Kolcraft Car Seat & Avanta & SnugRide

[jmstroup]

Hi, we were given a Kolcraft "Roll 'n Ride" infant seat that my husband's uncle used (their baby is less than a year and a half now). I have not been able to find any references to this car seat anywhere, and at the moment, Kolcraft doesn't seem to have a website. We didn't receive instructions on how to use it, and it may be from their first son who is about 8 years old now. Since we don't know when it was made and have no instructions for it and can't find anything about it anywhere we are reluctant to use it. Has anyone heard of this car seat or used it?

Also, assuming we don't use that one, we are looking into the Avanta SE and the SnugRide DX. I see a lot of posts on this. Has anyone used the Avanta SE in a late 90's Ford Escort? We checked the carseatdata.org site, but the only escorts they listed were older models and they seem to say that it fits without the base. We definitely want to use the base, because it seems like it will be very inconvenient to strap the seat in with each use.

Thanks

[aunt83me02]

I believe the carseat you're referring to is the Kolcraft rock'n ride. I haven't seen anything that it has been recalled, but I believe it is an older seat. If you don't have the instructions, don't use it. You aren't supposed to use seats that are more than six years old. I have heard good things about the Avanta and the SnugRide DX5. I'm not sure how the base of the Avanta would fit in the back of an Escort, it is rather large. I hope this has helped a some.

[alandenisefields]

Hi!

Thanks for using our message boards!

We highly recommend that you NOT use this car seat. Kolcraft does not have a great reputation for quality, not to mention the seat technology today is vastly superior to even a mere two years ago. Car seats are one area we don't recommend using hand-me-down items. You have no idea whether the seat was in an accident, you don't have the instructions to tell you how to use it properly and a recently made seat will be safer.

Hope that helps,

alan and denise fields
authors, BABY BARGAINS