Baby seat / child safety seat

green95ss · Nov 18, 2003

Hello all--newbie here with a bunch of questions on child safety (yes, I know it's not performance-oriented and kinda boring for some, but it's something weighing heavily on my mind since my wife is due in April 2004).

Does anyone have an E46 sedan with 1 or even 2 car seats in the back? How hard is it to install a seat? Which seat have you found to fit snug and correct? Have you had trouble getting the baby/infant carrier in or out of the car?

I have a 1999 sedan, and the dealership wants over $400 to install safety anchors for tethers on child carseats. That is absolutely ridiculous, but par for the course for this ridiculous company. Do the newer BMW's come with the LATCH system and/or child safety tethers/anchors? BMW apparently doesn't care about the safety of children in their vehicles.

This car has been great, but everything else about it has been crappy (service, dealership, BMW of NA, etc.) Sorry for the rant...

Thanks in advance,

Guhan

MrElussive · Nov 18, 2003

Hey there, welcome to the forum. A child car seat is not very difficult to install, the car seat comes with instructions of how to install and remove them. In fact, it's so easy that when my little brother was much younger, I figured out how to remove the car seat by myself (one time my mom asked me to take it out).
And BMW does care about safety, the 3-series is one of the safest cars on the road. [:)]

I can't answer any of your other questions, sorry, but on a more personal note, I strongly recommend picking up one of those folding strollers. It is very easy to fold/unfold them and they fit neatly in your trunk!

Bryan330i · Nov 18, 2003

Hi Guhan and welcome. I have 2 car seat in the back of mine and there are 3 tethers/anchors in the new cars. I will see if I can get some pics. And like MrElussive said, get the folding stroller because it does fit well in the car.

Bryan330i · Nov 18, 2003

Two seats in back. Also, I put a seat pad made to protect leather under each seat.

Bryan330i · Nov 18, 2003

Another

Bryan330i · Nov 18, 2003

Stroller in trunk.

MrElussive · Nov 18, 2003

Bryan, that is quite possibly the hottest family sedan I have ever seen in my life. [thumb]

codex57 · Nov 19, 2003

Bryan, you're the kind of dad I wanna be when I finally have kids. Cept I'd try and get car seats that matched the car. Saw a Porsche with a matching baby seat. Colorwise I mean.

Bryan330i · Nov 19, 2003

Thanks MrElussive and codex! [:I]

I was looking for seats to match the car but could not find them. But for the next size up, perhaps in a year or so, I found an exact match that are black and red.

landshark · Nov 19, 2003

Guhan,

My wife and I are expecting our first baby. We are new 325i owners. Because I'm rather anal retentive, I brought my brother's car seat with us when we went on test drives.

My brother uses a Britax car seat--very well made and designed. The car seat uses the Latch system. The E46 has Latch anchor points in the back seats of the vehicle. In addition, the back seats have anchors behind the headrests for securing the tethers.

When installing the seat at the dealership before the test drive, the salesperson showed me that the car's seatbelts are designed to secure child seats. By pulling the belts all the way then allowing them to retract, the belts will not move. This is an added layer of security for the child seat.

Because of the Latch system, the tether, and the built-in seatbelt retraction restriction, BMW has shown they are extremely concerned about safety. The latch system was not mandatory in U.S. vehicles until 2002.

As far as loading and unloading a child, it is easiest when the seat is mounted on the passenger side or the driver's side--no need to lean in or hoist your arms. However, I know of many single-child families who put their child seat in the middle. Some do it to keep the sun out of the kid's face; others believe it's the safest place in the car. I have yet to form an opinion on that.

Bryan, I like the looks of the child seats in your car.
What brand are they?
What do the knobs control?
Do your kids' feet touch the backs of the front seats?

///M SPEED · Nov 19, 2003

Congratulations on the expecting little one. I also have two car seats in the back. One I remove daily or every other day (kind of musical car seat) and find it very easy to add/remove. Placing the child in the seats is not bad as well. BMW's are well suited for people who have kids. My daughter loves the BMW. She always wants to take it anywhere we go. She has already told me she wants a BMW when she gets big. Oh, I can hardly wait....lol

green95ss · Nov 19, 2003

Thanks for the responses & pics--very informative stuff. From your responses, it seems like having a kid (or maybe even 2) is not too difficult with an E46. I'm still trying to convince the wife into trading in the 328 for a 540 w/6-spd, but she loves her 328 too much...

