I Hate carseats!

Today I took the babies to the fire station to get the new convertible carseats in the car. After much research (saftey, sales, etc)
we bought the britax decathalon. We figured it was worth to spend the $ for safety and not have to change
seats when they get older...
I drive a honda civix, and I asked the sales person if it would fit in the car and he said that since I was not tall that it
wouldn't be a problem...

1- Yes it is a problem!!! I drove fine with the sit up right with infant sit but this seat is HUGE!

2- Both babies were SO uncomfortable on them. The seatbealt crotch part does not have a long rope (extension) so when
I buckle them the plastic part is right on their legs. They both have chubby legs but they looked like sardines in them!

I bought this model because the crotch part was adjustable but that didn't matter.

The lady at the fire station was so nice and tried every way possible to adjust it and be safe (with both carseats)
but the babies were so miseralbe (I had to take them in the middle of their nap)...it was hot, they were tied up in there..
and now I have to return the $#$#@ carseats and I don't even have the receipt! They should be able to exchange them right?! I
do have the box, with everything...

THe firerperson lady said that it would be best to bring the babies and try out the carseat to see what fits best. Poor babies!
so now the search starts all over again, any suggestions?
oh how I wish I had a minivan...

 

Sorry you are having such a stressful time! I hope your next purchase goes better. If you got them somewhere like Target or BRU using credit or debit they should be able to look up your purchase and issue a refund.

We have used the Britax Roundabout for my son since he was 11 months old (and 20 pounds) and have been very happy with it. I have had friends who have bought the larger Britax seats and had similar issues. I just got a second one to use when my twins get bigger

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with carseats. I also have honda civic (which I absolutely love driving and and never planning to buy minivan, I hate them) and i will definetely take in consideration your message.
Good luck hunting on carseats, soon my turn will come.

 

I have the Britax Marathons and the Evenflo Triumph Advance and love both of them. They might be too big for your car, but I thought I would just throw that out there. Good luck with your search.

 

Sorry to hear. My twins moved from infant to Britax Marathons and are still in them. They are great seats.

 

Britax Marathons and a Radian, love them all. Very long lasting (high top slots, high weight limits), great seats!

 

We have the Evenflo Triumph (I think that's what it's called) and the straps are adjustable, however I'm not sure how well they fit into a Honda Civic. Good luck!

 

I hate car ceats too! It will be sooo nice when they are old enough to not use one. I have a ford fusion so another plus is that the back seat won't be so crowded!

 

QUOTE(itsnancycozzi @ Apr 16 2009, 08:15 AM) [snapback]1275315[/snapback]
We have the Evenflo Triumph (I think that's what it's called) and the straps are adjustable, however I'm not sure how well they fit into a Honda Civic. Good luck!


We have those too and before I bought them (at BRU) I made the guy lug one out (and another one) so I could make sure they fit in my Rav 4. Even our infant carriers were tight back there. I love our Evenflow Triumph Advance and so do my kids! I hope you have an easy time returning the other ones and can find the perfect fit for your family!

ETA: I just remembered that my friend has the same carseat as us and it fits in her Infiniti (looks like an Accord) so it may fit in the Civic too!

 

I know my best friend drives a Honda Civic and her Britax seat fits just fine....but it's in the middle since she only has one baby.
In the back seat of my jeep we tried her Britax seat and learned that it would not fit behind the driver seat rear facing and still give me enough room to drive. I ended up hating all the Britax seats we tried in our car (and yes BRU will carry them all out to your car for you to see if they fit) because they were SO big. I am tall so that makes it even harder since I can't be squished up against my steering wheel.
Since we have the Graco SafeSeats and the weight limit is 30 pounds we decided to suck it up and continue using them for as long as we can so that we don't have to have the next seats rear facing in the car. After a lot of searching, researching and trying MANY seats in our car we decided to go with the Graco Nautilus for our next seats. I liked that it has a high weight limit, can convert to the booster when they are bigger and is easy to adjust the straps. I also like that the headrest moves up and down and that it wasn't as ugly as some seats (vain I know, but hey).
We needed 4 sine I do the daycare drop and DH does the pickup so I was happy that the price wasn't outrageous. Since we made the decision a few months ago, I have bought them in stages one at a time. The cheapest I was able to get one was at Wally world for about $125 and the most I paid for one was also at Wally world for $140. The price on them kept going up as time passed and in my latest BRU ad they show the normal price as $179 so I feel like I did pretty well getting them they way I did.

 

we had the same frustration with our carseats. we did the gracco snugride seats and had a terrible time fitting them into my nissan sentra. we had to abandon the bases completely and we use the seatbelts to strap them in as the recommended "alternate" method. even then we're so crammed up to the dashboard it's ridiculous.

there were a lot of tears and cursing during those few days when we were trying to figure out how to make it work.