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#CarseatFullstop Pre-Schooler (3yo-4yo) Reviews

My obsession with the BeSafe iZi Plus

One of the things that frustrates me the most with South African car seats, is that so many of our children outgrow their harnessed child car seats before they are able to safely use a booster seat with the car seatbelt alone. I had to face this with our secondary car seat that lives in my mom’s car recently. What am I talking about? Contrary to occasionally misleading salespeople and brand reps… Other than 3 car seats in South Africa, all toddler seats – rear or forward facing – only allow use of the harness up to 18kgs and 105cm. This is where my obsession with the BeSafe iZi Plus began…

BeSafe izi Plus straight 712

I can’t tell you how angry it makes me when well-meaning parents are told by untrained sales people that “this car seat goes all the way to 36kgs”! That is so misleading and can cause serious danger to children!! Worse yet, in my opinion, are car seat suppliers that list their car seats as “converting to a forward facing seat from 9-36kg”, and specifying that the seat has a 5-point harness. Besides my very public berating of any seat supporting forward facing from as little as 9kgs… Although some seats can be used up to 36kgs, not one of them can be used with a harness up to 36kgs. NONE. Not even my beloved BeSafe iZi Plus or Volvo Maxway.

And the seats that are positioned as from birth to 12 years… Do not get me started on those seats! They need a whole article to themselves. I do NOT recommend them any more than I suggest buying your infant a pair of adult size 7 shoes and stuffing them with newspaper until they grow into them at 12 years old. The anatomy and development of a newborn baby versus a toddler versus a tween are so vastly different and definitely need specific design features to protect them at each of these stages. You can tell this just by looking at them –

BeSafe izi plus different needs

Other than the BeSafe iZi Plus, the Volvo Maxway and the Safeway Elegance, South African car seats can ONLY be used up to 18kgs with the 5-point harness. Thereafter, it has to be used as a belt-positioning booster seat (which too many convertible seats do very poorly). And in many of them, once your child reaches 22kgs, you have to remove the backrest and just use the bottom cushion. Small fact, there is a movement across the world called “bin the booster”. This is NOT the high back booster seat… It refers specifically to booster cushions that provide no side impact protection or guides to position the seat belt properly.

Ok, I’ve disappeared on a tangent here… Back to my story with the BeSafe iZi Plus.

I hated Charly being in a forward-facing car seat in my mom’s car… But we just weren’t in the financial position to get a second ERF car seat. So I panicked and stressed… But I installed that seat so tightly it wasn’t going anywhere. I trained my mom to untwist the belts and tighten them as much as possible. It helps,that my mom is not a person who speeds, never drives on highways. Speed really is the biggest factor in the severity of an accident. So I could be relatively secure knowing Charly was as safe as she could be within our means. When they needed to travel further than our immediate area, I installed the Volvo Maxway into their car.

COPYRIGHT MLM mom shame ERF

What difference can a few kgs or cms make?

Charly hit 18kgs and 104cm from 16kgs and 98cm in a rush over a few short months. I may have cried myself to sleep as I waited for my BeSafe iZi Plus to arrive from overseas… Panicking that she was in a seat that she needed to be out of ASAP to be safe. Many people shrug their shoulders and say, “Eh, what difference can a few kgs or cms make?”

The difference between life and death. That is the difference. The harness has been crash tested. And found safe only until the weight marked on the orange sticker on the seat. It isn’t a random number. Once your child is over that weight limit – the harness might not hold in a crash. Once they exceed the height limit of the seat… Their head and neck aren’t safely surrounded by the shell of the seat. And this is why I fell in love with the BeSafe iZi Plus. The weight limit with the harness is 25kgs and the height limit is 115cm… And that is BEFORE you take into account the additional safety of having your child rear facing for as long as possible.

BeSafe Costs

Before I go on to review the BeSafe iZi Plus and share the reasons I have for loving it (settle in, the list is relatively long)… The BeSafe iZi Plus car seat costs R8,999 and more often than not, there is no stock in South Africa. It is expensive. It’s not the most expensive in SA by far, even though I consider it the safest seat available right now. A long term investment in keeping my child alive and as safe as she can be… Yes, it is worth it. But I go into a lot more detail around the cost of car seats here.

What’s the big deal about the BeSafe iZi Plus?

