Child Seats in M3 Sedan

[Wah]

I like my seats. My kids are older though... they can get in/out and buckle themselves. Best thing about them are that the bases are rounded, so unless something gets caught under the seat, it won't scratch or dent the leather.

[BigMo]

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.

That is in the owners manual as CYA (cover your a$$) tactic. BMW doesn't want to be accused of anything if the headrest causes a faulty child seat installation causing an accident.

[dfwf80]

my little dude's recaro performace buster

[M3NetNerd]

https://www.bubblebum.co/us/

If your children are old enough to use these they are wonderful. They don't damage the seats and can be deflated or just thrown in the trunk when the kids are not in the back seat.

[///M///]

Still have a few days before i pickup my car from the PCD. Can one of you please provide the distance between the driver and passenger seat at shoulder height? If I install the seat rear facing in the center, I want to know what is the max width that will fit through the opening between the two front seats. The biggest drawback of rear facing seats is that if you place the, behind either front seat, there is little room for the passenger or driver in front.

Thanks.

[///M///]

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.

Fad or not, I tend to use common sense. Frontal impact causes your body to be thrown forward. In a front facing seat, when involved in a high speed front collision the only thing holding you from being violently cannon balled through the windshield is the car seat harness and it does a great job. But guess what, the head is not strapped in and is thrust forward pretty violently which can easily cause breakage or elongation of the spine. 1 to 2 year olds don't have nearly as strong a neck as older kids. Now put the same child in a rear facing seat and the entire force is distributed along the back side because the enter seat back is your harness now. Take it for what it's worth but it seems to make a lot more sense to me.

[Bmwguy11]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Fad or not, I tend to use common sense. Frontal impact causes your body to be thrown forward. In a front facing seat, when involved in a high speed front collision the only thing holding you from being violently cannon balled through the windshield is the car seat harness and it does a great job. But guess what, the head is not strapped in and is thrust forward pretty violently which can easily cause breakage or elongation of the spine. 1 to 2 year olds don't have nearly as strong a neck as older kids. Now put the same child in a rear facing seat and the entire force is distributed along the back side because the enter seat back is your harness now. Take it for what it's worth but it seems to make a lot more sense to me.

The above is nothing new, we all know that. But, it's also a direct frontal collision which is only one type. The rest being side impact, offset, rear impact, rollover, etc. While frontal is the most common (about 52% of all accidents), the rest should not be ignored. No one is saying rear facing for infants isn't safest. The question is, at what point is forward facing just as safe, and does a one size (age) fits all really work?

[shivaswrath]

Clek Fllo

[shivaswrath]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Fad or not, I tend to use common sense. Frontal impact causes your body to be thrown forward. In a front facing seat, when involved in a high speed front collision the only thing holding you from being violently cannon balled through the windshield is the car seat harness and it does a great job. But guess what, the head is not strapped in and is thrust forward pretty violently which can easily cause breakage or elongation of the spine. 1 to 2 year olds don't have nearly as strong a neck as older kids. Now put the same child in a rear facing seat and the entire force is distributed along the back side because the enter seat back is your harness now. Take it for what it's worth but it seems to make a lot more sense to me.

They say here in NJ that you should read face until 4 now.

[SamS]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

They say here in NJ that you should read face until 4 now.

WTF. A 4-year old's legs cannot fit in a rear facing seat.

[evanevery]

Bubble Wrap + Duct Tape + Trunk = Solves a myriad of problems...

(There is a reason why I don't have/want kids...)

[psedog]

Originally Posted by SamS

WTF. A 4-year old's legs cannot fit in a rear facing seat.

I was thinking the same thing.

[tchiers]

Originally Posted by SamS

WTF. A 4-year old's legs cannot fit in a rear facing seat.

Sure they do - the kiddo just needs to sit indian-style

[SamS]

Originally Posted by tchiers

Sure they do - the kiddo just needs to sit indian-style

Negative ghostrider. You expect a toddler to sit crosslegged for a 2+hour trip?

[///M///]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

Clek Fllo

I am looking at this exact seat. I plan to keep it rear facing as long as possible. I saw it in person and it is extremely well constructed. Also like that is is only 17" wide.

How is working out for you?

[tchiers]

Originally Posted by SamS

Negative ghostrider. You expect a toddler to sit crosslegged for a 2+hour trip?

