hi,
im buying a car seat for our 6 mo old and would like to find out which brands install well into the v40.2001 ?
im sure there are brands that are compatible w strapping to the base instead of having a v shaped tether strap that goes up over the seat which i have to lift my baby over. a royal pain in the butt!

thx!
new mama

 

I can only speak from my view point and as an Australian certified vehicle restraint fitter.
The top strap does a LOT of work in an accident, it basically stops your child's upper torso coming forward and hinging over the lap part of the harness in an accident. This is important because taking most of the restraining forces on the abdomen kills children and adults alike in very low speed accidents.
The top tether stops the top of the seat collapsing under the loads imposed by the shoulder straps holding your child's torso in place.
If you are referring to a lay down type capsule, the top strap prevents the capsule diving in an accident, which prevents your child flying out of the capsule.
I suggest you get proficient in rapidly unhooking or loosening off the top strap or do not drive till your child is old enough to be seated in a booster seat.
I've seen various videos of improperly installed child seats and capsules of various types, and you really don't want to do away with that top tether.............

Regards, Andrew.

 

I'm not sure I understand the question. What, exactly, do you have to lift your baby over to strap him/her in that you're trying to avoid? I can only speak of the ones that I have owned or used but they've all been pretty simple to operate. The only part of any of the seats I've used that go over the seat were the straps that hold the actual seat itself to the car - and obviously these straps would never come in contact with the front seating surface or the baby.

Conversely, the only straps that actually hold the baby in come together either at the baby's abdomen or chest (or both.) And since they latch once the baby is in, there is no lifting over anything. maybe my seats were completely different than yours, I'm not sure. What kind of seat is it?

One thing I do remember is that when our baby was an infant, we had a base semi-permanently in the car that the seat itself (with baby already strapped in before we walked outside) locked quickly and effortlessly into once we got to the car. Pumpkin seat? Is that what they're called?

 

hi thx for your responses
is this an Australian website or world wide?
let me clarify....
im not talking about a capsule but a regular seat he will use till he uses a booster.he will be 1 yo. and im not talking about how the child's belt fits over his chest nor the car seat belt that connects the child's seat to car.
i see that there are 2 choices for rear facing : tether straps that extend from the child's car seat to a bolt in the back of the car... which i was hoping to avoid.. i guess thats Aus standard? but not euro nz or usa standard.
or tethers bolt to front seats or below child's car seat where seat belts are.
was hoping to find a recommended seat sold in USA that would work well w the volvo to use in Nz...as we will be visiting there soon and they are more affordable.
and no i don't want to compromise safety..i hear rear facing is most important and they have different methods to secure the seats, some being better for different cars.
hope that helps. i like the brio but the don't sell that in usa. so looking at a reagent.
cheers!

 

Ahhhh, yeah I see what you're saying now. I don't think here in America we have to have straps for the upper portion of the child seat if the seat is rear-facing (although laws may have changed since we had a rear-facing child.) Our seat is attached only with the two snap-in locks that connect to the anchors next to the seat belt bases. As far as I know, we only have to use the strap that goes over the back of the seat if we're using it as a front-facing child seat.

However, we were fortunate enough to be able to keep our child in the pumpkin seat (is that a capsule seat for you guys?) till she was big enough to sit in a front facing child seat, so it never came into play. But we had our pumpkin and child seats both fitted at the local Fire Department and they showed us how to install frontwards and backwards and there was no strap for the backward facing position.

 

Britax is the only one I have used thru 3 kids... very happy with them. I just recommend taking the cover off and washing it 1 or 2 times to get rid of the cancer causing treatment they give it to keep it from being flammable. Your baby doesn't smoke right? LOL

 

thx