Britax Safe-n-Sound Meridian Range

Four Years of Use and Still Going Strong! – In two weeks time my son will turn 4. He is still using this car seat, and has done since the age of 3 months old. When pregnant, the car seat was one of the items that I researched thoroughly. I wanted a seat that had a high safety rating, but also would last longer than the newborn/baby stage. This car seat was the best purchase we could… Read more

have ever made for our son. The quality, durability and ease of use is above average. The seat was used rear facing for 14 months, then forward facing and continues to forward face currently. All material is removable, making it easy to clean/throw in the washing machine.

My son has always been comfortable, and I feel that he has also been safe and secure when traveling in the car. Installation was easy, as well as removal, we have had no problems putting it in and out of the car.

The only negative I could say about this seat is that it is very big. Not too much of a problem now, but when rear facing, the front passenger lacked in legroom as the seat had to be pulled forward to enable the car seat to safely be installed. We have a 2012 Holden Cruze SRI.

From my experience, I wouldn't recommend anything else!

Safety risk in the front facing position – It is easy enough to install, and our child seems comfortable in it ( probably :) It is durable, and looks fine after several major cleanups. Had no issues in the rearwards facing position. The problem is in the forward facing position, as it has already been discussed by others. The metal joiner on the back of the harness tangles with the car's… Read more

seat belt when you extend the shoulder straps. Then, you cannot tighten the shoulder straps enough, and the metal joiner pulls on the seatbelt, that can potentially loosen it enough. You have to inspect the back of the seat every time you put the child in, and this step is easy to miss if you are in a hurry or exhausted after a long day getting the child in and out of the seat. This seems to be more of a problem with an upright seat position and less when the it is inclined. It appears to be a serious design issue, but somehow the seat passed all the safety tests.

I assume the isofix models would not have this sort of problems, too bad ours didn't have that option.

Safe seat with rear-facing to approximately 3 years – While this seat isn't perfect, it is good where it counts. It is safe (if you install it properly). I must admit that its not the easiest seat to install and it needs readjusting periodically (which I think is my car more than anything), but I've done it so many times that I'm pretty much an expert at it! This isn't a huge issue for me as I… Read more

don't think there are many highly usable seats on the market.

Currently my toddler is 23 months and she fits in it fine with tonnes of room to grow.

Problem areas usability wise have been for a rear-facing set up:

- threading the strap under the seat

- getting the seat belt tight enough so there is no sideways movement

- sometimes the belt won't tighten sufficiently, but as long as I pull the belt from behind the seat first and then pull at the tensioner, then its fine. This might become a problem when she's forward-facing if I can't reach the belts at the back.

This seat doesn't seem to breathe, but she hasn't complained about this as we have the air-con on all the time.

Safest on the market (I think) – The Britax Safe-n-Sound Meridian AHR was the car seat we bought on the recommendation of a few baby car seat retailers. The installation and use instructions are very easy to follow. The good: easy to install and use, well known anad reputable brand focusetd on child safety, has 'wings' to protect child's head and helps them fall sleep, nice colours, soft fabrics. The bad: easy for food to fall underneath in small nooks and crannies

Perfect.1st car seat – Its a covertible seat that my child has used for a number of years. My daughter has out grown it and now my son uses it. The quality of the product is exceptional and easy to clean. The adjustability of the seat makrs it easy dor our children to grow into.

Great – We purchased 2 of these seats, one for each of our cars for our eldest child when number 2 came along. Great padding, super comfy and great safety features. We loved that they are a little bigger than most seats as it meant it would last longer. These seats are still going 5 years on and still look new.

Discontinued for good reason – Easy to install, Hard to use especially to adjust the strap with the tilt and adjust feature being the main reason why this I think this product has now been discontinued.. SAFETY is PARAMOUNT. if you have the strength of ten men then this seat will be fine when strapping your precious bundle of joy in on every trip. Bubs is comfortable in true… Read more

Safe and Sound style they usually have this down pat.

Cleaning is easy once you are able to figure out how to remove the belts to release it from the seat fabric.

I can’t tighten the harness- impossible – I like the seat and my baby looks comfortable but I can’t tighten the harness straps. It feels loose and I can fit my entire hand in. It’s ok when the baby is out of the seat but when he is in it we are using all our force to make it secure. Is there a way to fix this or make it easier to tighten. I can’t work it out.