Yes. Mine does. When the inevitable restlessness comes, it's from being strapped in to the seat for long periods of time, not from sitting cross-legged (i.e. front facing wouldn't help)

[SamS]

Originally Posted by M3Fury

In my E90, I had a Britax Parkway SGL that worked great. In my F80, the geometry changed a bit and that seat no longer works well. Recently I compared the Maxi-cosi Rodi AP, the Clek Oobr, and the Cybex Solution X-Fix all at the same time (thanks Amazon). I went with the Cybex, which is German-designed. It has a narrow base and the headrest of the booster has the least interference with the car's headrest, minimizing the gap between the booster seat back and F80 seat when installed. I'll say though that I could still not use the Latch anchors that come with the Oobr or Cybex. Doing so still forced the seat bottom to interfere with the buckle. BMW really screwed this up IMHO. The last thing about this seat (and the Oobr) is that the rear of the seat design is smooth with minimal "knife edges" that would dent the F80 leather. I still use a seat protector though. I'll snap a pic in the daylight tomorrow.

I think I'm going to look at the Cybex Solution X-Fit based on your recommendation. My kids just turned 5 & 3 and are small/light for their ages. I already have a full set of Recaro Pro Rides (I think are too tall for the F80) as well as a couple of Recaro "Start" boosters I bought NIB a couple of years ago.

[SamS]

Actually, I just realized my kids are still small, and I want to keep them in the booster strapped style as long as possible. So which seat has the shortest headrest, yet still uses the booster straps (not car's seatbelts)?

[georgere]

I'm the OP and I end up getting the recaro sport seat for my baby. It was a b'tch to install but I m happy at the end.

My question to BMW engineers - why the heck did you place the child seat anchors so deep behind the back seat that none of the car seats harness can reach it?????

My question to child car seats manufacturers - why the heck the harness is so short???? It is barely enough to wrap around the seat and nothing left to connect to the anchors of the car. And why the heck you have the device to tighten the harness further if once you install it there is no room to tighten anymore????

End rant.

[psedog]

I just picked up the Chicco Nextfit and it is perfect. I have it rear facing in the middle seat. I didn't even have to move the front seats at all. I sat down in both rear seats and while it's not a lot of room I didn't feel like it was too little. Just snug. Perfect for my 9 and 11 year old (1.5month old daughter will be in the seat). No pictures right now because I dropped off the car and have a 5 series loaner.

[shivaswrath]

Originally Posted by dsm918

I am looking at this exact seat. I plan to keep it rear facing as long as possible. I saw it in person and it is extremely well constructed. Also like that is is only 17" wide.

How is working out for you?

The construction and safety are top top notch. I've tried 4 convertible seats and this one fit the "tightest" of all of them. So that's a huge plus, it's safe.
The catch is where you place it...I have it in the middle because with the rear rebound bar in, it's the only place it'll comfortably fit.
I'm 5'10" and it won't fit behind me. It can fit behind my wife who is 5'1" (don't judge I like em small), but even she's cramped...
I think if we have a 2nd kid, while you can stack the Fllo side by side (I've verified this is true since we have one for each car), you'll be hard pressed to have enough latch slots open and room if you want the kids rear facing.

And up until 4 years of age, I want to keep them rear-facing...so I may see a X5M in my future ?!

[///M///]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

The construction and safety are top top notch. I've tried 4 convertible seats and this one fit the "tightest" of all of them. So that's a huge plus, it's safe.
The catch is where you place it...I have it in the middle because with the rear rebound bar in, it's the only place it'll comfortably fit.
I'm 5'10" and it won't fit behind me. It can fit behind my wife who is 5'1" (don't judge I like em small), but even she's cramped...
I think if we have a 2nd kid, while you can stack the Fllo side by side (I've verified this is true since we have one for each car), you'll be hard pressed to have enough latch slots open and room if you want the kids rear facing.

And up until 4 years of age, I want to keep them rear-facing...so I may see a X5M in my future ?!

Sent you a pm before I saw your response on here. So fitting it in the center might only be possible with a seat belt? Correct? Does that leave room for any passengers on either side? And does the seat hot your right shoulder as I am thinking it squeezes between the two front seats. Does the rebound bar leave any impressions on the backrest?

Thanks.