Mamas & Papas Pro-tec car seat design problem

I bought a Pro-tec seat a couple of years ago expecting to take both our children through to age 4 in it. I must say I like the design and found it easy to set up in the car and it was well anchored when in place. Our children seemed to find it very comfortable. However, in my opinion there's a design problem that M&P don't point out and it's a big one.

A couple of days ago my wife was putting our son in the seat and as she reached across to clip his belt buckle she put some weight on the polystyrene side pads which cracked in her hand. These project 3-4 inches beyond the plastic sides and only the innermost section is anchored to give rigidity. Forces against the chair from the child side are fine but even small day-to-day forces (e.g. another child's hand or foot) pushing inward on the polystyrene will split it and ruin the chair.

I took the chair back to the M&P store but the staff were unsympathetic, quoting the generic 1 year guarantee rule and showing no interest in my advice to place a warning sticker on the problem area or include a note in the "Things Not To Do" section of the seat's instruction booklet.

My wife disapproved of me buying this M&P seat as she prefers the reviews of Britax products and I wish I'd listened to her. Rather than pay for M&P to profitably mend their broken product I've now bought a new Britax seat. After my experience of their impersonal service I won't buy an M&P product again.

My wife was discussing this with some of the mums at school and discovered another had exactly the same failure with the pro-tec design.

. Mamas & Papas Pro-Tec, great car seat really pleased! paid 120 for it but worth every penny! love the fact it has an alternative seat belt route so it avoids 'buckel crunch' reclines easily and is just as good as leading brands, a* would recommend!

I bought this Mamas & Papas Pro-Tec Carseat because it looked like it would be easy to fit & therefore handy to move between 2 cars if required and I was right. The seat fits easily & securely. The cover is easy to remove & refit for washing. After 3 years constant use, my son is ready to hand the seat down to his baby sister & it still looks as good as new.

The Mamas & Papas Pro-Tec Car Seat is a great car seat, very securely fitted. Highly recommended. I only gave it 8/10 for value for money because I think ALL car seats are over priced...they are a "must have", and manufacturers bump up the price because they can.

I paid £110 in a shop for the Mamas & Papas Pro-Tec car seat. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly how to fit it, so I didn't buy online. 'Which?' rates it mostly "good" with three "acceptables" in all its tests.