Perhaps Consumer Affairs should review the issue with the car straps being near impossible to tighte – I've had issues with mine too after it going in forward facing. It was professionally installed. I often cannot get the straps tight enough. After reading the comments from many other reviewers, it seems to me that there is a theme to the straps being very difficult/impossible to tighten. To me, this is a serious safety concern and I am already… Read more

reviewing other car seats to replace it after reading all the reviews. Annoying as it was an expensive seat and I'm not planning on selling it to anyone with the concern I have over safety.

Worn seat cover – Mine also has worn quickly, so I rang britax and they have replaced it with out any issues. :) Hope this helps.

Love it – Love this car seat. Had it for my daughter since birth no problems what so ever. Easy to adjust as she grew. It's Safe and sound  Show reply

Safe and comfortable seat – No problems with straps in double always get it done by a professional. using it for baby number 2 now and very comfortable. It has one of the highest safety rating for rear and forward facing Show details ·  1

Straps come from below my toddlers shoulders – This seat is comfortable and my toddler sleeps well on car trips. However, I have great difficulty ensuring the straps are placed correctly and she isn’t able to squeeze her way out of them. Similar to an earlier review, I pull the head rest up to move the straps to the appropriate position (above shoulders) but the headrest is then too high to… Read more

support the head. Each time I get in the car I need to adjust the headrest and straps as the headrest has dropped down and the straps are twisted. Annoying when you are holding a toddler, shopping, backpack etc.

I feel safe – Easy to clean. Easy to use. I feel secure that my child is in the safest seat possible. Bought the new version for baby 2 & absolutely wrapped with that too. You can't put a price on safety. Love the promise to replace the seats if in an accident too. Fantastic customer service by Britax!

Terrible product. Seatbelt tangles every single time – I had no problems with this car seat when rearward facing. But since using it forward facing, it has been a nightmare. Every single time I put my child in and tighten the seatbelt, it doesn't tighten because it gets tangled and stuck at the back where the car seatbelt sash is. It's a real safety concern because either the baby seatbelt won't be… Read more

tight OR the baby seat gets loosened. To use it safely I need to basically install it everytime I put my child in. It's not practical, it's unsafe yet it was an expensive car seat. I can't believe it was not tested and can't believe it was even approved and certified as a safe Australian product.

Pretty good seat – I love this seat and so does my son. Installing rear facing was a little difficult, but once it was in it was great. Intalling front facing - so easy i could do it with my eyes closed. I love the moveable back section so you can adjust the straps without removing the seat or child. The ONLY problem i have with it is that in front facing mode… Read more ·  1

the splitter plate gets caught on the seatbelt when tightening the harness. I always have to squeeze my hand behind the seat to make sure they havent hooked together otherwise the harness doesnt tighten and it pulls the seatbelt a bit loose. This scares me as it is a big safety flaw in my eyes, and i have to make sure everyone that uses the seat knows to check it.

Great seat but very hard to adjust when in car – We bought the seat for the high safety rating, and have found it has been very difficult to adjust shoulder straps Features are great, and head rest easy to adjust but the inability to adjust the shoulder straps with ease to ensure my child is secure and not going to be thrown out of the seat has left me pursuing an alternative seat and several hundred dollars out of pocket

best buy – We got one and it has done both our sons from the day they came out of hospital. Our first was in it until almost 3 and we only moved him out when the second came along. Number two has outgrown it at age 2 (18kg) and i reluctantly moved him out of it. They both slept well in the seat while travelling.

Perfect car seat – Very easy to install, heaps of room in the car still. Baby is very happy compared to a capsule. Great value for money when compared to what you get and others on the markets. Even better value when you are able to get them installed and on special. Very happy.  Show reply

Great car seat - best on the market – We've had two of the Safe-n-Sound Meridian AHR car seats for our two children and cant speak highly enough of them. Our children have been in them since three months old and now have out grown them so we've bought the bigger Safe-n-Sound maxi-rider. I've seen people complain that the straps are hard to pull tight and get caught on the buckle in… Read more

the back, but then I have a look how it's installed and every time the seat belt has been installed incorrectly and catches the straps.

