Child Booster Seats

[Damian]

Have just had delivered the new Recaro Monza Seatfix stage 3 booster chair. It been on order sine mid Feb, there was a delay at Recaro beginning manufacture. It is also the nice and soft Black/Aguivat, very luxurious for my nippers little bum, eben has speakers in the headrest !!!!

Anyway my question

He sits in the back of my Vec no problems, what is the law on him using a similar chair in the front my my girlfriends Astra Sport Hatch. Not sure if the front seats have ISOFIX so may just get the standard Recaro Monza

Cheers

[Quinten]

The law says not much about that, but if you have airbags in the front, you may not want to expose your little nipper to them if you, good forbid, hit a tree...

BTW, I got mine in March (same seat), with no delays? Cracking seat though, and my little 'un loves her 1-2-3 player (how she pronounces mp3 player)...

[simac]

Personally I think putting them in the front is a big no no, it's just not worth the risk if the air bags go off in an accident.

Some of the VX seats have a transponder built in which switches off the passenger air bag but the VX seats are silly money.

On some cars you can turn off the passenger air bag by using the key to turn a switch in the end of the dash board, Renault's perhaps ? i'm sure my mum's new Clio has that. It would be very useful if VX did too !

[parapaul]

Hang on everyone....

The problem with kids in the front seat and airbags ONLY applies if they're still in the baby carrier.

Any child that's old enough to sit facing forward in a booster seat is absolutely fine to sit in the front, from a safety and legal perspective. Whether it's a good idea or not is up to the parents.

I very occasionally let my eldest have his seat in the front as a special treat.

[glenboy]

Seat looks ace,my son would love that,will have to wait till he's 3 years old thought,great choice though........

[Damian]

BTW, I got mine in March (same seat), with no delays? Cracking seat though, and my little 'un loves her 1-2-3 player (how she pronounces mp3 player)...

Lucky you, I got told by the people I bought it from that Recaro were delayed going into production and there was a massive waiting list for them. In March they offered my a different colour as they had come into stock but I held out for the black/aquivat one

Hang on everyone....

The problem with kids in the front seat and airbags ONLY applies if they're still in the baby carrier.

Any child that's old enough to sit facing forward in a booster seat is absolutely fine to sit in the front, from a safety and legal perspective. Whether it's a good idea or not is up to the parents.

I very occasionally let my eldest have his seat in the front as a special treat.

Found this statement at http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/types/index.htm

Booster seats and booster cushions can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front

In the 3 door Astra the front seat goes a long way back, I would be interested to know how far the airbag comes out, because he seems awfully far from it

Seat looks ace,my son would love that,will have to wait till he's 3 years old thought,great choice though........

They do look good, good investment as well as they will have the seat potentially till they are 12 years old, or hit the minimum height requirements, whichever comes first

[sonic]

My little'un has a Monza Seatfix. She loves it and likes listening to her music through it.

We like it because only 'she' can hear the music!!