When you need 3 carseats in a row
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k2atza posted this on Jun 06, 2012
When I knew we would have a baby, a toddler and a preschooler in carseats I had to start looking for a new car and new carseats. I did a great deal of research at dealerships and baby stores and on NRMA's useful webpages, and ultimately arrived at a solution for us.
For the preschooler seat I initially went out and bought a *different* booster to this, because it was equal-ranked at the top of the booster seat list in the CREP safety tests (4 stars) and according to NRMA it was the narrowest booster at a width of 320mm. But when I measured that booster (the Vario Kid) it was 420mm wide across the armrests (and 440mm across the shoulders). Still that was the narrowest so I brought it home. But then I found the armrests actually went too far forward and interfered with the adjacent carseat.
That's when I went and tried out a SnS HiLiner. It's 450mm wide, but it has very compact armrests, which don't bump up against the adjacent seat for us. It's also equal-ranked at the top of the booster seat list in the CREP safety tests (4 stars). It's easy to put in and out of the car. We have the version with the anti-submarining clip and that's a good safety addition. Just a simple clip up over the lap belt. And it's a very tidy, easy to operate seat. It's stayed looking like new for 2 years now. It's worked well for a tall 4-year-old and a tall 6-year-old. And it fits in the car!
It fits easily in the backseat of a Hyundai Santa Fe (along with a new-version SnS Meridian AHR, forward facing in the middle, and a Hipod Senator with 5-point harness at the other door) - we don't graze our hands when we do up the seat belt.
I would definitely recommend going and trying out carseat combinations at shops and showrooms if you need 3 in a row, because it's really a bit of a 'jigsaw' exercise rather than just finding out which is the narrowest. Also some of the measurements on the web and in manuals are not quite accurate or not the relevant width.
But if you want to do some web research first, take a look at the page where NRMA has tested 3 carseats in a row in lots of different models of cars. [URL removed] (somewhat obscurely listed as a "child restraint fitting guide"). Lots of useful specs and photos there.
Another interesting thing to note, I actually called the guy who does the CREP testing of the carseats because I wanted to ask about using the "H-harness" or "Protecta harness" with the booster seats. He said that they do *not* use those harnesses on the boosters when they do the testing and their results/recommendations relate only to using the boosters with a normal seat belt.
booster seat with narrow bases??
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