Our Car Safety Feature Concludes with a Look at the Diono Montery 2

As part of our Health and Safety campaign we’ve been reviewing multiple car seats, from Maxi Cosi to Recarro and of course, this, the Diono Montery 2.

Our car safety investigations were spurred by the torrent of news that highlighted some parent’s ignorance of leaving their child unattended in a hot car on a blistering hot day.

Many of the stories came from America yet it didn’t make it any less shocking. Parents were leave their children for hours while they took care of the shopping. We’re always reminded of the dangers of leaving a dog in a car on a hot summer’s day yet here at The Consumer Voice we were surprised that until these reports, little was said of leaving a child.

We began our feature looking at ways to prevent this happening. From the teenager who invented an alarm for parents, to UV filters that would keep a child cool. Among all of this, one thing was clear, it was the habits of parents that needed to change, not the technology. Leaving a child unattended in a car is just wrong, no matter what the weather. It is time for change.

This led us to car safety areas that we, as parents, could enhance with technology. Such as the car seat. With a very long journey planned with three children, I was on the lookout for a car seat that would tick many boxes. I was the only adult in a hot car full of children and I needed a car seat I didn’t have to worry about so I could concentrate on the road.

Percy had found ways out of her Maxi Cosi and although it was supposed to last another few years it really wasn’t comfortable. The seatbelts had no give whatsoever, so they felt like hard plastic against her skin and there was no middle ground, she was either slapped back against the seat or leaning forward with her arms waving free.

On top of this, she’s a pre-schooler now. She wanted to be like her big brother and sister. She wanted to play travel games with them in the back seat but all car seats had sides that prevented this.

These sides would often annoy her brother and sister too as they meant Percy needed 50% more space leaving little room for those joining her on the back seat.

We’d tried the Recarro before and liked it, although it didn’t bond to the seat as well as we’d like but we wanted something similar for Percy.

Enter the Diono Montery 2. Soft, plush, strong and working with your own car, it is safety optimised. It has ISOFAST hooks for extra safety. I didn’t know what these were until I looked closely at my own car. Who knew, the attachments were in my Yaris all along? Once I’d attached the ISOFAST I was amazed by how secure the car seat was, even without a child in it. Why don’t all car seats have these?

This truly is, after 3 children from teenager to tot, the safest, comfiest, most innovative car seat I’ve used. Every detail has been considered from the long term use of the seat (the back removes so it can be used as a booster alone as the child grows) to the cup holders that make it so much easier for parents to drive without worrying about milk all over the seats.

We love it and it has definitely won our Product of the Month Award for August. You really do have to try it for yourself to see!

Put to the test, Percy lasted a full nine hours in it for the long drive (with breaks of course) and she never complained once about being uncomfortable. She complained when her brother found the arm rest so cosy he nodded off on it, but not for herself!