I'm just a bit jaded on BMW service & dealerships because I've rec'd poor treatment and they want to charge me$425 to install the child seat anchors when my local Chevy dealer will do it for free (on a GM) under their "goodwill" policy. I guess I'll get over it because we love this car so much.

Bryan330i · Nov 19, 2003

landshark said:

The car seats are Evenflo Triumph 5. The knobs are the tension control and they work great, very easy [thumb]

There is still a lot of extra room in the back, right now at a year, their feet are just past the seating base.

I like this car seat because it is rated well, has three securing devices/methods including top tether, side straps, and seat belt openings. It also has a full sturdy plastic shell, and a firm foam sub-shell on the sides, and two upholstery pads in the seating area that extends to the sides.

Dinan55 · Nov 19, 2003

Bryan you have the performance package?? I envy you. Send us more pics!!

Bryan330i · Nov 20, 2003

Yes it is the performance package. Very fun to [driving]

I have some pics under My 330i ZHP in showroom [wave]

Family528 · Nov 25, 2003

Ever installed tether hooks?

Nice pics, but if anyone has an answer to the original question, I'd be interested, too.

I've got two convertable car seats which should have tethers when I install them as rear-facing, but I can't get any good info from my local BMW dealers. One dealer refuses to install tethers because of liablity concerns, another wants "about $1,000, but we can't give you a quote without looking at the car" (for one tether!!!), and another wants me to buy a kit and pay for several hours of labor to install bolts & tether hooks.

Does anyone know exactly where to drill through the parcel shelf and install bolts & tether hooks? My seats unlock to fold down, so I can get under the parcel shelf pretty easily. I have the kit on order, but it doesn't sound like installation will be obvious if I try it myself. Any info appreciated!!!

Tethers are required on any cars sold after 2003, and I believe BMWs from 1999 - 2002 have brackets in place. I have talked to BMW NA, and they are polite but no help. I agree with posters - the car is fantastic, but service, support, etc. really make you wonder if it's all worth it!

green95ss · Nov 26, 2003

What was the part number of the kit you ordered? I'm sure the kit for the 528 is the same as the 328 (especially if it is just bolts and anchors).

Also, my seatbelts have some kind of retracting function that is printed on the belt itself for childseat installation--does anyone understand what the hell they are talking about?

Thanks again,

Guhan

Bryan330i · Nov 26, 2003

green95ss said:

You need to pull the seat belt all of the way out after it is through the car seat. This will engage a locking mechanism so when you let it retract it will "click" and lock in position as you release it. So then you release it all the way and pull hard with tension away from the buckle, trying to get all slack out of the belt and give the retractor as much belt as possible to grab on to thus making the belt as tight as possible.

Bryan330i · Nov 26, 2003

Re: Ever installed tether hooks?

Family528 said:

I did not use the tether for rear facing. The reason is because of the height of the tether in relationship to the base of the rear facing seat. I used only the lower belts. For the front facing, larger seats the tether holds the top of the seat in place and the belts hold the bottom.

I guess I am not sure how to use the tether with the seats you are talking about. But the tether hooks are just behind the three head rests in my car about 8" behind where the seat back upholstery ends.

These are the rear facing seat bases that I had. I only had them attached from the bottom.

Fielding Yost · Nov 26, 2003

Good to know that I'm not the only fuddy duddy on this board with child seat questions. I've got one front facing seat and soon to have a second child seat that will be rear facing. For the life of me, I can't find the LATCH anchor points in my back seat. I know that they must be there because I have an '03. There is a flag for one of the two anchors, so no prob, but I can't find the other anchor. Anyone else have this problem? The owner's manual is worthless on this.

Regarding car seats in general. We have Britax Roundabouts, and they are fantastic. IMO, well worth the added expense b/c of the convenience features alone in addition to the safety features. I foolishly tried to save a couple bucks by having the Britax in my wife's car and getting a less expensive car seat for mine. I was buying a second Britax pretty soon thereafter.

Baby seat / child safety seat

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