Greetings from the Lifesavers Conference! Heather, Jennie and I are enjoying a few beautiful days in warm, sunny Phoenix. Tonight Heather and I were honored to be included in a small, informal gathering of advocates invited to preview a new prototype convertible seat from Dorel – the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70!
So what’s so special about this seat that it warrants making us late for dinner in order to break the news? The most innovative feature is the seat-within-a-seat feature of the Pria 70. What starts off as a nice, higher weight harness convertible with a no-rethread harness, decent harness slot heights and good rear-facing and forward-facing weight limits then transforms into an excellent seat for infants and even preemies with the addition of the Tiny Fit™ insert. And no we’re not talking about a wedge of foam. This is truly a seat within a seat and it’s so coooool! It’s its own shell! It fits into the Pria and has 3 harness slots of its own for the little ones. When inserted into the larger carseat shell, it changes the recline angle for the child substantially so the seat can be installed more upright in the vehicle, but the infant has the near 45* recline. Both the larger seat and the Tiny Fit™ insert will incorporate Dorel’s Air Protect technology for increased side-impact protection.
Prototype Specs & Measurements (may change for final version so don’t hold us to these numbers):
Rear-facing 4-40 lbs
Forward-facing 22-70 lbs
Top harness slots of main shell: 17”
Harness slot heights with Tiny Fit insert: 5”, 7”, 9”
3 positions for crotch strap
Optional harness strap covers and infant head hugger support
Additional preemie chest clip (not pictured) will be included in the box for those infants who may benefit from something smaller than the standard chest clip
Maxi Cosi Pria 70 Price Point $249
Expected Arrival – late summer
Without the Tiny Fit insert, the recline in the recommended “this line level to the ground” angle is pretty upright – somewhere around 30-35 degrees. This means the seat will take up considerably less room in the rear-facing position despite the fact that it’s rather tall. Ultimately, this should make many rear-facing toddlers and preschoolers happy to be sitting more upright. Mom and Dad will be happy too because they won’t have to eat the dashboard just because junior is rear-facing behind them. Younger babies will have closer to a 45 degree recline with the TinyFit insert.
What an awesome idea!
Looking forward to ordering this! Excited about having a car seat that will work for my 5 month old until she gets much, much bigger. Wish that this had come out earlier so that I could have had just ONE car seat total! My older daughter has gone through four different car seats- upgrading and finding something that fit her as she grows. We finally settled on one of the expensive Britax seats but it doesn’t compare in the least to this one. Can’t believe I could be THIS excited over a car seat:)
So I have a question…due to the new 45 degree dorel requirement…Will that effect this seat? Even though the stated level to ground is around 35
CINDI – Release date not until late summer. Sorry, should have mentioned that in the blog.
KAT – yes, the headwings are adjustable and do extend beyond the top of the shell but we didn’t measure how high. Regardless, top slots are 17″ so that may give you an idea of how long it will last average kiddos.
CINDY – Great idea!
This sounds like the carseat of the future. If it is functional in real life then I predict they will get copycats. I am even envisioning, some day, an infant seat module that can double as a carrier.
this looks interesting… what’s the deal with the headrest that looks adjustable? when can it be used? how low to how high?
Do they have a target date for its release? I will be buying a convertible car seat in the near future and wondering if I should wait.
What a fabulous idea. Can’t wait to play with this one. 🙂
I’m intrigued! Can’t wait to see the retail version!
Very interesting!
Cool, this would work for many people…now waiting until it comes out.
Oh my! You know, my husband and I (him really) always tries to come up with a better design for carseats. This was one of his ideas when I mentioned most convertibles don’t fit n00bs, a seat in a seat! Kudos to maxi cosi… Can’t wait to hear more!
Wow! That’s exciting!