In my last blog entry, I begged the CR manufacturers to design some new, slimmer seats and to consider bringing back some of the older designs that worked so well for us in the past. Many of you responded, supporting this request. And quite a few people mentioned the old Fisher Price seats. The “real” FP seats.
I spent some time last night reminiscing about the old FP seats and how much I loved them. I’m not talking about the old, OLD FP seats like the T-shield ones that we jokingly refer to as the “Felony Fisher-Price Seat” around here because of all the recalls on them. I don’t think anyone misses those seats. LOL! I’m talking about the ones made from about 1998 until the demise of the whole FP carseat line in 2002. They obviously had some brilliant people working in that dept during those years because all the models they turned out during that time were truly innovative and progressive. These seats weren’t perfect but they were head and shoulders above what most of the other manufacturers were producing in the late 90’s.
I remember how excited we all were for a brief moment when we heard that Britax was going to be making FP seats again! Then the letdown when we discovered what that meant. Don’t get me wrong – I’m grateful for the FP/Britax product line even though it didn’t last too long. It just wasn’t what we had hoped for.
Unfortunately, the reason we won’t be seeing any of those FP designs again anytime soon is that FP patented them. I don’t know how much longer the patent protection is going to last but until it expires – don’t expect to see any infant seats with little shatter-proof mirrors built into the anti-rebound portion of the base. Or any infant seat with a long, soft carry strap like the SIV had.
I think it’s a total waste, not to mention a crying shame for FP to hold onto those patents if they have no plans to re-enter the market. Many of these designs could still be popular today with a little tweaking. Let’s recap the whole product line from that time period:
There was the entire Safe Embrace line (infant seat, convertible and booster), the fabulous you-can-install-it-anywhere HWH Futura 20/60, the awesome Stay-In-View infant seat and finally the Grow-With-Me combo seat which was only made for very short time. I honestly believe that many of these seats could still be popular today if they were competatively priced and properly marketed.
I owned them all at one point or another (I think the only FP seat that I never owned was the LATCH version of the FPSE convertible) and therefore I have lots of FP stories that I can tell. However, my favorite FP tale is how I bought a NIB 5-pt SIV infant seat after it was discontinued for like $30 or something crazy like that. At the time I didn’t need it and we’re weren’t even thinking about TTC another child. But I knew that if we ever did have another baby – THAT was the infant seat that I wanted.
More than 2 years later DS2 was born and the SIV paid for itself a thousand times over. I swear, that was the most unique, most convenient infant seat ever made. Everywhere I went, people stopped me to comment on that seat and I had to inform them sadly that it just wasn’t available anymore. To be honest, it wasn’t perfect – it had a few downsides like no EPS foam, difficult to move the harness straps to different slots, a tendency to get caught on a little ridge in the back and snag the harness and a base that didn’t have LATCH. But the absolute worst thing about the SIV was that it was a small seat and my bubba baby outgrew it at 4 months old. I was so sad. I actually shed a few tears when I packed the seat up and sent it to someone else that I knew would love it as much as I did. 
So, that’s my favorite FP seat story. What’s yours?
Oh that long strap! The mirror was nice to, but that strap. As a former daycare provider and mother of 3 and aunt of many, I have used so many different car seats and the Fisher Price one was far an away my favorite. Light weight and a soft shoulder strap! Having C-sections I could never carry the other kind with the big honking handle bar, and oh the un safety of. That stupid handle! (FYI you MUST lower the handle while driving in the car it is dangerous to have the handle over baby in an accident. So those handle bar toys you dangle over baby to keep them happy are obsolete in the car ride). I couldn’t lift any other heavier child seat and it was uncomfortable to carry with the hard handle that makes one hunch over from the weight, but man I bet you get strong forearms casting them? The soft strap you carry cross body and it leaves at least one hand free to open doors or dig in the diaper bag will forever live in my dreams.Purchased in 1998 it went through all of my children until 2004. Remained in mint condition through them all, except for a bit of fading from machine washing the cover. Some day soon I’ll probably be a grandma and will for sure be crying not having that wonderful FP car seat!
My mother found the FP SIV! I’ve been using it for 6months and love it!! I have three toddlers so the seat has been a life saver!! I got a new seat prior to my son being born an well it’s still new lol.
Hi Leilani, it was a great seat! I think all of them are now expired, however. You should double check your labels to make sure it is still safe to use it.
