Child Seats in M3 Sedan

[Xtabi]

My recommendation is to head out to the iihs.org site first and pick a 'best bet'.

Once you have picked sone out from that list then determine which ones meet your standards and/or squash your parental fears the best.

Then come to these forums to see if said seat/booster will fit your car by asking our peers.

That is the method I'm employing anyhow.

I'm looking for two new boosters.

Also being the money saving guy I am don't forget to check buybuybaby/babies r us and stack those coupons men! We can show our wives we can coupon with the best of them!

[jballs16]

Britax Advocate click-tight here. I don't know much about car seats but my wife spent 9 months researching the best for our little guy.

[dngo]

Once your child is in a booster, LATCH weight limits don't matter anyway as it is the seatbelt that is providing the restraint. Many boosters don't even have LATCH. It's just there to keep the booster in place when no one is sitting in it.

[///Machiavelli]

Was researching this myself lately.

Not sure if you Britax ClickTight guys have experienced this problem but there was a Transport Canada recall issued on these models in August. Canadian standards are more stringent but you Americans should look into this anyways.

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehicl...fety-1439.html

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Other than the R100 and R120 you guys recommended, I was also looking at the RXT. Did you look into this as well? Not sure what the difference is.

http://www.babycenter.com/103_diono-...xt_10392552.bc

RXT is no doubt a great seat. I just didn't want the extra bulk of the "Head Wings" and "Side Wings" or whatever the proper term is. I know that sounds bad like I don't want my kids to be safe but the R100 is plenty safe with it's steel frame construction.

My E90 doesn't exactly have a ton of space in the backseat to begin with, so I wanted the lowest profile, while still very safe, seat I could find. Diono R100 (perhaps R120 as well) are actually designed to be able to sit THREE across in the back of SUV's etc. Only downside perhaps is they are quite heavy, but that's due to their steel frame, solid construction. But the seat can fold up into the base and can be secured like that for travel so it's easy to take with you on airlines as free checked baby items.

If you want a low-profile, easy for kids to climb in and out of themselves, seat for back of space-challenged M3/M4, I can highly recommend the R100. But to answer your question the RXT is good too, just not as low-profile.

Actually on the link you have you can see the pics of how it folds up, how it's low profile for 3 across if need be, If you want the lowest profile and save a little bit, R100 is good choice, if you wan't a little bit less low profile and feel better by spending more to get all the gadgets etc, RXT is good choice. There's no wrong choice imho.

[///M///]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

RXT is no doubt a great seat. I just didn't want the extra bulk of the "Head Wings" and "Side Wings" or whatever the proper term is. I know that sounds bad like I don't want my kids to be safe but the R100 is plenty safe with it's steel frame construction.

My E90 doesn't exactly have a ton of space in the backseat to begin with, so I wanted the lowest profile, while still very safe, seat I could find. Diono R100 (perhaps R120 as well) are actually designed to be able to sit THREE across in the back of SUV's etc. Only downside perhaps is they are quite heavy, but that's due to their steel frame, solid construction. But the seat can fold up into the base and can be secured like that for travel so it's easy to take with you on airlines as free checked baby items.

If you want a low-profile, easy for kids to climb in and out of themselves, seat for back of space-challenged M3/M4, I can highly recommend the R100. But to answer your question the RXT is good too, just not as low-profile.

Actually on the link you have you can see the pics of how it folds up, how it's low profile for 3 across if need be, If you want the lowest profile and save a little bit, R100 is good choice, if you wan't a little bit less low profile and feel better by spending more to get all the gadgets etc, RXT is good choice. There's no wrong choice imho.

Thanks for the detailed feedback. Am still very early in the process of seat hunting. My daughter almost 18 month now and is outgrowing the Chicco Keyfit 30. we would still like her to be rear facing as long as it is allowed. You mentioned the R100 is heavy. How does your seat hold up? Any impressions? The Keyfit 30 has a flat base and has left no impressions. Do you leave it in the car permanently and gets removed only when you have to fly, etc? Is the R120 a newer model of the R100?

Thanks.

[dngo]

Just from the pictures, be careful of how the Diono may hit the rear headrest. I was not comfortable with the angle that the Britax booster I originally purchased put my daughter, so I had to explore other options. I also was not comfortable with putting any kind of spacer between the carseat and the seat itself to correct the angle. This was not a concern at all in my E90M3 and was a rude surprise with my F80.

Of course, while it's rear-facing, that doesn't matter very much.

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Thanks for the detailed feedback. Am still very early in the process of seat hunting. My daughter almost 18 month now and is outgrowing the Chicco Keyfit 30. we would still like her to be rear facing as long as it is allowed. You mentioned the R100 is heavy. How does your seat hold up? Any impressions? The Keyfit 30 has a flat base and has left no impressions. Do you leave it in the car permanently and gets removed only when you have to fly, etc? Is the R120 a newer model of the R100?

