I've bought my first car (being delivered next week), a February 2016 registered (18,000 miles) Toyota Verso 1.8 V-matic Trend 5dr M-Drive S 7 SEATER AUTOMATIC, from my local Toyota garage. 4 years remaining on the manufacturer warranty.
There wasn't much choice when it came to newish 7 seater automatics; it was basically this or a Vauxhall Zafira or a Nissan Qashqai+2.
As I mentioned it's my first car and I'm not very au fait with these things, but whilst it has a reputation as being a safe family car I'm concerned about the following paragraph on Child Safety in the 2010 NCAP report for the Verso:
"The head of the 3 year dummy moved forward beyond the recommened limit in the frontal impact, potentially allowing
contact with parts of the car's interior. However, the dummy was not ejected from the restraint and, in the side
impact, both the 3 year and the 18 month dummy were properly contained by their respective seats. The passenger
airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward facing resrtraint to be used in that seating position. Clear information is
provided to the driver regarding the status of the airbag. A permanent label clearly warns of the dangers of using that
seating position for a rearward facing child seat without first disabling the airbag."
I noticed that the rear seats can be rolled back or forward depending on whether the extra two in the back are being used or not. I don't know if rolling these back when fitting a 3 year old child seat would help or not with minimising risk of head contact.
I like the car and its safety features are in general very good; I just can't stop thinking about this particular point. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
There wasn't much choice when it came to newish 7 seater automatics; it was basically this or a Vauxhall Zafira or a Nissan Qashqai+2.
As I mentioned it's my first car and I'm not very au fait with these things, but whilst it has a reputation as being a safe family car I'm concerned about the following paragraph on Child Safety in the 2010 NCAP report for the Verso:
"The head of the 3 year dummy moved forward beyond the recommened limit in the frontal impact, potentially allowing
contact with parts of the car's interior. However, the dummy was not ejected from the restraint and, in the side
impact, both the 3 year and the 18 month dummy were properly contained by their respective seats. The passenger
airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward facing resrtraint to be used in that seating position. Clear information is
provided to the driver regarding the status of the airbag. A permanent label clearly warns of the dangers of using that
seating position for a rearward facing child seat without first disabling the airbag."
I noticed that the rear seats can be rolled back or forward depending on whether the extra two in the back are being used or not. I don't know if rolling these back when fitting a 3 year old child seat would help or not with minimising risk of head contact.
I like the car and its safety features are in general very good; I just can't stop thinking about this particular point. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
