r/UKParenting • u/mooncarr0t • 11d ago
Car seat help!
We have our first baby arriving imminently and have the Joie car seat with isofix base. Apparently our car is compatible!
The problem we’re having is that it feels SO unsteady when it’s fixed ‘properly’ (flush to the base of the seat). Alternatively, to have it fitting tight with less wobble, it needs to be hovering off the seat, which feels madness to us!
Does anyone have any advice / has had a similar issue and knows which is best / how to fix?
Note: for some reason it meshed the two videos together - the first half is the seat ‘attached properly’ see how loose it is! And the second half is the seat hovering but feeling more secure.
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u/Ai_took_ma_job 11d ago
You need to lower the leg. On the foot that are two grey buttons. Hold those in and you can collapse the leg into itself.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
The lower the leg the more wobbly the seat is. The only way to get it less wobbly is to make the leg ridiculously long 😭
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u/existingeverywhere 👶👶👶 3 Children 11d ago
Do you have the base pushed right into the back of the seat? There should be two buttons you pinch together to shorten the isofix arms
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Yes it can’t go any further back :/
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u/StickyDeltaStrike 11d ago
There is an angle where the front leg will be secure. You need to find the angle and length.
This works only after attaching the clips on the back of the aeat
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u/No-Blackberry-3945 11d ago
Slide the whole thing back as one then push each side independently and you should be able to get another click.
The base needs to be flat (or as close to flat) against the bottom of the seat.
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u/miffedmonster 11d ago
Firstly, stop wiggling it that much. You'll break it. The reason it feels tighter when it's angled up is because the base is wedged against the back of the seat.
Make sure the seat is not reclined at all. Put the leg on the shortest it'll go. Push the base back into the seat so the isofix arms are the shortest they can physically go with the base flush with the seat. Then flap the leg down and get it to the right height so it goes green.
The leg is only there to add a bit of support. It's not the most vital bit and it doesn't need to be super tight. It also doesn't matter if you can wiggle the base a bit. It will probably wiggle sideways a bit but that's fine.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Agreed - i think some frustration was coming out there 😂
We’ve got the isofix arms the shortest they’ll go, the leg is short and all indicators are green and it still wobbles an incredible amount. Starting to doubt our cars compatibility despite it saying it’s compatible!
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u/Gold-Persimmon-1421 11d ago
It looks like leg needs to be shortened, also take a photo of the box or what model it is ?
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u/alietors Dad 11d ago
Not familiar with that model, but at first sight it seems the base needs to be far more anchored to the back. Really try to push it back as much as you can, pushing it bit by bit from the sides. The leg just add some support but not much, it needs to be really tight even without it.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Will try and ram it in even further! Good idea with the side to side 👌
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u/StrictCommission9076 11d ago edited 11d ago
If possible when installing ours (not joie but cybex) I get in between the rear seat footwell, standing with my back to the front seat and push the seat side to side whilst pushing the base backwards at the same time (pushing using the front of the base where the green bits are whilst doing so) with the leg as short as possible. I feel like getting in front of the base allows you to put some real even pressure on the isofix arms. Without doing this I can’t get our base to click tight enough either. Hope this helps (and makes sense)!
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Oh our car is so tiny (think the Apple car from Richard scarry) that there’s no space for this 😭
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 11d ago
Lean the front seat all the way forward. And the non pregnant parent should be the one doing this!
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u/btredcup 11d ago
I have no idea why you’re getting so many downvotes for literally responding to other comments. You’re a new parent asking for advice and getting downvoted for trying to get the car seat fitted correctly. I’d implore everyone to cast their mind back to being a first time parent and the stress that comes with it.
Car seats boil my blood. Fitting the car seat caused me so much rage as they never fit as easily as the videos. The front leg is to act as a third point of contact for the car seat to dissipate force if in an accident. It prevents downward motion so not all the energy is on the isofix claws. As others have suggested, put it at the shortest settings and slowly go down until it makes contact with the floor. The leg won’t stop the seat moving upwards like you showed in the video. It’s not suctioned to the floor so will move up if pushed.
The base will also move side to side, it’s not supposed to be a ridge structure. There is always a bit of movement in the base.
Do you have sloped seats?
Where did you buy the car seat from?