As mentioned, this seat is designed to be used with a 5-point harness, rear facing up to 25kgs and 115cm. Depending on your child’s build, they could be comfortably using it until they are around the age of 5. That was the first thing I learned about it from Lauren at Kids Emporium. She spoke very highly of the BeSafe brand and was one of the first people to mention the importance of rear facing to me. And this is a lady who knows her stuff. She tried to put me in touch with the BeSafe team before the first #CarseatFullstop campaign. They were overseas in training at the time and by the time they came back to me, we were already deep into the campaign.

Extended rear facing car seats do not fit in every car

Experiencing an extended rear facing car seat made me even more passionate about them. It also taught me a very valuable lesson on car seats – extended rear facing car seats do not fit in every car. There are plenty of unfounded concerns on rear facing car seats (which you can find addressed here). But the fact that some cars just don’t have the space is not unfounded. This is very important because if a seat does not fit securely in your car, it doesn’t matter how safe the design is… It’s not going to protect your child. The BeSafe iZi Plus fits into many cars, you can find out if your car is one of them here.

While we are on the topic of installation, let’s chat about installing the BeSafe iZi Plus…

The basics of the BeSafe iZi Plus installation are similar to the Volvo (tethers, foot prop, seat belt), with a few additional safety measures. I felt confident about installing it, until I saw it in real life. It’s SUCH an impressive looking seat it is a little intimidating. It is heavy and solid and the side impact protection (SIP) is particularly evident in the way the head rest surrounds the head. Charly loves playing peekaboo when in the seat because her head is barely visible from the side. I had explained that the reason it was so “deep” was so that if we were ever in an accident, her head would be safe in there. When I put her in it for the first time and turned a corner, she gleefully shouted, “My head is so safe it is boinking around INSIDE here”.

Ok, so… I suppressed my confidence and the urge to just wing it (because how hard could it be?) And I did what you should ALWAYS do with any car seat you install – no matter how easy you think it will be. I went online and downloaded the manual and read it cover to cover. I watched the various functions videos on the iZi Plus page and re-read the web page information with the seat in front of me. And then I watched the installation video.

There’s a difference between a car seat that is difficult to install and one that has multiple, but simple, steps. The iZi Plus isn’t meant to move between cars. They are meant to fit your car as tightly as if it were part of the car – and they definitely do that. I got our BeSafe iZi Plus securely in on the first try… While filming it one handed or asking my husband to do bits of filming when I needed 2 hands. And it is literally more stable than the actual seats in the car! (Ok maybe not more stable, but likely AS stable).

There are 13 very simple steps to install the BeSafe iZi Plus (this is my memory of them FYI, I high-fived myself when I rewatched the video to be sure and was right. I would estimate it takes about 2-3 minutes to install securely once you’ve done it once):
  • Move the front passenger seat completely forward.
  • Attach the rear tether straps in 1 of the 3 positions to the back of the front passenger seat (clearly shown in the above instructional video).
  • Put the iZi Plus into the car sideways. Lower the foot prop into a downwards position, turn the seat to face the rear of the car and lower the foot prop to about 5cm off the ground.
  • Reach under the front of the iZi Plus to pull the lever that reclines the seat. Choose which of the 3 angles your child will be most comfortable in – there is a 10-degree difference between the highest and lowest angles.
  • Thread the lap belt of the car seatbelt under the belt positioner, over the belt hook, and under the belt positioner on the other side, and clip it in. Remove all slack from the seatbelt.
  • Follow the same path back to the other side with the shoulder belt… Under the belt positioner, over the belt hook, under the other positioner and pull tight.

BeSafe izi plus

  • Use the small ratchet handle to move the mechanical front brace towards the back of the car’s seat. Because of the threading of the seatbelts around the belt hook, this will tighten the car seatbelt further.
  • When you can’t move the car’s seatbelt at all, take the belt clip. Place it across both belts a little away from the belt hook on the buckle-side. Centre the belts in the clip and push firmly until the clip clicks.
  • Attach the anchor belts to the matching belts on the rear side of the iZi Plus, leaving the belts slack.
  • Move the front passenger car seat back and adjust the backrest until it touches the back of the iZi Plus.
  • Once the front passenger seat is in position, pull the anchor belts until there is no slack remaining.
  • Push the button on the foot prop to lower it and push it down until it clicks into position. You know it is locked in place when the small areas are completely green on the top of the prop.
  • With all of these in position, the base of the seat (and pretty much the entire seat) barely moves a mm.

