The GB Everna-Fix is a car seat that grows with your child from 9 months until 12 years old. It features lots of safety technology to keep your child protected and is fitted in the car with ISOFIX and Top Tether.
Quick Summary: If you are looking for a car seat to really last your little one, the GB Everna-Fix has lots to offer! As well as the multitude of brilliant safety features, it's easy to install and very comfortable for the child.
Whats good?
- Easy to fit
- Great longevity
- Lots of great safety features including side impact protection
- Restraint System Control and Energy-Reduction Technology
- Good ADAC results
Whats not so good?
- Only forward facing
- Older R44 regulation
Things we love…
Offering great longevity, the Everna-Fix grows with the child from 9 months up to 12 years. From 9-18kg, the seat is used with the 5-point harness and from 18-36kg, you switch over to using the vehicle belt.
To make sure that you only move your child from the harness to the vehicle seat belt at the right time, the seat has a Restraint System Control built into the headrest. As you move the headrest up and reach the correct height, it will lock off and not increase any higher until you tuck away the harness buckle. This is easy to do under the seat fabrics and lifting up the cover.
Fitting the Everna-Fix is done with the ISOFIX arms and Top Tether, so is quick and simple to do. We especially liked how long the arms extended to make it easier to connect to the anchors. There are green indicators on the arms to let you know when it is connected safely, and the Top Tether also has a green indicator when pulled tight enough. The point of the Top Tether is to prevent any rotation in an accident, making it a very secure fit. On car seats that include Top Tether, we have seen occasions where it is ignored and not used, which is obviously an important part of the installation. This is not possible on this car seat though – as well as the visual aid, it includes an alarm warning if it is not connected properly. Great idea to ensure a correct fitting!
If you’re looking for the instructions, they’re hidden away inside the seat, under the cover!
Once fitted, you also need to remember to pull out the integrated Linear Side-impact Protection panel on the side closest to the door. Testing showed that this reduces the force of a side impact collision by around 25%!
Seen on only a few other seats on the market, the Everna-Fix features a patented reclining headrest. To keep the child’s head within the security of the headrest while sleeping, the additional cushion inside can be altered to three different positions! Just pull up and adjust. While testing, we have kept the headrest reclined, as our two-year-old helper is very good at car naps! It has prevented any head drop on several journeys and keeps him in a great position, even without the recline.
Yet another new safety feature on the Everna-Fix is Energy-Reduction Technology, which activates on impact in a head-on collision. The headrest cleverly slides down slowly, limiting the neck’s exposure to impact forces by up to 20%, and then locks into position!
The seat and deep side wings of the Everna-Fix are lovely and padded to keep any child comfortable. When napping, it’s easy to recline them with one hand using the button at the front. This does affect the top tether tension though, so you will need to tighten this so that the alarm doesn’t sound.
We were happy to see that the GB Everna-Fix scored a Good, 4 star, 2.4 rating on its results from the ADAC testing! This made it Best in Class in the October 2019 results.
Things to look out for…
As with a lot of Group 1/2/3 car seats, the biggest issue for us is that it promotes forward facing from 9 months. We like the seat as a next-stage car seat, but would only recommend that it is used from 15 months as a minimum, with the child kept rear-facing until at least then.
We have been sent the GB Everna-Fix in the gorgeous Laguna Blue, which is a mix of turquoise green and blue. Though it looks stunning in the car, it is quite light, so we’re not sure how long it would stay that colour through the winter. All the fabrics are machine washable at 30 degrees should you need it.
Though it will exceed the requirements, this is a car seat tested on the older, but still legal R44/04 regulation. The newer R129 regulation also covers side impact testing and goes on the child’s height rather than weight.
Our verdict…
If you are looking for a car seat to really last your little one, the GB Everna-Fix has lots to offer! As well as the multitude of brilliant safety features, it’s easy to install and very comfortable for the child.
Our only negative point is that it is a forward-facing seat and suitable for use from 9kg or around 9 months. We would only use it with an older child over at least 15 months, as it’s safer to keep them rear-facing as long as possible.