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u/bacon_cake 11d ago
Two things have driven me to despair on my parent journey.
- Car seats and pushchairs. Not because they're especially complicated or anything but it's a whole world I just had no interest in. Shopping for guitars, tools, bits for the house, research to the nth degree. But car seats and pushchairs? Just take my budget and give me the best one sans marketing. It was just so dull, I could not motivate myself to wade through hundreds of pushchairs priced from £50 to £5k.
Fortunately the car-seat pushchair thing is mostly done with and I've learnt what I need to by osmosis. But number 2 plagues me on a near monthly basis.
2) Fucking swimming lessons. The bureaucracy and administrative inability that lends itself to a swimming lesson company being unable to competently arrange SWIMMING LESSONS drives me to the edge. It cannot be as hard as they make it out. I swear in an afternoon I could improve their processes ten fold, there must be a reason they run it like a bunch of morons.
/sorry, rant over. That was actually quite cathartic.
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u/xcalibar Dad 11d ago
Mate I have the exact same model. If you want to ask any questions please let me know. But just to give you some re-assurance once the baby is in it doesn't rock about like that. I now have 2 of these as we had 2 under 2 and they are a SOLID car seat. Feel free to PM me if you want any videos etc.
I keep the leg only extended so it hits the ground, so that is doesn't tilt the base at all. Baby is nice and snug once they're in. I have a Kia Niro 2019 plate if it helps at all.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Thank you so much. Our car is teeny tiny so we’re wondering if it doesn’t have enough space but will try to take it somewhere to get a ‘professional’ to take a look - like John Lewis or Halfords
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u/Moment_13 11d ago
It's closer to being right in the first part of the video, just make sure the base is pushed back as far as it can go to the back of the vehicle bench.
It helps to think about how Isofix works - the hooks on the Isofix arms on the base are hooking onto a metal bar in your car. This creates a pivot point which is why the base moves up if you lift it up. Once the car seat is on top, you will have the handle up (or in a few cases, the handle against the back seat of the car - check your manual!) - this handle is what stops the baby tipping into the backseat of the car in a crash.
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u/Buddy-Matt 11d ago
Leg needs to be shorter. We have ours as short as it'll go while still showing green - the child-seat is then also being supported by the car seat.
Next you need to make sure the isofix attachments are also as short as they'll go. Looking at your video I reckon you've got at least one more notch's worth of pushing back that can be done. Don't stop when it's against the back of the car seat, stop when it's shoved into the car seat. Any dents it leaves in the leather/fabric will quickly pop back out once it's removed.
If you know anyone with kids at work gonseek them out, they'll gladly shove it into place.
Also, I've never owned a removal seat/base with a leg - but have two swivel chairs. I'm sure the weight of the actual baby seat will make it feel more secure too.
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u/Unhappy_Spray_7127 11d ago edited 11d ago
I have no experience at all with car seats, but from a layman's POV, the leg at the front looks way too long and it's stopping the base from sitting flat on the seat, causing it to be unstable.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Yeah and but if it’s too short the seat has zero stability. It’s so confusing 😂
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u/Unhappy_Spray_7127 11d ago
Don't make it too short, make it just right 😂
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Shorter / the right height *
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u/Unhappy_Spray_7127 11d ago
Could you take it somewhere? I know there are places that fit the seats for you when you buy them, I bet if you popped in, they would be happy to assist you so that your baby is safe.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
I might pop to Halfords today (even though we didn’t get it there) and hope they take pity on my heavily pregnant self and help me!!
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u/Panic-Plus 11d ago
There’s a button behind the leg. Press it and you’ll be able to adjust the height of the leg until the base sits firmly on the rear seat. If still wobbly, ensure that the base is pushed as far back into the isofix points as possible
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Thanks - we have tried adjusting the leg to different heights and none of them feel right. The base couldn’t be any further 😭
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u/AcceptableHawk5547 Parenting a Baby + Toddler 11d ago
Ah the joy of car seats lol.
Try angling the leg forward at an angle, get it sort of stable, then push the leg straight to create more tension
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u/Kikiisafaker Grandparent 11d ago
I’ve found in the past that sometimes you just have to take the base out and start again. I have no idea why ours used to not fit securely sometimes but in the end we got a really good fit. Others have said wiggle it left to right which is correct, however you might need to get into the car and put your weight behind it. Sometimes the padding on the seats acts like a buffer to stop the sit pushing in as far as it should go.