Just so you are clear on this… The car seatbelt attaches the front of the child seat, with the front brace providing additional tension to the seatbelt – preventing it from lifting in a crash. The rear tethers attach it to the actual body of the car from behind and prevent the back of the seat from lifting in a crash. A foot prop prevents the seat from rebounding backwards, supporting the seatbelt. And then the 5-point harness secures your child safely within the shell of the BeSafe iZi Plus seat.

BeSafe izi Plus safety 712

Positioning the headrest and harness (which move as one) is simple. Loosen the harness by pushing the button under the small covered central adjuster (so no little fingers can get to it). Let your little one settle into the iZi Plus seat. There is a release button at the back of the headrest. Pull it up, keeping the headrest upright, and simply slide the headrest up until the harness straps are in line with or just below your child’s shoulders. This should move the headrest to surround your child’s head.

The shoulder pads have magnets in them! This means, you can loosen the straps, touch them to the sides of the seat and they STAY OPEN!! They don’t slip under your squirming toddler making them scream that you are “stabbing them to death by a pointy bit”. No? Just mine then… I get it, it isn’t a traditional safety feature… But when considering making life that little bit less painful when dealing with a threenager, and taking mommy state-of-mind into consideration, it may just qualify as a safety feature in kind!

So besides all the installation stuff and the fact that it harnesses and rear faces to 25kgs and 115cm, who says this seat is so safe?!

Oh! Did I forget to mention? The BeSafe iZi Plus is a test winner four times over (Folksam 2015 & 2017, Bäst-i-Test.se 2015 and auto motor und sport 2014). For context on the Folksam test – they tested 22 different car seats and the iZi Plus is the only seat that achieved the high score of 4. It also passed the Swedish Plus Test; which is the strictest test in the car seat world.

“The Plus test is a voluntary approval that car seat manufacturers may choose to test their car seats for. A child safety seat approved according to the Plus test has passed the toughest crash test and get an additional marking as evidence. The Plus test measures the strain on the crash test dummy’s neck and the requirements for maximum strain are very tough. This Plus Test has such strict requirements that forward facing child car seats would not be able to comply with them. The thinking behind the test is that no children sitting in a child car seat which is Plus Test approved would sustain any serious/life-threatening injuries in a collision.” There is a section on the BeSafe website that explains the different tests really well.

Soooooo, yeah. I am pretty confident in its safety…

BeSafe izi Plus safety 712-1

Other than her usual morning tantrums of the harness being tooooo tight (with all the screaming that entails)… Which is “much better” after I pretend to loosen it (I don’t)… she is loving her seat. It turns out that the rubber grip strip under the harness belts made her feel stuck, because it was a new sensation. That rubber keeps the harness from slipping from her shoulders. It is a safety feature and already after a week of using the seat, she is noticing it less.

BeSafe izi Plus sleep 712

With statistics saying that up to 93% of people aren’t strapping in their kids… We ALL know somebody who is adding to that number.

You have the power to save a little life.

One share, seen by one person, who straps in one child, saves a life.

#CarseatFullstop. Every child. Every time. No matter what.

Please follow us on our social media channels and share them to encourage others to follow along too.

If you have an old unused car seat gathering dust in your garage, please consider donating it to our very favourite NPO, Wheel Well. You can drop your seat at your closest Renault dealership and they will get the seat to Wheel Well. They will clean and safety check it… Before giving it a new home with somebody in need for a small donation.

cost federfun.wordpress.com

Because of our shared passion for car seat safety, BeSafe allows our supporters to purchase their seats through us. This means that you can buy one of the safest car seats in the world fro us! And the profits will go to maintaining #CarseatFullstop! So saving your littles and helping us to save all the other littles out there!

If you are interested in purchasing a #CarseatFullstop recommended car seat, you can join the “Safe seats with #CarseatFullstop” group on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/supportcarseatfullstop/. You can ask any questions in the groups or email me on support@carseatfullstop.org.

259 replies on “My obsession with the BeSafe iZi Plus”

25kgs and 115cm, depending on your child’s build.

Perfectly for my 6 year old daughter, she hates it when she can’t drive with mommy without a carseat for she don’t have one.

Answer: max weight is 25kg.
I would love this for my 3 year old. I have 3 boys and we’ve been looking for a new bigger seat for the oldest (9). Car seat companies should make seats with harnesses for much older, bigger children. We looked at the Volvo one. It will probably be our choice. Thanks for your article! I’m always going on about car seats and safety! 👍👍👍

Up to 25kgs.

