[stafforr]

Has anyone with a new Mini had experience installing a child safety seat in the rear seat. Does it require any special rigging to install it so that it meets the latest U.S. child safety standards?

[HarryHBMCC]

Our 14-month old son rides in the back of our MINI Cooper on occasion. No special hardware is required. We have an old-style, non-ISOFIX seat which uses the seatbelt and the top tethor strap. The seat is an Evenflow Odyssey 5-point Comfort Touch. It is a convertable one, but he rides forward facing (has for a long time). I have to remove the headrest from the back seat for his carseat to sit flush but this is easy to do by pressing the little button down when pulling upward (though you must put the seat forward to remove it, otherwise it hits the roof before it comes out). The back of each seat has an anchor for the tethor strap. The seatbelts lock if you pull them out all the way so the seat sits securely without a locking clip. The hard plastic ISOFIX covers actually support the back of the seat which is nice as so far, no marks have been left on the leatherette (unlike the now-permanently marked fabric in our Saturn LW200 -- guess we should have got leather...).

Harry

[scollins]

I have a Century Alpha Omega, forward facing, for my 2.5 year old. He's growing big fast, so we've already converted it to a booster/seat-belt positioner. Same goes for the rear-headrest, it must be removed to attach the tether. Everthing fits/works great. It's nice to be able to reach from the driver's seat to unbuckle him!

Despite the safety claims, I'm not perfectly comfortable with a loose booster seat, so I think I'm going to buy a LATCH (ISOFIX) kit to strap in the base. But that's just my paranoia.

Now that we have a seat in the MINI, my son doesn't want to ride in Mom's car anymore! She has a PT Cruiser...

Tough choices for a young one!

Shawn