Thanks.

From what I can tell the R100 is the same as the R120 except the R120 comes with the "infant head cradle" insert thing. By the time I put the R100's in my car, my kids were beyond needing the "infant head cradle" (which a rolled up towel is just as good imho).

My seats have held up well. Of course I use a seat protector underneath, and any of the common brands should be fine. Pretty sure I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant-.../dp/B00368CLXW

Someone mentioned Headrests. Yes the back seat headrests had to come out, which I found quite normal. They sit in the trunk or in a garage cupboard. This is because the angle of the headrests is different from the angle of the seat, and therefore you wouldn't get as good a fit to the actual seat if the top of the car seat is hitting the head rest. Plus the tether needs to connect to the back O-ring behind the headrests. Pretty sure it's Standard Procedure to remove headrests for car seat installations. I do it every time we travel and rent a car as well.

The seats are "permanently installed" unless we travel say to Hawaii or someplace we'll be renting a car, then we put BOTH of them folded in one "stroller bag" and can check them free as baby items, they snap in pretty easy into rental cars etc. But they are quite heavy to haul around, which is what makes them safe actually because once snapped in place and tightened down they are like a tank that isn't going anywhere!

The R100/120's may not be the best choice for rear-facing seats, but once your kids are forward facing, they are imho by far the best choice for an M3/M4, they are so low-profile even when installed there is still quite a lot of room back there for the kids, or goods/items from store when kids aren't in the car, etc.

I included a couple pics of my setup, for my 6yo and 3yo. Hope this helps. Good luck. Feel free to ask anymore questions.

Edit: Keep in mind you can put child forward-facing much earlier than most do. From like 1-year/20 pounds it's actually acceptable. I just found my kids loved to travel by car so much more when they could actually see where we were going by being forward-facing. However, the worldwide trend seems to want to keep rear-facing all through preschool, which I think is crazy.

[Mr Pete]

We had a Britax B Safe, and now have a Maxi Cosi rear/forward facing for my 1 year old. My wife likes it. That's what matters I guess haha

[SamS]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

Someone mentioned Headrests. Yes the back seat headrests had to come out, which I found quite normal. They sit in the trunk or in a garage cupboard. This is because the angle of the headrests is different from the angle of the seat, and therefore you wouldn't get as good a fit to the actual seat if the top of the car seat is hitting the head rest. Plus the tether needs to connect to the back O-ring behind the headrests. Pretty sure it's Standard Procedure to remove headrests for car seat installations. I do it every time we travel and rent a car as well.

Yeah, the issue is that the headrests in the F8x cars are non-removable!

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by SamS

Yeah, the issue is that the headrests in the F8x cars are non-removable!

Are you serious? Wow I didn't know that. You checked the manual I'm sure for some kind of stealth latch or something?

[SamS]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

Are you serious? Wow I didn't know that. You checked the manual I'm sure for some kind of stealth latch or something?

Yes, quite sure.

[YolkyPalky]

This is from Page 58 of the M4 Manual, there is a whole section on Child Seats:

Ensuring the stability of the child seat
When installing child restraint systems,
make sure that the child seat is securely fas‐
tened to the backrest of the seat. Angle and
headrest of the backrest might need to be ad‐
justed or possibly be removed. Make sure that
all backrests are securely locked. Otherwise
the stability of the child seat can be affected,
and there is an increased risk of injury because...

I believe if these headrests are truly an issue they can be removed by a dealer, as the manual indicates. But the position of them can be adjusted by the user right? They look like they could be adjusted so as not to be a problem. Anyway, lots of pages in the new manual just on Child Seats so it shouldn't be a problem. If I knew I was going to have a Child Seat (or two) in the back for a number of years, I would have a dealer remove the headrests for sure and just hang on to them.

[SamS]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

This is from Page 58 of the M4 Manual, there is a whole section on Child Seats:

Ensuring the stability of the child seat
When installing child restraint systems,
make sure that the child seat is securely fas‐
tened to the backrest of the seat. Angle and
headrest of the backrest might need to be ad‐
justed or possibly be removed. Make sure that
all backrests are securely locked. Otherwise
the stability of the child seat can be affected,
and there is an increased risk of injury because...

I believe if these headrests are truly an issue they can be removed by a dealer, as the manual indicates. But the position of them can be adjusted by the user right? They look like they could be adjusted so as not to be a problem. Anyway, lots of pages in the new manual just on Child Seats so it shouldn't be a problem. If I knew I was going to have a Child Seat (or two) in the back for a number of years, I would have a dealer remove the headrests for sure and just hang on to them.