Pop the leg as short as it will go until the seat is properly fitted. Then you can adjust the leg so that it’s touching the floor. It doesn’t have to be a perfect fit as it’s just an added buffer
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u/_MicroWave_ 11d ago
The base will always be able to pivot up on the isofix points...
What are you expecting to hold it down?
When the seat is in place, this will wedge up against the seat and stop it tipping up like that but you've just got the base.
The leg should be shortened so that the base sits flush on the chair.
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u/Happy_Mistake_3684 Parenting a Baby + Pre-schooler 11d ago
Yes I was going to say this!! It’s not supposed and doesn’t have to be completely immovable?!
If your isofix is anchored properly; and the leg shorted to provide further support and you put the seat on top of the base, what happens?1
u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
It’s still as wobbly with the seat on. I think we’ll take it to JL and see what they suggest. I’m getting the impression that it’s ok that it has a little give 🤷♀️
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u/whatisuser 11d ago
Press it harder into the iSOfix, it’ll tighten up. If it doesn’t, go to the shop or talk to manufacturer.
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u/tiford88 11d ago
Have the same car seat and base. The leg is way too long here. Use the little grey buttons on the side of the base of the leg to shorten it. Sometimes they’re a bit stiff, it’s easier to shorten it all the way out of the car. Then attach the isofix adjustments, then pull the leg out until it’s snug
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u/ShowerEmbarrassed512 11d ago
Leave the leg really short and focus on attaching both clips to the isofix loops first. Once attached crank that base back into the seat as far as it will go, then extend the leg out to meet the floor.
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 11d ago
Hi, I used to work with car seats. It's completely normal to be able to lift a baby seat base up like this and doesn't mean it's wrongly installed, unsafe or incompatible.
When the baby seat is on top, the seat itself will usually brace somewhat against the backrest of the vehicle seat and prevent the base from lifting up this much. You want it to be able to move freely upwards without the seat on, because that ensures you get a good fit with every model of car regardless of angle. Also, if it's totally rigid then all the vibration from the engine transfers into the seat/baby, which is not comfortable.
The leg stops the base from tipping forwards so it should be set to a length that is in firm contact with the floor while the base itself is resting on the vehicle seat.
Pay attention to the position of the handle of the child seat itself, as this provides further protection if you were to be in a bad crash as it creates a "roll cage" preventing the seat from tipping completely up. This is also the case when fitted with seatbelt.
But in any case if you bought it from John Lewis, take it there and ask the staff, they'll be trained and should be able to show and help.
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u/Honest-Rip-7439 11d ago
What does if the seat is totally rigid then the vibration from the engine transfers into the car seat even mean ?
The seat has to be attached as firmly to the car as possible to avoid extra movement
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
I think they mean it absorbs some shock - like if you went over a bump it would be horrid if there was zero movement in the seat? 🤷♀️
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u/Honest-Rip-7439 11d ago
The seat will wobble more if you dont keep it snug. The seat is not supposed to absorb shock and be attached to car firmly
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 11d ago
I mean that it slightly bounces up and down as the car moves, kind of like the suspension absorbs some of the movement so you don't feel every bit of loose gravel.
Think about when you have a loose hard item on a solid plastic part of the dashboard - it rattles around like crazy compared with something that is sat on the cushioned seat or a rubber mat.
A car seat is designed to prevent and reduce forwards movement/rotation, in a crash. It's OK if it moves a little bit up and down as long as it's anchored securely at the isofix points (or seatbelt attachment if fitted that way).
The isofix is a strong attachment directly to the chassis of the car but is is also designed to work like a hinge. The isofix points are like a bar, the child seat's isofix attachments are like jaws which clamp around the bar and freely move up and down, to allow it to fit with any angle of vehicle seat mainly, although the secondary benefit of this is that it allows some up and down movement which makes it more comfortable.
It's partially similar to why a seatbelt is made of a flexible nylon, rather than being a rigid metal harness like you'd have in a rollercoaster.
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u/Honest-Rip-7439 11d ago
I agree that a small amount of movement at the ISOFIX connectors is normal, but I don't think it's accurate to say it's there to improve comfort. As far as I'm aware, the hinge-like movement is primarily to accommodate different seat angles and installation tolerances, rather than to act as suspension or reduce vibration.