Poor strap design – The adjusting straps are very hard to pull tight. The shoulder straps cannot be tightened most times because the butterfly piece that holds the shoulder straps in behind the seat, gets caught on the actual seat belt. The seat belt path for the Forward Facing area is a poor design. The latch (teeth) that they have on the car seat have actually shredded the car seat belt!! Would not recommend this particular car seat, especially for busy Mums!

Such a total waste of a lot of money & a huge disappointment – We wanted to get the best for our son, so after looking around we thought this Britax was the brand to buy. We spent a small fortune to buy the meridian happily thinking we were making the best choice. We could not have been more disappointed with this seat! It forced our little guys head forward so he could not rest it back which was sooo soo… Read more

painful to watch when he'd fall asleep. Very stressful & not what you want to add to driving in traffic. It affected our lives in a horrible way & we avoided going out at all. I felt depressed that we'd lost hundreds on this piece of accident & injury causing uncomfortable garbage. It's actually a ridiculous design. His head would hang dropping all around unable to just rest back as the seat would just keep him forced out ward. I do not understand how they can get this model soo wrong. Such a total waste of money. It is sitting uselessly in our spare room just reminding us of all the hundreds we wasted. We will throw it out. We had to then go out & buy a cheap replacement which honesty was a lot better. Very disappointed in this seat.

Best seat ever – I'm not sure why all the negative press on this seat, we have had it for five years and its absolutely brilliant, would not recommend anything else, we have three of them (twins plus young one) would buy another one tomorrow if I needed to. Adjusts well, straps are fine and washes well every time.

Cover and material falling apart is acceptable to them – After not even 3 years of use my car seat is falling apart. It has been washed only 3 times according to the instructions, and the headrest and back support sections have become detached, and the velour is coming off in clumps all over everything including my child. I've contacted Britax who have decided that this is considered normal wear and… Read more

tear, and apparently it ok for my child to be sitting in a seat with just plastic behind his back and clumps of velour all over him! Their solution to this well known problem is that I purchase another cover for $180. You have got to be kidding that you can't even expect a product intended for up to four years of use to last way less than three, and they think that's completely acceptable. Fail, absolute fail. What a joke! They can forget my future business with another child on the way and my current one needing a new seat in the next year.

Not sure how safe this car seat actually is! – My major problem with this seat is regardless of how good it looks or how 'safe' it's features are supposed to be, if the buckle repeatedly comes undone when you're driving, then there's a pretty big issue! My husband and I have developed the habit of checking the buckle at a very least of four times before we start driving. We have to do this… Read more

by yanking on it as hard as we can, to make sure it really doesn't come undone. We have been caught out that many times with this car seat when we've been driving. It just seems so contradictory to me that this seat, worth hundreds of dollars new, and for the sole purpose of keeping your child safe while driving, has a critical issue with the buckle. One can only imagine what the consequences could be in an accident. Additionally, the straps are very difficult to tighten or loosen. I find myself continually straining with all of my arm and upper body strength to make the shoulder straps tight enough to be safe for my son. Sometimes, I just can't get it to my satisfaction- another critical issue. I also have a Maxi Rider which we use for our older son (3 years), and we never have any of these issues with the

Maxi Rider. Yet we have had continuing, ongoing, major safety issues with the straps and buckles with the Meridian, from the very beginning - and we bought it brand new. I can't believe I have to worry every time I put my child in this seat!

CAME UNDONE IN CAR ACCIDENT – I bought my Safe n Sound Meridian car seat in August 2015. On April 14th 2016 I was involved in a car accident and when I jumped out to check on my 6 month old the car seat buckle had come undone. Thank god the car didn't flip or my baby would have fallen completely out. Dangerous and unacceptable! My mum called Britax and they told her that if I… Read more

didn't clean the buckle and it was dirty that it will come undone. A 6 month old cannot hold any food or eat so it was NOT dirty. I then called because I couldn't believe what they told my mum, and the woman on the phone told me something as small as dust or LINT will make the buckle undo with abit of force. I don't know how they can consider this acceptable. I will NOT be buying this brand car seat ever again and will be telling all the mums and mums to be I know about this! Not worth the risk. Extremely frustrating and upsetting thinking what could have happened to my son...

