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child safety seat info for TT Posted by Steve B on 2000-03-25 02:01:05: Audi of America finally contacted me with a question I called them a month ago about. The TT does come standard with isofix anchors for the new safer child seats. The way this works (article on new beetle): Volkswagen's New Beetle Comes With Child Restraint Anchorage System 29 February 1999 Volkswagen's New Beetle is the First Car to Come with the New, More Secure Child Restraint Anchorage System to be Required AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Volkswagen of America, Inc. announced today that its 1999 New Beetle currently comes equipped with the new universal child-restraint anchoring system now being required by the U.S. government in pursuit of making child safety seat installation as simple and safe as possible. This new system, commonly referred to as the Isofix system, comes standard on Volkswagen's New Beetle. The New Beetle's anchorage system employs two dedicated anchors that are attached directly to the car's structure and are located at the bottom of the rear outboard seating areas. This feature allows specially designed child safety seats, not yet available in the U.S., to slide into the car seat and attach directly to these anchor points. A tether at the top of these seating positions provides a third anchorage point. Volkswagen's other new 1999 models, such as the new Golf and Jetta, also come equipped with this lower anchorage Isofix system but will require a tether to be installed as a third anchorage at a Volkswagen dealer. The New Beetle's system is designed to firmly hold the child safety seat in place and eliminates the need to thread the safety belt through the child seat in order to secure it. By eliminating this process, this Isofix system makes installing a child safety seat easier and better ensures that it is aligned properly and snugly for maximum safety performance. This system will require a new compatible child safety seat design that has been available in Europe and is anticipated to become available soon in the U.S. in view of new government standards to be announced this week by the President. The President's announcement is expected to prompt manufacturers to offer this special kind of child safety seat. I think this is a good idea (despite the president's endorsement!). According to the lady from AoA, Britax is the only company offering these isofix compatible seats in the U.S. Below is their link. |