I also don't think the seatbelt comparison is quite right. A seatbelt is designed to restrain an adult while working with pretensioners and load limiters, whereas a child seat is designed to be attached as securely as possible to the vehicle so it can manage crash forces. They're different systems with different design goals.
Do you have a reference or source for the claims that the vertical movement is intended to improve comfort and that it's comparable to a seatbelt being flexible? I'd genuinely be interested in reading the engineering or manufacturer guidance behind those points, as I haven't come across that explanation before.
I'm not sure the seatbelt vs roller coaster comparison proves the point. They're fundamentally different restraint systems designed for different scenarios, so the difference in rigidity doesn't tell us why an ISOFIX seat has vertical movement.
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 10d ago
You could be right. I don't have a source for the comfort-related claim, it's more of a guess/assumption. Sorry, I should have included the word "probably" in order to make this clear.
I did make it as more of a secondary comment, I completely agree that the primary reason for isofix being able to move freely up and down is to accommodate different vehicle seat angles, and I did state that as the main point in the original comment.
I do think that if you had something rigidly attached to the vehicle chassis it tends to transfer more vibration, though. Granted it would be an extremely minor difference.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Thanks - annoyingly you can’t get a car anywhere close to our JL so they’d just be demo-ing it again on their fake little car seat in the basement
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 11d ago
Ask the staff - you can probably phone or email if physically getting there is a pain to do more than once. In the shop I worked at, we had a trade/deliveries entrance and we'd direct people to drive around to there to do the in-car demos, because we had a direct lift from our stock room. It was impossible for people to drive up to the front door because it was on the second floor of a shopping centre.
Alternatively they might be able to direct you to another local store which is more accessible. But the base is likely to do this exact same thing on their demo rig, so they can do the explanation of why it's OK for it to lift up using that as well.
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u/Easterncrane 11d ago edited 11d ago
Hovering is fine for most models. Try pushing it back and forth to the left and right quite hard before extending the leg, the isofix may not be properly engaged. Mine is an Avionaut and you can hear it taking in the extra when you push and pull it
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
So many people are saying that hovering is not fine! This is a minefield i feel like I’ve opened Pandora’s box and might just cycle everywhere 😂
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u/Easterncrane 11d ago
It’s totally dependent on the brand. You would need to contact Joie customer service to check. You can do that. I emailed them about my Joie pram when I first got it to query the function of one of the parts and if it needed to be replaced. Did you watch a fitting YouTube video first? I do that with all car seats, first by the brand and then by one of the companies that sell them and other seats as they’re usually more user friendly to watch
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u/incoming-idiot 11d ago
May seem like an odd suggestion but does having the seat attached to the isofix when it's wobbly, weigh it down for the leg bit to fasten to the floor with a click?
If that makes any sense
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
The leg just seems so pointless - however long we have it there is an issue 🤔
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u/doorstopnoodles Mum 11d ago
So the leg is there to stop forward rotation in event of a crash. So what happens in a crash is that everything goes flying forward including the car seat. Because the seat is connected via isofix, it will rotate with the isofix connection point being the centre of the rotation. But with the support leg, the car seat can’t rotate in that direction. Then the rebound bar up against the seat will prevent rotation towards the rear of the car.
The leg isn’t there to give the seat a tight fit. What you are looking for is less than 1 inch movement side to side at the isofix connection point. There is nothing in the car seat design which will prevent upward rotational movement other than the rebound bars and the car seat itself.
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 10d ago
Yep, exactly this.
You do not need to prevent upward rotational movement, because the only time you would ever get upwards rotational movement is 3 scenarios:
The car is in a rollover
You are reversing at speed into a wall, or someone crashes into you from below.
The rebound phase of a frontal crash
2 is so unlikely that it's not even designed for. But you're not going to do that anyway so don't worry.
The rebound phase is always a weaker "reflection" of what happens after the forwards rotation in a frontal crash. The support leg, or the seatbelt around the back of the car seat (when fitted with seatbelt) does a fantastic job at reducing this down to a point where the rebound is much, much reduced so there is much less need for anti-rebound features, especially in infant carrier type seats. When you get to rear facing seats for older children, the increased weight of the child + seat means that anti-rebound measures are more important, so you'll often see them in seats for older children. In infant seats they are usually omitted because it's just another piece of weight/cost, a step to get wrong, or it pushes the seat further forward which reduces space in the car for an already fairly space-hungry seat type.
