Installing a Swedish rear facing car seat

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Each month we receive thousands of emails from parents around the world. The other day we received a question regarding installation which is often asked. It's one of the many myths regarding Swedish rear facing car seats. Heike from Germany writes:

Hallo Hakan,

We live in Germany and would like to buy a rear facing car seat, a reboarder. We have spoken to some baby stores and seen some tests. Many say the seats are difficult to place in the car. We drive a 2009 VW Golf, can you tell us if installation is difficult?

Mfg/Heike aus Germany

 

Many organizations, magazines and papers write that rear facing seats are “difficult or almost impossible to install”. An expert is required and it's nothing a normal parent can do. Is this true?

We decided to show a complete installation of a normal rear facing car seat in real life conditions. We installed a seat on the street outside our store a typical Swedish winter day. It was 3 pm in the afternoon, light snow and a temperature of -1 degrees C (30 Fahrenheit). At this time in winter it's also dark which is why the video is not of great quality.

So we had darkness, side walk installation, snow and cold weather. Since the Swedish rear facing seats are “almost impossible to install” this must have taken a long time. How long? 5 hours? 2 hours? Maybe just an hour? As short as 30 minutes? Shorter?

This complete installation with seat belt, under worst conditions possible, took 2 minutes. What do we see in the short video? Installation of a Britax Hi-Way. Installation will also be exactly the same with Britax Max-Way, Multi Tech or pretty much any other Swedish rear facing seat.

  1. We slide front seat forward to attach tether straps. This car has small tether loops which are found in some Swedish cars. We are NOT using these and instead attach straps to seat rail of the car. This can be done in almost any car regardles of nationality.
  2. We place car seat on the seat, remove fabric slightly, slide seat belt through the seat and buckle the seat belt.
  3. Then we attach tether straps to the car seat, make sure support leg is in a good position and tighten straps
  4. We move front seat backwards.
  5. Done!!

As you can see, installing a Swedish rear facing seat is fast and not difficult. Even when done during a cold and dark Swedish winter day:-)

13 thoughts on “Installing a Swedish rear facing car seat”

  1. Susan says:

    We have two of these, in a 2006 VW Golf Plus.  I agree that it's pretty quick and easy to get them in, and I did learn something from this video (can put straps just around rails!  Don't have to feed through front seat cushions….that'll take some minutes off my installation time!).  But I also thought that the seat needed to be rock solid (=not moving/wiggling too much) with just the seat belt, so I do take a bit more time to achieve that. 

    I have never timed myself in installing these.  We have straps in each car, and it really doesn't take much time to get them in, once you've had a little practice.  For me, installing the straps takes as long, if not longer than getting the seats in, but as I said above, that will be changing!

    Thanks for this!
    Susan, USA/France

  2. Susan says:

    Forgot to mention, we have two multi-techs, and the installation is pretty much the same.
     
    Susan, USA/France

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  4. Vanessa says:

    Bonjour,
    Je m'intéresse énormément aux sièges auto rear facing, et je viens de regarder cette vidéo.Mais c'est la première fois que je constate le maintien du siège par des sangles attachées aux rails du siège avant !!! Ces sangles sont-elles vendues avec les sièges auto? Ou dois-je les acheter? Tous les sièges auto en rear faing s'attachent-ils avec ce genre de sangles? Je suis intéressée par le Duologic II, et le Belogic.
    Merci de votre réponse.
    Vanessa, de France

  5. Justine says:

    Great video! Just a few days ago I had to reinstall our iziCombi [same as iziKid] isoFix into our car — and it was like -15 degrees C — no trouble at all 🙂
    Although we have had the iziCombi seat for quite a while, I have a new question regarding its installation. I read that if a greater recline is desired, one can push down on the seat [to compress the adult seat beneath] while the ratchet of the anti-rotation brace is being fastened. I tried that — and it really works, the seat could be reclined way more than I thought possible [I wish somebody had told me this when my daughter was just 8 months old and riding in this seat]. "Ok" sitting angle for a bigger child now is on the 2nd recline postion rather than the 3rd as previously. I tried this as a pure test, as right now the child does not need so much recline. The question is — is it actually OK *not* to push the seat down while installing??? Because that way it is theoretically less tightly installed. The issue is that if pushed down, the child seat somehow fits worse with the passenger seat in front [it is complicated to explain without pictures — it has to do with the shape of the adult seat and the shape of the back of the iziCombi], and the adult seat gets either less leg space or less recline.
    Also — what angle to the floor the support leg of iziCombi should be? There is nothing regarding this in the manual. Maybe the angle is not very important then?
    Also — is it actually dangerous if sitting in the front passenger seat adult's knees touch the front panel? Because that is what happens whichever way the iziCombi is installed. The child seat can't be placed in the front seat because of airbag that can't be deactivated.
    Thanks!

  6. Susan says:

    @Vanessa- oui, quand vous achetez une siege, les sangles sont inclus.  Mais si vous en voulez pour un deuxieme voiture on doive les commander, au  moins pour les Britax.  J'ai cherche ici en France, et en fin je n'ai pas reussi en les trouver.  Donc je les ai commandé d'ici.
    Susan

  9. admin says:

    Vanessa: All Swedish rear facing car seats with a weight limit of 25 kg have tether straps. This is to handle the extra forces. Tether straps are always included with the seats.

    Duologic and Klippan Triofix doesn’t have tether straps since they are Isofix seats with a rear facing weight limit of18 kg. They can also be installed with seat belt but weight limit is still 18 kg.

    Belogic is installed like Hi-Way and has tether straps.

    /Håkan
    https://www.carseat.se

  10. admin says:

    Justine: It would be fine to press down on your seat while installing. In general we can say that it’s fine to install seat without doing this.

    Angle of Izikid is often a bit upright, even in sleep position, so your idea for more angle is great.

    It’s recommended to have support leg completely extended if possible. Leaning against front seat would also be a good idea if your are short on space up front.

    It would be preferred for a passenger in front seat not to have knees touching front panel.

    / Håkan
    https://www.carseat.se

  12. loveskilts says:

    excellent video car seat genius dad!   quick and lovely.  we have a multi-tech and a two-way from you.  feel soooooooo safe and happy.  thank you so much again for everything!   🙂

  13. panthera says:

    hey hakan,
    we have already maxi cosi isofix base for the infant car seat. now we want to buy a rear facing car seat for the next driving period.
    do you have an idea, whether we can use our isofix with other car seats models than maxi cosi pearl?
    greets from collogne

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