Team-BHP - "Child Seat" for Babies & Kids

My brother has 4 month old kid and he is looking out for a Car seat for her. He will be using it for highways and occasionally in city as well. Need advice from members. And any tips that he should know before he buys it.

PS : I am not sure if this is the right section to post this message. Please move it to appropriate if required.

Make sure he buys a convertible one. Its one of those cradle types whcih can be taken out of its base unit when you park your car so they would have to remove the baby from the harness everytime.

After sometime when the baby becomes a toddler the convertible seat can twist from being a cradle to a normal baby seat.

Frankly not sure where u can get one of those in India - had one of those while I was in Oz. The one I use for my son is a Korean make babay seat with a protection handle in front. My sons 4 yr old now and has been using it since past 2.5 years. Looks like it'll last him till he becomes 5.

So its pretty accomodating that way.

For a 4 month old infant.. you need to find a infant seat.It is different from a normal child seat as it has provision to position the seat facing the rear window rather than facing forward. This is because of the cars inertia, the child can be thrown forward because of hard breaking and put lots on pressure on their body because of the belts. This is one important thing you should note. utility wise infant seat/ cradle is a nice thing to have..check out mother care website or any mother care shops in your city.

They are available here. You get decent ones to expensive pieces. Since its not widely used in India, it tends to be priced higher

Most car guides should give you details on how to strap on an infant/baby seat. Talk to your car dealer for the same.

Take a look at this link:

Buying a first car seat for your newborn baby

Never ever put the infant seat on the front. Its highly dangerous. Better to have an adult sitting behind next to the baby seat.

There are front facing and back facing baby seats. Decide on which one he wants. HSV has also mentioned a particular model

My son had always used a car seat back in UK. We had bought ones made by a company called 'Graco'.

Here in India, the best range of car seats available has been in Mothercare stores (most of theses stores have tied-up with Shopper's Stop). I am planning to buy my son a booster seat from Mothercare as soon as I sort out a proper car.

Oh BTW, did I mention I got mine for Rs 2800. Check out the local toy shops in your city. Most of the guys who import chinese toys, bicycles etc are bound to have 'em.

One thing to note is that since baby seats are mandatory overseas the cars come equipped with the clamp behind the rear seat to fix 'em. However in India since its not mandatory no car in India comes equipped with that clamp/blot behind the rear seat.

You can either get some after market fitments done or an easier option is that most of these Korean seats (including mine) has a place in the back where your rear seat belts can go through and you can secure the seat that way.

But I am talking about a toddler seat here. This may not be possible for a baby seat.

Slightly OT - but this is for all Kolkata people. Car seats are available at City Centre in Salt Lake. Mostly Chinese/Korean.
You get it in Shoppers Stop as well as the 2/3 kiddie shops there - Please Mom, Kidzee etc.
I got one for my son for around 4.5K - around a year back.

Well.. I should have updated the thread long back.
After failing to get a satisfactory seat here I got it from the US through a cousin returning home. Its a Graco Zephyr Cargo toddler seat, bought at Target for $99.99 (+ Rs 30/- Pune Octroi :mad:). Its permanently attached in my rear seat and my three year old son loves it since day one.
The reason I avoided local made or Chinese seats, which are the only ones available over here in Pune, is the lack of safety rating information.

Thanks for all the response guys. This weekend we went to Shoppers stop and tried few car seats (including Britax, Graco, Mothercare ). We are trying seats that are suitable from 9-26 kgs.

But we were unable to fit any of them in the rear seat of Accent Viva. The problem was due to the insufficient length of seat belt. I have checked with local service centres and they were unable to help me with the length of the seat belt. Sent a mail to Hyundai Customer care and waiting for the reply.

Can somebody please help me here? We seem to be struck with the seat belt. Any alternative way to fit this?

Cheers

I wonder if you there are any seat belt extenders?
Kind of like the ones available in airplanes for the larger built passenger or parent with child in lap.

Do a search on Google for 'Seat Belt Extender' or a similar variation and see if you like any of the options?

I wanted to mention for people that are looking for booster seats (these are to increase the height at which a child too big for a car seat sits so that the seatbelt falls across his body properly):

If you can't find a proper booster seat, I think you could have one made by the same people that sew desi car seats. Just have firm foam put into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by windsurfer (Post 478345)

We are trying seats that are suitable from 9-26 kgs.

But we were unable to fit any of them in the rear seat of Accent Viva. The problem was due to the insufficient length of seat belt.

That's unfortunate. I hope Hyundai sells car seats. Toyota does for the Innova, and they are made specifically for it.

Hi All, I have Palio ELX PS and this one doesnt come with rear seat belt. Only front seat belts are present. Please let me know if I can fit child seat without seat belt for my 7 month old son?

Did you buy it online and they shipped it??

got any pics?

Quote:

Originally Posted by k36 (Post 469635)

Quote:

Originally Posted by k36 (Post 469635)

Thanks. But can you please let me know how did you fir the seat. I have an option to get a car seat from US but am not sure how to fit.