The Best European Car Seats

by Christina on December 19, 2008 · 6 comments

in Car seats,Gear

Römer Baby-Safe Sleeper

Accord­ing to the Ger­man con­sumer rat­ings mag­a­zine Stiftung War­entest, these are the top five car seats in each cat­e­gory that have earned either a “good” or “very good” qual­ity rat­ing.  The num­ber in paren­the­sis is the score received, the lower the score, the bet­ter the car seat did in tests.  When fewer than five seats are listed, that means that no other car seats in that cat­e­gory received a “good” or “very good” rating.

Note: Isofix is the inter­na­tional name for an anchoring-type car seat instal­la­tion.  The term LATCH is often used for this sys­tem in the US and LUAS or Can­fix is used in Canada.

Maxi Cosi Cabriofix

Group 0, up to 10 kg (22 lbs)

  1. Römer Baby-Safe Sleeper* (1.8)

Group 0+, up to 13 kg (28.7 lbs)

  1. Maxi Cosi Cabri­ofix with Easy­fix base** (1.4), with­out base (2.7)
  2. Römer Baby Safe Plus with Isofix base* (1.5), with­out base (2.1)
  3. Recaro Young Profi Plus Isofix (1.7), with­out base (2.0)
  4. Storchen­mühle Twin 0+ Isofix (1.7), with­out base (2.0)
  5. Graco Logico S HP with base*** (1.8), with­out base (1.6)

Group 0/I, up to 18 kg (39.7 lbs)

  1. Wavo G 0/I with Isofix base (2.0)

Group I, 9 to 18 kg (19.8 to 39.7 lbs)

  1. Kiddy Infin­ity Pro (1.6)
  2. Maxi Cosi Pri­or­i­fix (1.8)
  3. Chicco Key1 Isofix (2.0)
  4. Römer Duo Plus* (2.0)
  5. Römer Safe­fix Plus Isofix* (2.0)

Group I/II/III, 9 to 36 kg (19.8 to 79 lbs)

  1. Kiddy Com­fort Pro (2.1)

Römer Kidfix

Group II/III, 15 to 36 kg (33 to 79 lbs)

  1. Römer Kid­fix* (1.7)
  2. Maxi Cosi Rodi XR (1.8)
  3. Con­cord Lift Evo PT (1.9)
  4. Bébé Con­fort Moby (1.9)
  5. Cybex Solu­tion X (1.9)

* Römer, also spelled Roe­mer, is the same com­pany as Britax, but the seats sold under the brand name Britax do not appear to be iden­ti­cal to the seats sold under the brand name Römer
** Sold in the US as the Maxi Cosi Mico
*** Sold in the US as the Graco Infant Safe­Seat, is also iden­ti­cal to the Teu­to­nia Tario.

You may also be interested in reading:

{ 6 comments }

1 Maria December 19, 2008 at 5:10 am

Roemer is sold in the US under the name Britax, but it would take me a minute to figure out which is which seat. They might not be the same product even, but I know they are the same company.

2 Alice December 19, 2008 at 5:45 am

Wow! Great reviews! Not sure when we’ll be buying our next car seat but probably soon enough … I’m due in March! We’re planning on reusing our seat from the States from Bubba Joe.

Question – one of the largest differences I’ve noticed with car seats in Germany is the lack of a 5 point harness. They use a 3 point. Why is that?

3 Maria December 19, 2008 at 5:58 am

That’s why we bought a Roemer in Germany– it had a five point harness. The US Maxi Cosi also has a 5-point, but when we were in Germany, it was sold as a 3-point.

4 Christina G December 19, 2008 at 1:32 pm

I updated the post with the Britax info and also the ratings for the infant seats without the base. After looking at the Britax USA website, the seats don’t look like they are the same as the Römer seats.

I don’t know why a lot of the German car seats only have 3 point belts. I guess it must not be that big a deal. I did notice that while the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix has a three point belt, the Maxi Cosi Priorifix we just got has a five point belt. I’d need to go to the store and look at the other brands, but maybe they don’t figure a five point belt is needed until the child is front-facing/older.

5 Matt H June 1, 2010 at 8:14 am

The Britax/Romer range varies throughout the world. In New Zealand we are stuck with whatever Australia has, and the Oz standards don’t include Isofix/Latch (still testing them 10 years on, apparently). We buy our seats from Europe as I believe their standards are the best in the world. A quick look at the Britax USA site shows completely different seats to Europe also.

6 fabrizio di meo November 13, 2010 at 1:35 am

Here’s my complain http://www.youtube.com/user/britaxroemerde#p/a/u/1/uE1kVUN2vc4

I sent them an email 4 days ago both in UK and DE and I got ONLY and automatic message saying “Out of office reply” :-(

They have to answer to my email about a damaged car seat I bought by Oclio.com / Oclio.it

While Oclio customer care seems does not want to replace it despite I want to send the car seat back and havingcharged back my credit card (I’m within the 7 days left to refuse an order).

Be aware at Oclio.com / Oclio.it and Roemer.

There’s no customer caring at both sides.

Fabrizio Di Meo
fabriziodimeo@gmail.com

Previous post:

Next post: