Anyone who knows me, knows how much of a car seat safety fanatic I am.
Before having kids, a car seat was a car seat as far as I was concerned. I knew nothing about the benefits of rear-facing car seats. But then Ava came along and that all changed. As most parents know, when you have your first baby, you become obsessed with keeping them safe at all times. That’s when I started to find out the benefits of rear-facing car seats.
Children are not simply ‘small adults’. Their bodies are different. A child's head is extremely heavy compared to their body and the muscles and ligaments around the neck and spine are not fully formed. As you get older, this ratio of weight we carry in our head vs our body levels out. A 9 month old baby carries up to 25% of their total body weight in their head compared to an adult who carries about 6% of their total body weight in their head. That's a massive difference- and understandably there would be a different outcome for each person in the event of a crash.
Studies have shown over and over that rear-facing is quite simply a safer way for young children to travel. For children travelling in a rear-facing car seat, at least 9 out of 10 are saved from serious injury. That’s up to 5 times safer than a forward facing seat. And that’s plenty of reasons for us to choose rear-facing when selecting a car seat for our kids.
Ava is in an Axkid Minikid, perhaps Axkids most well known rear facing seat. Click here to read my review of the Minikid. We absolutely love it and we love the brand. Axkid are the foremost provider of rear-facing car seats and the leaders in their field. So I was delighted when we had the opportunity to try the latest addition to the Axkid family- the Modukid.
Unlike the Minikid, which comes as one piece, the Modukid consists of a base and a seat. You can use the base with both the Modukid infant seat or the Modukid seat- we are using the Modukid seat, which has an upper weight limit of 18kg.
Installation was very easy. I watched the official Axkid tutorial on Youtube a couple times along with the instructions and then was happy to install it myself. If you are unsure if you’ve installed it correctly there are plenty of shops that will check it for you. The RSA also regularly has free ‘check it’ events to check your seats are installed correctly.
However, it’s hard to get it wrong. It is installed using Isofix, which is incredibly easy to click into place. The Modukid base actually has a little beep which will not stop beeping until it is correctly installed. Once the base is in, it’s just a matter of clicking the Modukid seat into place.
One thing I noticed right away was that there is more ‘wiggle’ in this seat. I actually had to double check that I’d installed it correctly. I quickly learned that because there are no tethers with this seat (it is secured using isofix), there is always going to be a bit more wiggle than a tethered seat. So rest assured that it’s perfectly normal, and nothing to be worried about. One advantage of the isofix installation is that there is more room around the footwell. A real bonus in our very small car!
The Modukid sits higher up than the Minikid but you can quickly adjust the amount of legroom depending on the size of your child. One of my favourite features of the Minikid is also used in the Modukid- the adjustable headrest. It adjusts to your child as you tighten the straps, ensuring that you get the correct fit every single time. This also means it’s easy to use the seat with multiple children and not have to readjust the straps every time. The Modukid seat is the only i–Size seat on the market with this feature.
Verdict:
I love both of our seats. We’ve been using the Modukid for a few weeks now and we absolutely love it. It seems more suitable for a smaller child like Arya, though technically Ava at almost 4 could still go into it as she is under 18kg. The Minikid, with an upper weight limit of 25kg, is slightly more compact and perfect for an older child, ensuring you can keep them rear facing for as long as possible. The Modukid on the other hand is extremely versatile and can be used from birth with the Modukid infant seat and then up to 18kg with the Modukid seat. They both have excellent features such as the ASIP side protection and the adjustable headrest.
If you have children of different ages, or are planning to have more than one child, it would be a great idea to use the Modukid for your first child and then move them up to a Minikid, saving the Modukid for the next child.
Happy driving.
***Disclaimer- the people at Axkid very kindly sent me one Modukid in exchange for my honest opinion and feedback. All views here are my own!
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