Cover and material falling apart is acceptable to them – After not even 3 years of use my car seat is falling apart. It has been washed only 3 times according to the instructions, and the headrest and back support sections have become detached, and the velour is coming off in clumps all over everything including my child. I've contacted Britax who have decided that this is considered normal wear and… Read more

tear, and apparently it ok for my child to be sitting in a seat with just plastic behind his back and clumps of velour all over him! You have got to be kidding that you can't even expect a product intended for up to four years of use to last way less than three, and they think that's completely acceptable. Fail, absolute fail. What a joke! They can forget my future business with another child on the way and my current one needing a new seat in the next year.

Great Seat – Very easy to use car seat, safe and comfortable. Definitely needs to be installed professionally though so you know it's safe and has been done right. Only problem is it can be hard to clean. Other then that we haven't had any issues with the seat. Would recommend to others.

Constant issues with straps, huge safety issue – I am so annoyed with this product considering it's in the higher end for price. Since going forward facing we've had constant issues with the straps. They get jammed and they can't be loosened or tightened. We have to pull the bottom part apart to fix it at least weekly. In the meantime my 21 month old daughter can pull her straps down at times… Read more

which is incredibly dangerous. The back test always slides down also.

I will be calling Britax to complain and will advise of the outcome.

We have 2 vehicles and other other car has a cheaper seat that was given by a friend. I actually feel it safer to drive my daughter in that vehicle now due to the constant issues with the Meridian seat.

Frustrating, inconvenient and dangerous – I have a Safe n Sound Meridian child seat which we use in rear facing mode for our 2 year old. There is a tether strap which is loosened when removing the child then tensioned when the child is back in. There is only the one tensioner, on the accessible side, the idea being that the strap slips through the anchor bracket so that the seat is… Read more

equally restrained on both sides. However in our installation the tether is attached to the anchor on the back of the seat. The strap passes over itself and takes a sharp bend over the back of the seat, with the result that when you try to tension it, it binds on itself and the far side does not tighten. Also, the strap is wider than the slot in the bracket, with the result that it folds over and jams in the slot. The upshot is that when you tension the adjustable side, the far side remains slack. The effect is that the seat is pulled to one side and the other side is loose. In a collision the seat would swing sideways, defeating the purpose of rear facing. Britax tells me this is no problem. It probably works fine if anchored to the roof. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Can't tighten and head flops forward – I absolutely hate this product it's difficult to install it's difficult to tighten straps and I'm constantly having to push my daughters head back when she falls asleep, a year ago I purchased thinking that it would be safe and reliable as it was a little more expensive than the others but at this stage I wish I had researched and read reviews on… Read more

this before purchasing, I'm gonna have to buy a new one because I'm so frustrated with this one, I got it installed by a professional approx. 6 months ago thinking that might be the issue but no such luck, I wouldn't recommend this seat to anyone.

Reroute harness – Hi, I had the exact same problems as you have had with my meridian. I got so fed up and frustrated with not being able to adjust the straps (this is just too much of a safety risk). I had the seat fitted professionally and checked /adjusted 3 times but I could still not adjust the seat with my 2 yr old in it. I contacted Britax, again, and this… Read more ·  1

time I was given the details of a repair/service agent in Brisbane. I took the seat over to him and he rerouted and changed the harness. He said it isnt a fault as such - more of an inconvenience.

Anyway, its working now and I can at last adjust the seat.

Persist with Britax

Straps Are Impossible To Tighten – Cannot tighten the products straps. Looks great, but it's far from functional. When our Meridian was in rearwards facing we used to be able to pull the straps from behind the seat, and then pull the slack through (not ideal, but an easy workaround). Now that we've switched to forward facing, I have to give it all my effort to pull through, my… Read more

wife simply cannot manage... in fact, in trying to tighten it, my wife accidentally loosened the car seat belt lock, making the child seat loose. Very unsafe. I guess there's no quick fix, so we'll just have to call Customer Care next week.

To be perfectly honest, for a $500 car seat, with this problem clearly being prevalent and going back years (judging by the feedback on this forum) I'm very disappointed that this issue hasn't been resolved by Britax. What will it take this company to properly address the issue?

Durable, reasonably priced – I bought this one when my first kid was born. After my second was born, he moved on to another car seat so my younger one could use it. It's been 6 years now and is still going OK. The only issue is the with the straps that after a couple of years, it became very difficult to adjust. Feels like it's stuck somehow. Other than that, it's a good car seat for that price range.