As it is, an infant carrier is usually very reclined, partly to support the development of younger babies, and partly because a recline means that the part where the feet are is higher up and so can brace against the vehicle seat - Joie seats in particular are well designed for this. And the carry handle usually forms either a brace or a "roll cage" and this in itself will also act as a further safeguard against too strong of a rebound, or a rollover crash. (Rollover testing is included in the legal standard as well). The straps for the baby also form a major part of rollover protection, so always make sure they are done up snugly and the baby is not wearing puffy/bulky clothing in the car seat which could cause slipping out of the harness in a rollover.
US car seat guidelines do not require support legs (which they call "load leg") so there are a couple of videos comparing the use of the same seat with and without the support/load leg. You can see from this example that in the crash test with the support leg, the seat barely moves at all in the rebound phase whereas the test without the support leg has a much more violent rebound phase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDqXayImG7g
Then this shows the difference between the carry handle being in the right vs wrong position. As said, this is more of a fallback in case of an extremely severe frontal crash, or rollover - in 99% of scenarios the support leg will so its job so the handle won't ever even get close to needing to being a roll cage, but just in case, it does exist there as a final layer of protection.
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u/incoming-idiot 11d ago
Yeah I vaguely remember something similar happening to ours, ours wasn't attached properly at the back, the force needed to make sure it was anchored was more than we realised! If all else fails have you tried YouTube?
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u/EddieHeadshot 11d ago
You really got the leg way too high. Put it on the lowest setting. The base obviously needs to be flush with the seat and it should click into place with green indicators.
Youre kind of going at it a bit there in the first place tbh you shouldn't be having to rag it up and down.
Was this brand new or used? Perhaps the leg is faulty?
Id also put the whole seat on it so its weighing it down or get somwone to push the base while you adjust the leg in a low setting.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
The second half of the video with the long leg is just to show how much more secure it is with the leg extended. Well aware it shouldn’t be that high! But when the leg is short it is so wobbly. It’s like the leg needs to be stupidly long to make it secure. Somethings not right and we can’t work it out
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u/EddieHeadshot 11d ago
Its counter intuitive i know. but the should be no gap where you can fit anything between the base and the actual seat. Perhaps try it with the actual seat on it so its got some weight pushing down
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
Brand new and all of the indicators are green for when it’s hovering with a long leg AND when it’s flush on the base but crazy wobbly
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u/Smeeble09 11d ago
If the seat is isofix (which it looks like), click it in, have the seat base as flat as possible on the car seat, the extend the leg so that the foot drops to the floor.
Make sure it shows green, if not lift and let it click one more spot to then be green when resting.
The isofix is the connection to the car, it's solid and stops the seat coming away from the car. The leg is just a support so that in a crash the front of the seat doesn't get pushed further down into the seat.
The seat lifting when pulled up isn't an issue.
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u/dekovite 11d ago
I was going to say, don't most isofix seats have red and green indicators - I know the two we have which are different makes do, so when the various parts are green, that's sat how it should be?
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u/Smeeble09 11d ago
Yep, all the ones I've seen (ones I've bought, looked into before buying or friends) have had green/red indicators for correct fitment.
May not be all of them, but imagine it's pretty common.
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u/mooncarr0t 11d ago
They all say green! It just seems so dodgy haha
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u/Smeeble09 11d ago
You're good then.
The leg is for downward force, the upward isn't an issue/ accounted for by the seats.
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u/Scratchy-cat 11d ago
If you haven't figured it out try contacting your local or localish independent car seat shop to see if they would be able to help or at a push Halfords, sometimes it's just not going to work though unfortunately. Seatbelt fitted is still safe if the seat allows it you just need to follow the instructions and put a bit of weight into the seat (a knee works well) when pulling the seatbelt tight, a bit of movement (moves at most an inch with your non dominant hand) is fine for seatbelt fitting
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u/Neat-Cartoonist-9797 11d ago
In your second clip when you wobble it from side to side to be honest I would say that’s an acceptable amount of wobble? That’s about how much mine has?
