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The importance of using the right car seats can never be overlooked.  Whether you are using the car for a day trip, a holiday or just a trip to the shops, it is important to keep your children as safe as they can be.  We all know this, but for some reason more of us are keen to rush our children into booster seats with little or no protection.  There have been a number of campaigns about Binning the Booster and swapping those booster seats you may have for high backed ones.

My children are 5, 4 and 4 and whilst the older one has been in a high backed booster for some time now, it is time for the younger ones to move up.  For me the most important thing to know about is the car seats safety requirements, for them it is how comfy it is, and how it looks.

At RRP of £180 (exclusively available from Mothercare) the Britax Kidfix is the most expensive car seat we have.   It can be installed in your car using either the car’s seat belt or with the ISOFIT connectors.

The literature about the seat states that it has been “designed with superior side impact protection and the deep, softly padded side wings and SICT technology is adjustable to use only on the side closest to the door. Additional safety features of the Britxa Kidfix II XP also include an XP-PAD that will reduce frontal impact and help to divert up to 30% of energy force away from the neck, while the SecureGuard ensures that the lapbelt is correctly and safely positioned.”

To be honest I find that statement quite difficult to understand and hopefully we will never ‘test’ all that out.  So this review cannot and shouldn’t be a ‘safety’ review.  So what can we say about it.

It is really very wide was my first thought when I opened the box. It looked huge.  It is however really quite light.

The Britax Kidfix II XP has a V-shaped backrest to accommodate your child as they grow and the headrest is height adjustable to ensure your child is supported and that the seat belt is positioned at the correct height.

I initially found the seatbelt pad quite difficult to use, but now we have been using it for a week or so it is getting easier to place in the correct place.  It sometimes makes pulling the seatbelt out to pull across the child tricky but then I am often struggling to do 3 all in five minutes before leaving for school/swimming/party etc so I am often all fingers and thumbs.

So what does Britax say makes the KIDFIX II XP SICT different? Why is it unique? The focus is on the optimal lap belt positioning – with the latest technology SecureGuard (patent pending).

The SecureGuard is a hook which sits at the front of the car seat in which you place the lap part of the belt and it holds it in the safest place possible, across the hard pelvic area of your small person.  This is designed to keep your small person in the right place and adds another level of safety to most stage 2/3 car seats.  It also helps to keep them in place. Having turned round the other day to try and find my 5 year old (in another car seat) trying to lean out of the strap to get her drink, a strap that helps to keep them in place can only be a good thing.  I hope that this will keep mine sitting in place when they may not otherwise have done so.

In summary the Britax Car Seat is a great addition to our car. It is sturdy and safe, and the big plus for my daughters – it that it is comfortable. Highly recommended.

NB: We were sent this car seat for the purpose of this review but all views and opinions are my own.