Convertible in a Prius?

[mars817]

I just saw there was a carseat forum on here and have been looking for a new car seat and thought I'd see what folks have to say.

DS is 5 months old and about 20lbs, his infant seat only goes up to 22lbs. I was going to get a Britax but when I went to buy it we discovered it doesn't fit in my car (had the same problem with infant seats..). I found a women selling a chicco 30lb car seat on our local yard sale site and was thinking about getting that to use for now but I'm not sure about a used car seat and that only patches the problem for now. Anybody have suggestions for what carseats that have higher safety ratings and would fit in a prius? We have to take a very unsafe highway to get almost anywhere so I want something that has the higher ratings. The recaro would fit but it is pretty tight and the owner wanted their car seat specialist to check it out before they would sell it to me anyway to make sure it was ok.

[pkaskaggs]

i got a chicco keyfit bucket seat (rf), a radian (ff), and a dreamtime hbb in ours. not sure if this link will work, but here is a pic.

[mrosehughes]

I would recommend against buying a used carseat, unless you know the person you are buying from and would trust them with your child's life.

I have successfully installed a radian XTSL (with an angle adjuster), britax BLVD (old style), and safety first complete air (at a more upright angle than the line allows, which I'm ok doing since it has the same shell as another seat that allows are more upright install) in our 2007 prius, all rear-facing. The prius has advanced airbags in both front seats, and so you cannot touch the back of the carseat to the back of the front seat. With the BLVD the front passenger seat had to be most of the way forward. The complete air fits quite well in the prius, although still requires the front seat to be somewhat forward (and all the way upright). The radian with the angle adjuster actually takes up the least amount of room front to back, since it's a very upright install (although that is not ideal for a 5-month old).

Any US-approved carseat that is installed correctly, fits your child, and hasn't been damaged in an accident meets the same safety testing, although some have features that make them easier to use which might improve usage (therefore improving safety).

[mars817]

Originally Posted by mrosehughes Any US-approved carseat that is installed correctly, fits your child, and hasn't been damaged in an accident meets the same safety testing, although some have features that make them easier to use which might improve usage (therefore improving safety).

I know they have to meet the US standard, but a sales person at bru told us the use standard is 35mph crash testing, versus britax and uk standards of 75mph. I honestly have not looked into that myself, so maybe it was a sales ploy or something but I guess I assumed he didn't lie.

[teacherpippi]

I have two Evenflo Triumph Advance LX carseats in my Prius (one rear facing, one forward facing). They're slightly tight, but fit well.

[stephaniebrookeh5]

I love my maxi cosi prioriin my prius. You can get a heck of a deal on one ate www.albeebaby.com

[monica-m]

Originally Posted by mars817 I know they have to meet the US standard, but a sales person at bru told us the use standard is 35mph crash testing, versus britax and uk standards of 75mph. I honestly have not looked into that myself, so maybe it was a sales ploy or something but I guess I assumed he didn't lie.

Don't listen to the people at BRU. I hear them tell people all the time to FF babies under 1 and to buy convertibles for kids over 4. Most of them know next to nothing about child passenger safety and yet they hand out advice all the time.

Britax releases exactly 0% of their actual testing data to the general public. All seats pass the same testing. As far as we know, all seats are equally safe.

Please, please, please for the safety of your child, do not buy a used seat from someone that you would not allow to keep your child for at least a weekend. If you do not trust someone with your child's life and well being, you should not buy a car seat from them.

[epiclesis]

My parents live cross country and I put a Tribute and a Diplomat in their Prius. I had zero problems and didn't move any seats up, so I imagine it would easily have more room than that if I worked a bit harder.

[raymark]

We bought a new Prius just a couple months ago, and have 2 radians in the backseat. We will have no problem adding our Chico keyfit for a future NB, or linning up 3 radians across the back. I keep our brittax convertibles in my truck and just from looks I think one of them would fit between the radians in our Prius too, but I'm too lazy to try it

[mars817]

Originally Posted by raymark We bought a new Prius just a couple months ago, and have 2 radians in the backseat. We will have no problem adding our Chico keyfit for a future NB, or linning up 3 radians across the back. I keep our brittax convertibles in my truck and just from looks I think one of them would fit between the radians in our Prius too, but I'm too lazy to try it

Which Britax do you have? I wonder why we are having so many problems. My prius is a 2007. We tried two of the britax's and the recaro, they said the britax's didn't fit at all and the recaro only fit in the middle seat. and it was a little snug.