Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases

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Sat 13 Oct 2012 13:49
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - Chris79
The wife is expecting our first child and having decided that we wanted an isofix car base for our car seat we set off for a large nationwide store that specialises in these.

We were slightly shocked to find out that they would not sell us a base because the base manufacturer had not crashed tested our car with the base in place.

Both of our cars have been tested by euro ncap with isofix bases and received satisfactory results.

To me this seems like madness and I'm inclined to get a base by ordering via the Internet, and potentially taking advantage of better prices.

Am I missing something or is this purely h and s madness?
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Sat 13 Oct 2012 17:13
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - daveyjp
Every ISOFIX seat needs type approval, one reason they are so expensive. If you wish to ignore the advice that's fine, but will an internet bought base survive a 30mph crash, if it doesn't can you live with the potential consequences?

We tried to find Isofix for an A3 and an Aygo. We never did so we saved a fortune and bought seatbelt fastened seats.
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Sat 13 Oct 2012 21:09
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - Auristocrat

In the last Which? test on child car seats the following seats for Isofix and belt mounting were Best Buys:

Maxi Cosi Cabriofix with easyfix base (score 82%)

Britax Baby-Safe Plus Isofix (80%)

Volvo Infant seat Isofix (80%)

Maxi Cosi Pebble Familyfix base (79%)

Maxi Cosi Priorifix Isofix (75%) - best buy when belt mounted, not when using Isofix.

Which? undertook their own crash tests using a Vauxhall Astra - frontal impact (representing a 40mph head on collision) and a side impact (at 17.5 mph representing someone driving into the side of the car). These we were derived from Euro NCAP tests and were more stringent than the then current EU standards (eg frontal impacts were done at 30mph).

New EU standards were introduced in January 2012.

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Sun 14 Oct 2012 15:50
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - Chris79
Daveyp - I agree that you would never want to put your kids in danger, but I'm talking about buying one of the brands that auristocrat refers to, not some unheard of brand that hasn't been type approved.

The particular model that we were interested in appears to have received 82% in the which test. This was tested in an Astra which is not the model (s) of car that we currently have. Does this mean that it is possible to use in an Astra but no other car. This is what we were told by the large nationwide chain.

It is this idea that I find strange. All the above seats are type approved but apparently until maxi cost Orr britax actually crashes yor particular car with one fitted they will not sell you one?
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Sun 14 Oct 2012 18:28
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - daveyjp
Yes it does mean it is type approved for an Astra, but not your car. The ISOFIX website has the details of vehicles which have gone through type approval.

Maxi cosi and Britax need to ensure their crash test costs are covered by sales of the seat.
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Mon 15 Oct 2012 09:06
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - TeeCee

Madness!

Presumably the result of creeping yank-style litigation culture. They're not prepared to say it's safe in car X unless they've tested it in car X, even though an isofix mount is an isofix mount is an isofix mount......

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 13:09
Audi and vauxhall - Isofix car bases - Chris79
Just off to do some more research on this subject but it strikes me as one of the maddest business plans I've heard. We won't sell you a car seat until we ve tested your car, and we need to sell seats to cover these costs...... Im no business guru but there s a flaw here!
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