"Possibly removed" is in reference to the center rear headrest. Does me no good, as I have two kids/seats. I see no adjustment possible.

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by SamS

"Possibly removed" is in reference to the center rear headrest. Does me no good, as I have two kids/seats. I see no adjustment possible.

Why are you certain "Angle and headrest of the backrest might need to be adjusted or possibly be removed" refers only to the center rear headrest?

Here is the full manual, Page 58 is where it talks about, I guess everyone can judge for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a service department thing where they can be removed by accessing behind the seat panel or something, but clearly its not designed to be removed at will by the customer. I could be wrong. A phone call to a dealer service department would probably help.

[Reid]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

Why are you certain "Angle and headrest of the backrest might need to be adjusted or possibly be removed" refers only to the center rear headrest?

Here is the full manual, Page 58 is where it talks about, I guess everyone can judge for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a service department thing where they can be removed by accessing behind the seat panel or something, but clearly its not designed to be removed at will by the customer. I could be wrong. A phone call to a dealer service department would probably help.

The rear headrests are not removable.

Part diagrams:
M3 rear seat
M4 rear seat

[YolkyPalky]

Yea looks like that's correct. Well, in any case, just from the photos it appears those headrests wouldn't impact too many car seats, but obv the thing to do would be to go to a Buy Buy Baby, Babies R Us, etc and take a floor model car seat you might be interested in out to your car to test fitment.

[Bmwguy11]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Other than the R100 and R120 you guys recommended, I was also looking at the RXT. Did you look into this as well? Not sure what the difference is.

http://www.babycenter.com/103_diono-...xt_10392552.bc

The RXT has the side head bolsters at the very top. The R120 doesn't. I did not see a need for the side head bolsters. The R100 doesn't have the "infant/small child" bolsters.

[Bmwguy11]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

Edit: Keep in mind you can put child forward-facing much earlier than most do. From like 1-year/20 pounds it's actually acceptable. I just found my kids loved to travel by car so much more when they could actually see where we were going by being forward-facing. However, the worldwide trend seems to want to keep rear-facing all through preschool, which I think is crazy.

It's a new "fad" because no one bothers to research the source, and yet it's repeated all over the place. Every post about the topic ultimately will lead you to a flawed study that was done. Among the flaws, the data they used was from 1988-2003, and the study does not take into consideration the increase in safety of vehicles, it does not consider the safety differences of vehicles or even of individual car seats. The study also makes up a few variables in order to fill in gaps to get to their safety "numbers", and amazingly, the study ignores the fact that according to their own resulting numbers, it's just as safe (within margin of error) to have a newborn forward facing than rear facing.

[Xtabi]

Originally Posted by Bmwguy11

It's a new "fad" because no one bothers to research the source, and yet it's repeated all over the place. Every post about the topic ultimately will lead you to a flawed study that was done. Among the flaws, the data they used was from 1988-2003, and the study does not take into consideration the increase in safety of vehicles, it does not consider the safety differences of vehicles or even of individual car seats. The study also makes up a few variables in order to fill in gaps to get to their safety "numbers", and amazingly, the study ignores the fact that according to their own resulting numbers, it's just as safe (within margin of error) to have a newborn forward facing than rear facing.

The only recommendations for height/weight I have ever considered are those from the AAP. They advise to keep the little ones rear facing until they are two. A primary reason for this recommendation:

?A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body,? Dr. Durbin said. ?For larger children, a forward-facing seat with a harness is safer than a booster, and a belt-positioning booster seat provides better protection than a seat belt alone until the seat belt fits correctly.?

Also, even though I get a passing grade 100%, of the time, after installing a new seat I goto our local fire department to have it checked out when they have their monthly expert onsite. According to the flyer they pass out the vast majority of people install the seat incorrectly and/or buckle their kids in wrong.

That does not shock me considering the number of times I've seen people with one kid in a car seat but on the passenger side of the car.

[KL07RPH]

For my almost 3yr old daughter, I have a Recaro Performance Sport that is ideal for the fixed headrests and smaller footprint in the F80. Versus the Recaro Proride in my RAV4 (and Safety1st in the wife's X5), the Performance Sport is significantly smaller

[psedog]

Originally Posted by Fast4d

I used one very similar to this.


large image!

http://static.worldstores.co/images/...Graphite_1.jpg

from age 3 to about 7. it even had adjustable foot rest.

it fits well in the rear of an X5. depends alot on distance from seat bottom to roof.

I could not give it away after we were done with it. no one wants a used car seat for their kids.

I'll take it off of your hands. I know how to check for damage and am not worried once inspected.