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mufftie
05-01-2011, 11:04 AM
i really do struggle fitting the seat belt around my infant car seat , no matter which car i use ive tried everything from mini's to voyager's to my defender , its not an obscure car seat either its a m&p primo viaggio , its worse if i use the base as the belt still needs to fit around the back for extra security i end up in a right temper every time i have to use it :angry:

does anyone know if you can buy such a thing as a seat belt extension , that i could add on ?

clio0602
05-01-2011, 11:18 AM
Sorry don't know about extension but I wouldn't have thought so. I find that some cars have longer belts than others as dds seat will only fit in my zafira and Renaults as far as I know.

I had a graco car seat base and the seatbelt goes through that only and not around the seat as some others do. It was handy as even my Renault seatbelt wouldn't go around it without a struggle!

Hope you find a solution x

Chatterbox Childcare
05-01-2011, 12:32 PM
Sounds like you are either fitting it incorrectly or there is a fault somewhere

Why not take it to Mothercare and ask their advice or the shop you purchased it from

mufftie
05-01-2011, 12:38 PM
Sounds like you are either fitting it incorrectly or there is a fault somewhere

Why not take it to Mothercare and ask their advice or the shop you purchased it from

either that or my choice in cars is rubbish lol
no seriously its fitted correctly but i do curse when i have to force the seat belt to go round the back and it seams to upright once its in , im going to have to grin and bear it for a bit longer until the baby i have at present can go into the next stage .

i dare say you can get them that dosnt require the belt to fit round as well as being on the base so maybe that should be my next purchase

Minstrel
07-01-2011, 07:52 PM
My car has very short seatbelts and no infant seat will fit unless i use the base. When shopping for dd's seat and pram i mentioned this to the mothercare assistant and she knew which car i had without my saying,

its a ford focus.

mufftie
07-01-2011, 08:36 PM
im glad its not just me then

Zoomie
07-01-2011, 08:56 PM
I can never fit car seats properly and fully understand the state you get yourself into trying to fit it.

Fortunately we now have a car which has isofix which basically means you just clip the carseat in. Its brilliant (but comes at the price of replacing your car).

berkschick
07-01-2011, 10:37 PM
I had the mamas and papas infant seat for my daughter and it fitted fine in my grand voyager.

Maybe you have faulty belts or something?

Have you tried the other belts around the car?

Cazz
08-01-2011, 12:44 AM
No you're not alone!!

I've got a M & P's infant seat as well. I had it for my daughter and at the time we had an older 1997 VW Sharan - no problem at all fitting it in the car.

I decided to keep the whole travel system as it's so nice and to save parents of any babies that I may mind having to bring loads of equipment. Last June we changed our car to a 2007 Ford Galaxy and it didn't occur to me that the seatbelts would be any different.

Anyway, I was meant to be minding a 4 month old baby so I was working out where I would put the various car seats and booster seats on certain days and decided to try the M & P's to see if a 4 year old would be able to get past it while fixed in to get to the middle seat. To my horror I had a real job getting the seat belt round the back and as you say it makes it worse when you have the base in - I can't get the seat as tight without the base though.

The only way I can sort of get it in is if I use the middle row of seats and slide the seat of the car back but that's not a lot of help if you need to use the back row of seats as well. Of course, this isn't going to be of any help to you if you haven't got a 7 seater!

The baby never did start and I keep meaning to go into M & P's to ask them to look at the situation. If they say that it's not fitted well enough I'm going to have to try and find out which seat will fit because no doubt it won't be the same one that a new parent will have!

I can't believe that a car which is only 3 years old has such short seatbelts that you can't put a baby seat in properly!

Louise B
08-01-2011, 01:14 AM
It's madness isn't it, you'd think seat belts had to be a standard length or something?! I'd better lay off the Christmas left overs or I might struggle to get into mine, lol!

I had a Graco infant seat for my youngest, with a base, and it always looked too upright to me. It was fitted as the instructions said, but she wasn't lying down, she was almost sitting, which seemed wrong when she was a couple of weeks old. Unless you're carrying them around in the seat, would it be as well to get a front/rear facing seat that can be left in? Although I know it's convenient to carry them in the infant seats.

When I've had infant seats in the front of the car, I've moved the car seat right back, fitted the baby's seat, tightened the seat belt then pulled the car seat forward, so it's as tight as possible, but you've got much more flexibililty when you're fitting it.xx