I lucked out back in 2000 when my daughter was born and bought a SIV for her. I swear, everywhere I went people commented, not just on the beautiful baby but on the totally cool carseat. I had two young sons at the time and both hands free to hold theirs walking across a busy intersection! I could see her in my rear view mirror in the car. I loved it and when she outgrew it around 6 months, I gave it to our neighbor with two young kids who coveted it. She was as thrilled as I was!
When my sister got pregnant, I searched high and low for one to send her, but they were not to be found – even on resale on eBay or craigslist or anywhere. I was bummed.
But strangely enough, when I got pregnant again in ’07, someone had a NEW one on sale on eBay and I told my husband I didn’t care how high the bids went on it, I would pay it. This one I am keeping – just in case. 🙂 I cannot even begin to explain how perfect this infant car seat is to a mother with other children. How useful, easy, dependable and downright ingenious.
~phos
We love, love, love our safe embrace convertible we got off of ebay NIB in 2005. I was just checking expiration dates to see if we could use it for baby #2 due in June, and I am so excited we still have one years worth of use left in it. This was by far my husband’s and my favorite car seat. I’d happily purchase these convertible car seats again just as they were manufactured before (no improvements needed for us)!
I know, I’m so sad. We have 2 SIV’s that we used w/ds1(that way, we had a base in each car). Since one was going to expire before ds2 was due, we bought a brand new infant carseat, which I don’t like as well in many ways. I have yet to part w/my seats–they are sitting in my hallway. I should have given them away 2 yrs ago, so that someone else could use them! But at least we got our $60 worth of use out of them!
I love our FP Stay-in-View infant seat. I was fortunate enough to buy 2 new-in-box seats in 2001. Gave one to a friend then and used one with our son and then saved it for baby #3 whenever that was supposed to be.
We got to use our SIV with our 3rd baby last fall and it was so great. It fit in narrow spaces. It was a breeze to install with seatbelt eventhough it was pre-LATCH era (and no LATCH). The carrying handle is ingenous (and none of those bad-ergonomic gimmicks that you see in the market these days).
I would love to see it back… with a couple of ‘small’ changes – longer seatback and higher weight limit (say 30 lbs). That would be awesome!
Yes, it is a shame! I had a futura that I wish I had held onto. A safe embrace booster that I LOVED but it broke 🙁 I’m still kicking myself that I never got a red plaid one, I love plaid! I still have my safe embrace convertible even though I can’t use it because it was in a crash, I just can’t bare to throw it away.
Emily
I bought a Safe Embrace booster when the line was discontinued. I didn’t yet have children, but I was transporting a 5yo 350 miles and wanted a booster for him (even though he wasn’t in one at home any more).
I just had to retire that seat after its 8-year lifespan expired. It was a sad day, because it was the basis for many of my 3-across-3rd-row-of-the-minivan solutions.
Oh, that Stay In View was just divine… I used it so often when Leah was a newborn and I wanted to show her off and keep her close at the same time. I took it to the Lifesavers Conference when she was 14 weeks old and tried to get all the car seat reps to ooh and aaah with me over how amazing a concept it was. I took it to Hawaii with us when she was 5 months old, it was so easy to get her through the airport in it!
I also loved our Futura 20/60, it had the first ‘reverse belt path’ I’d ever seen (seatbelt wrapped around the sides and behind the back, which made for a super rock-solid fit in most cars!).
I never owned a Safe Embrace convertible, but it was on the market when my son was born in 1997, and the fact that it advertised a top tether strap was enough to convince me to go buy one for the Evenflo seat we did have: Even without owning a Fisher Price, my child was safer because of it!
Fisher Price could have sold so many of these seats if they’d just put some more padding in them… I hope to see them, or at least some of their best features, again some day…but with more comfort padding 🙂
I literally cried last month when my two Fisher-Price Futuras expired. My grandson rode in those seats from the time he outgrew his Sceneras by height (at 2 years, 3 months old and 30 pounds) until I was able to buy him a Nautilus for his 3rd birthday last June. I would love to see that particular seat in production again. Simple design, secure installation, no “moving” parts, no tether required (especially good for us since some of our fleet is too old even to be retrofitted with tether anchors) and very comfy. And several years ago when I had a bunch of daycare kids, the Futura puzzled perfectly between two Marathons in the third row seat of my Windstar. I have no idea what I’d be able to fit there now. Although I realize there would have to be a few modifications to meet updated safety standards (such as LATCH) I’d totally buy a couple more Futuras if they ever came back into production.
I’m just still kicking myself that I was never able to find one of these.
I wish I’d had the SIV and futura for the kids.
with those great 8yr lifespans, Ruthie could have still been in one.