I have 3 daughters. This seat would be for my youngest daughter Arielle who is 2yrs old and currently 12kgs.

Thanks!

25 Kg

#BeSafe with #CarSeatFullStop

I would love this for my 1yo boy!

If i win i will give the chair i currently use to my sister-in-law.

I agree completely with your article -safety is so important and cannot be taken for granted. I wish more people would fully researched their car seat options so they know exactly the resitrictions.

The weight limit is 25kgs

The maximum weight is 25kg. #BeSafe and # CarSeatFullStop. Been a paramedic I have seen far to many kids not strapped in properly or just not at all. I have even stop people to remind them that the children should be strapped in. If I’m going to suggest others keep their children safe I should be doing the same by gettting the best that I can for my 3 month old, who is my little late comer. Car chairs have changed so much since I had my Daughter 10 years ago.

BeSafe Izi Plus seat takes a maximum 25kg.
Thank you for your articles on the issue of rear facing. It has been easier to explain to my husband why it is so important (I didn’t want my son to go in a forward facing seat so young and without researching first) More aouth africans should be informed.

The BeSafe iZi Plus with harness takes a maximum weight of 25kgs and it would be perfect for my 14 month old daughter, fingers crossed! It is na amazing prize!

Maximum weight is 25kg

Such an awsome giveaway as car seats are so very expensive these days and there are so many less fortunate people out there.

This seat can be used up to 25kg. The only seat available in South africa that rearfaces that long. Baby is still in her infant seat and this is the seat i would love to upgrade to but its just so so expensive. Would love to win this prize!
#carseatfullstop #besafe

Would love to make my son rear facing again. At 21months and only 12kg it really is the safest option. Sadly i cannt afford the seats that accommodate rear facinging after 10kgs.

Answer: 25 kgs rear facinging and 115cm in height

***This incredible car seat can protect a child of up to 25kg in the rear facing position.***

We are currently in the process of adopting a toddler AND we are pregnant with our Rainbow baby after traumatically losing our twins. This would be an incredible prize, as then we would only have to invest in one more of these incredible car seats. 🙂

It can be used up to 25kgs
#BESAFE #CARSEATFULLSTOP
Will love to use it for my son and hopefully when his over 25kgs it will be passed onto my baby girl

Up to 25Kg

My little girl just turned 1 and still unable to get her a car seat because of unemployment, my aunt passed on one for her when she came out of the hospital but she outgrew it as it’s an infant car seat. I’m terrified traveling with her anywhere and always opt to stay at home when grandma and the Aunts go out. This will mean so much to me and my mom, will have peace of mind knowing that Baby Hlelo is safe when travelling

The Izi weight limit is 25kgs. Since falling pregnant, I have been obsessively reading up on car seat safety – a huge concern for any new, and experienced, mom!

BeSafe iZi Plus – the weight limit with the harness is 25kgs and the height limit is 115cm

With my 5 month old weighing almost 9kg, this would be a blessing to win it. I really want to rear face him for as long as I can, because I know it’s safer for him.
With our budget for a Car seat it’s limited to R3000 maybe R4000 max. And I only want the very best for my son! This would be so amazing to win this!!!

Hi,the answer is
Up to 25kg
Would love to win this for my son,he just outgrew his car seat and looking to get him a bigger one and this would be ideal for us
Thanks for the awesome competition and information regarding the car seat
Fingers crossed

Maximum weight is up to 25 kg. Safety is number one so this would be such an amazing price to win for my daughter who is almost turning 4.

25kgs. I would love to win one for 6 month old baby. My older son is in an izi plus already but at this point we can’t afford another one. Awesome competition. 🙂

Maximum weight it can hold is 25kgs. I would use it for my 2 year old son who is and I hate to say it,forward facing at the moment.

The seat is safe up to 25kgs… And it would be perfect for my 4yo daughter who is 20kg… Holding thumbs for the draw- which is on my 30th birthday!! 😀

Up to 25kg
115cm
Harnessed, ERF.
I’m passionate about car seat safety. Our son is currently in a joie stages because of its ERF – there’s so few on the market in SA today! I didn’t realize there was such a superior seat now available – which is FANTASTIC!. I’d love to switch into an izi plus! And get another one for our 2nd son who is currently 7mo. A prize win would certainly help the budget. And then I’d love to donate our current stages to wheel well. As well as our graco evo duo. I love that my boys can be held safely when we travel and then another family can get the same peace of mind. Thanks for spreading the news and being so passionate about car seat safety.

