Featured in our guide to the best car seats, make sure your child is travelling safely with plenty of room with the Axkid Minikid car seat. Highlights include a headrest, an internal harness that adjusts automatically on your child's height, and self-tightening straps to ensure they ride comfortably and securely.
How did this product make your life easier?
Mhari: This toddler car seat is wonderful. It looks and feels very sturdy and the baby appears to be very comfortable sitting in the car seat. It sits quite high therefore the baby can see out of the window. The Axkid Minikid car seat made the process of going out for the day at lot easier as baby was happy to use the car seat.
Jo: The key attraction of this car seat is the rigorous testing to the highest levels that it has been through (plus testing at higher speed and shorter stopping distance.) The peace of mind this provides to any new parent is significant. My daughter was very comfortable in this seat, which again gives peace of mind but further more travelling with an uncomfortable/unsettled baby is incredibly stressful.
Carys: Knowing my son is safe makes life easier, as I’m not worrying all the time. The lower sides mean that he can (just about) climb in and out himself. I like the self-tightening tethers on the Axkid Minikid as I don’t have to rely on my own strength to tighten it. I did find it quite tricky to fit and think that it was quite complicated. However, we were treated to a demonstration by an Axkid professional, and he said that if bought from a shop, you’d get the same service. This reassures me that even though it does feel quite complicated, there is plenty of help and advice to ensure it’s fitted safely.
Would you recommend this to other mums?
Jennie: The plus testing is the main reason, which gives peace of mind that if you were in an accident your child would have the best possible chances for survival. The customer care and engagement is amazing. For example, I sent a few pictures of the fit of the seat and my baby sitting in the seat. Our messages were sent to Axkid's facebook page and they responded with a good response within 12 hours. Even with all the safety talk, our baby is very comfortable in this seat with lots of room for his legs. The seat can also be configured to provide more legroom as the child grows.
Katie: The main reason for recommending this seat would have to be its safety profile. The Axkid Minikid seat has undergone testing to the highest possible levels of crash testing and is one of only nine seats on the UK market to be tested to this standard. The company also offers great support to its customers and their representatives are available to contact for help and advice by various methods. They are clearly passionate and knowledgeable about their products. The seat is made of high-quality materials and has a simple and smart design. It has a layer of removable padding which allows for easier cleaning. The length of time the seat is able to be used also means fewer decisions to be made and better value for money.
Gemma: I would recommend this product as it lasts a long time and can be used rear-facing for a long time. This product lasts until the child is 25kg which is an average 7-year-old. Lots of other rear-facing seats only last until the child is 18kg which is an average 4-year-old. However, many children are heavier than average and would reach 18kg at the age of 2 or 3 which is too young to go into a high backed booster. With the Axkid at least you know that even if you have a heavier child you will be able rearward face longer.
Would you choose this product to win?
Beth: I would choose the Axkid Minikid because it is one of only 14 car seats that have passed the Swedish Plus Test so it is one of the safest car seats that you can get. This gives me peace of mind that should the worst happen and we were involved in a car accident, the chance of my son being harmed is so much lower. My son also looks extremely comfortable in the seat, the shape and padding are perfect, and you can install it in several different positions and inclines to give more legroom or to make it better for your child to fall asleep. It's also very easy to use and to put my son in and out of.
Katherine: If money was no object I would certainly consider it. It felt very very secure in the car and I had every confidence in its safety and therefore the safety of my child. I am not certain that it would be practical for older kids as it rear faces only up to 25kg and personally I can’t imagine many 6-year-olds being happy to rear face, that being said that is not a fault of the seat as it is clear that this is a safer option, I just feel you would have a battle on your hands trying to get a 6-7-year-old child rear-facing. It is a very expensive seat so personally I wouldn’t have been able to afford it but like I say if money was no object it is a thing of beauty. The extra testing standards in the Swedish tests are notoriously difficult to achieve and the Axikid having achieved this status makes it even more desirable.
Kim: Yes, I would choose this product above others if I wanted a rear-facing seat. It is extremely sturdy and comfy for the baby and the design is very nice. The head rest adjustment when tightening the straps is what I particularly like about it. There’s no worrying if it’s in the correct position because it does it for you.
What changes would you make to this product?
Katherine: Only if I’m being really picky I would say an option to front face a bit later down the line as I can’t see older kids being happy to rear face. That being said, it’s kind of tough luck and safety first! I wouldn’t change a lot about the seat, I felt very confident in its capabilities to keep my baby safe. When you strip away the pretty colours and fancy features, this is the sole purpose of a product like this.
Frances: The car seat was not straight forward to fit and is quite bulky. However, once you had fitted it once or twice then it becomes easy to fit again and having additional tethers makes moving it from one car to another slightly less difficult. Also, having the car seat anchored on the runners prevented the seat in front from being pushed back over the tethers which is why it is easier to tether it to the back of the seat in our specific car. We have a large car and the seat in front of the Minikid when fitted has restricted legroom as the Minikid takes up a lot of room in the back. Saying this all of these points above I feel are insignificant when it comes to the obvious safety of a child.
Jennie: My only criticism (and this is being very picky) is that the only way to adjust the recline of the seat is to uninstall and take the seat out of the car, change the recline, then set it all back up again. Installing the seat was easy because we were shown by an Axkid representative how to do it, but even so, it would still be a good 15 minutes to reinstall the seat, and the less often I have to crawl around tightening straps the better. It would probably take someone who hadn't had the install demo significantly longer.