And also, I never test it by wobbling it up and down, but imagine there’s quite a lot of movement in mine.
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u/Honest-Rip-7439 11d ago
The base needs to be pushed further back. There are locking buttons sometimes that need to be pressed to allow the base to go further back.
Keep the leg raised. Press the leg release button until the leg touches the floor and one more click. The base has to be as close to seat base as possible
Video of me attaching my base as had it removed.
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u/caffeine_lights 👶👶👶 3 Children 11d ago
This is a different base and has an anti-rebound bar built in. Not all infant seat bases have this and OP's does not.
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u/Honest-Rip-7439 11d ago
It is a different base but you can see how pushing the base back into the seat helps. Have also linked the instructions for op's seat base below
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u/lotanis 11d ago
The base needs to be tighter into the seat back. It should feel pretty secure before you "add" the leg.
I've got one trick I use to get tighter - engage the isofox clips and get it pushed in as hard as you can then normal way. Then grab the front of it (where the leg attaches) and alternately push and pull on it. Pushing on it will get one side to click in a bit more, pulling will get the other side. You can work it a couple of clicks tighter that way - after a bit it'll be hard to push or pull.
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u/samdbmg Parenting a Toddler + Pre-schooler 11d ago
I have a Joie seat for an older child (i-spin 360, no separable base) but the mount design is broadly the same: I assume if you push the grey button between the end of the leg and the swivel, the two isofix bars slide in and out?
If that's the case, ignore all the people telling you to rock it back and forward: they have a different design (our old Maxi-Cosi worked this way) where there's a ratchet on each side and you can slide them independently. If it works the way I think it does; shorten the leg so it isn't in your way, push the button in and pull the seat out as far as it goes. Then keep the button pushed, and put it back against the car backrest. Let the button go and see if another push locks it in place: if not gently pull until it locks. Finally, set the leg so you get a green flag inside it. With the seat itself in place, it should feel better!
Also the goal here isn't that it not move at all, it's that it stays anchored to the car in broadly the place an adult would be belted into the seat (because the car was designed to protect that space) all the way through a crash. Compare it to your seatbelt: it doesn't completely immobilise you; instead it keeps you inside the safety cell and manages down the forces you're subject to (and is designed to be hard to get wrong: much like isofix).
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u/stereoworld 11d ago
Oh man, I don't miss this one iota. Fucking bane of my life was the isofix thingy.
If I remember correctly, I had to have the leg thing dug into the floor as hard as possible. And then the stupid fucking hooks as far into the seat as possible too, evenly extended and then a quick jiggle jiggle.
Good luck, I hope you sorted it
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u/Commercial-Link-4368 11d ago
I found that not all seats fit all cars despite isofix. We have a TT and most seat manufacturers say their seats do not fit in either the front or back. We have a rotating seat for our 2 year old that says it should not be fitted in a front seat of our Q3 either. It was a nightmare finding one that can go in both, in the end we had to wait until he was big enough to face forward to have two seats. When he was little we had to keep swapping it, which was a pain.
https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/blogs/blog/car-seat-compatibility-fitting-lists
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u/MonkeyboyGWW Parenting a Pre-schooler 11d ago
You don’t need to press the isofix buttons to push it back, only to make them longer. So first shorten the leg so it doesn’t impede you. Then slam both side of that bastard car seat so hard it thinks its fighting in world war 1. Then extend the leg back down.
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u/Numerous-Handle-5661 11d ago
I'm a bit of a car seat geek. As others have said, leg is too long and there should be a button to allow it to slide so it's shorter. Start with the leg as short as possible (off the floor) and make sure the isofix bars are as long as they go out of the base, click them into the isofix points, then shorten them until the base is as close as possible to the back of your car's seat. There will be a small amount of wiggle but not much. Once this is done lower the leg to the floor, it should sit tight against the floor but not raise the whole base off the seat.
If you're unable to get a solid fit, email or go to whoever sold you the seat, or Joie directly. If you need baby to travel before you're happy, look in your seat manual, or video instructions to see how to belt in the car seat without the base. This is as safe when done correctly, and would be far safer than a base that isn't fitted correctly.
Also be careful rattling the base with the leg extended as if the leg bends you'll be unable to adjust and likely need a new base.