Which baby seat for a miata?

My daugter is about to turn one. So we will be moving from the infant bucket to a forward facing car seat. I will be doing most of the transporting of her in my miatas (90 winter 97 summer). I have already removed the passenger airbag in the 97. My question is what is a good car seat that will fit well in the miata? What is the best way to mount it in a miata? Should I make my own UAS mounts and tether?

Also, I will be taking it in and out daily, so if one is easier to remove/ install I would prefer that.

My girlfriend has been using a Cosco Alpha Omega Elite for a few years. It fits quite nicely into a Miata seat. The base fits snugly between the side bolsters in the seat bottom.

Whatever seat you get, make sure you get and use a locking clip for the seat belt. The Miata does not have a way to manually lock the retractors, so a locking clip is necessary to get it in there nice and tight and have it stay there. The best way is to kneel with one knee in the child seat and tighten the seat belt up as much as possible with the locking clip. There should be no more than 1" of movement when you shake it after it's secured, and the less movement, the better.

What can I say, I'm a former NHTSA certified child passenger safety technician. I should add the disclaimer that I haven't been certified in 5 years, so don't take my advice as an official opinion.

Use a CG Lock to lock the seatbelt. It has a bonus secondary use as well

Other than that, I have no clue. I know what causes kids, everything after that is a mystery.

My '96 has a manually locking retractor on the passenger side. I've never checked my '90.

I know that a Britax Roundabout is difficult to impossible to get secure in a Miata seat for some reason.

I really like the Britax Romer and isofix and such. Excellent design, so they aren't available in the US. You can carefully get them through the UK ebay and such though.

The Mighty Tite seatbelt tensioner is apparently great (no personal experience). Amazon has it, and supposedly the Baby'sRus stores have it as well.

I used an aftermarket old fashioned lap belt. One I could pull down so hard I thoroughly crushed the foam in a Volvo seat and settled the kiddie seat against the bottom of the seat pan.

Billy, if you're just talking about the seatbelt locking if you give it a sharp tug, every Miata does that. Heck, every car does that. I've never seen any other stock locking devices in a Miata unless I'm really missing something.

Just a suggestion, most Babies'R'Us stores will let you take items out to the parking lot to check their fit in your car (strollers for sure, but probably car seats as well.)

CG Lock also sells a "seat snug" or for kid seats....which is specifically meant for this. www.seatsnug.com

Sounds like Flyin Miata should add a new product line to the catalog

CHeck your state laws. Not all states allow a child in the front seat even with the airbag removed. Also in some states removing the airbag will make the car non-streetable. if it was origanially equiped with one.

I thought GRM already covered this?

I keed, I keed

Keith wrote: Billy, if you're just talking about the seatbelt locking if you give it a sharp tug, every Miata does that. Heck, every car does that. I've never seen any other stock locking devices in a Miata unless I'm really missing something.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm pretty sure that if I pull the seat belt all the way out and let it retract partially, the belt will be locked until the belt is fully retracted.

I only put a car seat in my Miata once, about 3-1/2 years ago, and I don't remember having to use the locking clip that came with the car seat. It's possible that I'm mis-remembering, though.

Kia_racer wrote: CHeck your state laws. Not all states allow a child in the front seat even with the airbag removed.

Every state I'm aware of makes exceptions for cars/trucks that have no back seat.

billy3esq wrote:

Kia_racer wrote: CHeck your state laws. Not all states allow a child in the front seat even with the airbag removed.

Every state I'm aware of makes exceptions for cars/trucks that have no back seat.

In fact, most 2 seat vehicles made in the last decade or so have a convenient way to disable the passenger airbag for just this purpose.

skruffy wrote: In fact, most 2 seat vehicles made in the last decade or so have a convenient way to disable the passenger airbag for just this purpose.

Miatas don't until 1999.

My only kid seat experience is with the Britax and Recaro models we've owned and installed in our BMW's. I had the Recaro Como in the Miata once, and I remember it being an ordeal to install and a bigger hassle to drive around with. The seat is quite large and has tall side bolsters, which limited visibility and occupied more than its fair share of the Miata's small cabin. I'd second the recommendation to test the fit the seats you're considering in the store parking lot before buying.

FWIW, I saw a 911 GT3 at a recent local cruze-in with the same Recaro kids seat strapped in the passenger bucket (the car had a roll cage instead of a back seat). That's one lucky kid!

billy3esq wrote:

Keith wrote: Billy, if you're just talking about the seatbelt locking if you give it a sharp tug, every Miata does that. Heck, every car does that. I've never seen any other stock locking devices in a Miata unless I'm really missing something.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm pretty sure that if I pull the seat belt all the way out and let it retract partially, the belt will be locked until the belt is fully retracted. I only put a car seat in my Miata once, about 3-1/2 years ago, and I don't remember having to use the locking clip that came with the car seat. It's possible that I'm mis-remembering, though.

Follow-up: I checked both Miatas. The '96 does have a switchable locking retractor on the passenger side (operates as described above). The '90 does not. To put a child safety seat in the '90 you'd need a locking clip. Most car seats (read: every car seat I've ever bought) come with them.

I don't know when switchable retractors became fairly common, but it was probably some time in the mid-90s. My '92 240sx didn't have them, but my '98 M3 did.