their child is unsafe and drive around without a locked seatbelt. Let me also go on to say--that in my CPST course we learned that you don't use both a lock-off and a locking clip. If you do, you're risking the child to be a real life crash test dummy.

I also think that companies need to use the same terminology when referring to seats parts such as splitter plate, harness straps, retainer clip. Having to learn different vocabulary for each seat/brand will only contribute to more misuse.

Until I've tested a Recaro convertible for myself to see how they work--and if they work according to their own manual(and your above post contridicts the manual), then I'm not comfortable reccomending them to parents.

Susan

	Forward Facing Car Seats A forward-facing car seat is one in which the child sits facing the front of the car. The seat should be installed in the back seat of your vehicle. Most forward-facing only seats are for children above 20 pounds.

	Rear Facing Car Seats A rear-facing seat is one in which the infant faces the back of the car. Always install a rear-facing seat in the back seat of your car. This is the safest position for an infant. NEVER place a rear-facing seat in the front seat of a vehicle with passenger airbags.

	Convertible Car Seats Convertible seats are for infants and toddlers. The seat can be used as a rear-facing seats for younger children, and switched to a forward-facing seat on the child's first birthday if the child weighs at least 20 pounds. However, experts recommend keeping the child in a rear-facing position until he or she outgrows the weight or height allowed by the safety seat.

	RECARO - Click for more info With over 100 years of company history and long standing experience in vehicle seat construction RECARO knows how to make long journeys a pleasure for the whole family. Materials, design and technical highlights ensure a pleasant journey for adults and children alike. RECARO uses its strength as the premier mobile seat manufacturer to engineer an innovative line of products for your children. No other manufacturer can apply experience from production vehicles, commercial vehicles, and race cars to design toward the comfort and safety of children.

	RECARO Signo - Click for more info The RECARO Signo car seat is the premier convertible child seat RECARO produces. With its 5-70 lbs weight capacity, adjustable harness, and forward or rear-facing convertibility, the deluxe RECARO Signo may be the only car seat you will ever need. The Signo offers the same basic features and specifications as the RECARO Como convertible, but adds a few features - such as double wall head support and infinite harness adjustment settings.