25kg’s maximum.

Would love the Besafe! Both my boys can benefit ( 16 months & 37 months). Before knowing about ERF i bought the Axiss thinking it was my safest option,and although it is super comfortable, it has no option for rearfacing 🙁

Up to 25 kg. If I win this I will donate the old car chair to Wheel Well or someone in need and another child will be safe!

Up to 25kgs. This seat is my absolute dream for my daughter, Scarlett who turned one last month. Thank you for such an informative article on rear facing seats. I wish more people in South Africa knew the facts. You are saving lives

REAR FACES TO 25KGS AND 115CM. Such an insightful article and even after having 4 kids you always learn something new. After donating all of my previous car seats not thinking we would be having anymore additions to the family, we found ourselves buying a seat that was affordable at the time but that will definitely be outgrown very soon. Fingers crossed

Max weight for the BeSafe Izi plus car seat is 25kg. 😊

What an extremely generous competition! I would never be able to buy this for my boys! Hopefully If I win I can move my one seat over to my mom’s car and have the BeSafe in my car. The seat in her car isn’t great, but it’s the best we can do at this stage.

My eldest can use it now and he can pass it on to little bro who we are expecting end of Nov😊

25kgs – my son is so tall and big for his age and I am really going to need this car seat. I have just started my research and I am so glad I saw this article! Thanks!

25kg. My son is 11months. In his reverse seat and time for his new reverse seat. It is stressful to find and afford the best for him. This seat would be the best for him.

25kgs This is the exact seat I want. Thank you for such a detailed and insightful article. Even if I don’t win this will help me huge amounts in purchasing a new car seat to replace my son’s soon to be outgrown infant seat : ) #besafe #carseatfulstop

The maximum weight is 25kgs!
I will roll down my car window and ask a driver why they are buckled up but the child is standing freely in the middle of the seats or walking back and forth in the car! I ask do you not love your child?! Is their lives not important to you! It makes me sick when people do not buckle their children in a car seat or if they are older with the seat belt! My almost 6 year old still uses a seat (the booster with the cushion and back rest?!)

Maximum weight on the izi plus car seat is 25 kg’s. I’m entering for my baby who is 11 and half months old. She has a car seat from the travel system and I know it’s not safe for her. Hoping to be the lucky winner of this awesome car seat. I love this review. It covers all the aspect you need to know. Recently visited the mama magic show in Durban looking for a cat seat, but I didn’t find one I was happy with and I missed the be safe stand at the show. I hope to win this seat for my baby girl.

Hi Alvina, This isn’t correct. Please go back and read the article and comment again 🙂 This is a VERY important distinction. There are NO seats anywhere in SA that harness past 25kgs. Good luck! Mandy x

Up to 25kg
#BeSafe with #CarseatFullstop
Would love to win this awesome car seat for my little girl Mila she is 19 months old

I’m really struggling to enter your competition. It keeps telling me there are compulsory fields but no where for me to click on or answer those fields. Please help. I really need to win a seat for my son

Apologies for this. Apparently for some reason certain browsers don’t show the checkbox 🙁 I have chanegd the wording so that by clicking submit you automatically accept the terms. Good luck! x

The maximum weight the seat can take is 25kg. This would be such a blessing!!! My little girl Morgan needs to go into a bigger seat but they are just so expensive. We were looking at the booster cushion because that is what we can afford but after reading your post I am in a flat spin!!!! Please consider me for this amazing prize… xxx

I have a 5 year old daughter who is almost too big for this, so it would be primarily for our 2nd child (I am 4 months pregnant ). We gave away our car seats from our daughter so we really need this!

The Izi Plus weight limit with the harness is 25kgs and the height limit is 115cm and it is AMAZING!

I have so much mom guilt over getting Ella a Joie Stages which she is still in, because I thought that was the best seat we could get her once she moved out of her infant seat 🙁 . Wish I had known what I know now thanks to CarseatFullstop, fingers crossed for this awesome prize!

Thank you for pointing out the importance of car seat safety! I have 3 boys and am a proud, extended rest facing supporter!

Answer: 36 kg

Hi Carla
Well done on being a proud ERF mama! Give the article a little bit of a closer read and leave another comment, the answer you gave isn’t quite right 😉
Good luck!
MLMx

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