Safety of Child Seats

Research shows some child seats we could easily buy online or in high street stores are not anywhere near as safe as we would all think. I for one thought child seats and booster seats were subject to rigorous testing, but it seems this couldn’t be further from the mark.

I can’t remember when exactly, but years ago I remember child seats being in the news for the new testing standards they would now be subject too. These either aren’t as strict as I thought or standards are slipping along with the prices. Five child seats currently being sold in the United Kingdom have been found to be ‘less than satisfactory’ by Europe’s largest motoring association.

Luckily there is soon to be an overhaul of the child seat test score ratings which is being taken over by the ADAC who found those 5 seats to be so poor. This is due to happen early next year, and it really cannot come soon enough. Obviously there are probably hundreds of car seats for sale at this time and we are talking about just 5, but these seats may still be being snapped up by parents in good faith not realising the problems with them. They may never find out, but if they do it’ll be for one reason only, they would have been involved in an accident. I don’t understand the delay with things like this, shouldn’t they be pulled off the shelves immediately?

When the scoring system is changed and passed to the new association, scores will be published so parents know the quality they are purchasing. But currently of course there is absolutely no guidance for them on which seats are deemed safe, and which are not. Four of the five seats in question got the lowest rank available of ‘deficient’, which is the equivalent of 1 star. And the remaining 1 seat received the mark ‘sufficient’, which is still below satisfactory.

Safety has been improving rapidly for years in the car industry. Getting a car with a 5 star safety recommendation used to be a luxury, however these days most new cars are rated at 5 stars.

34 seats in all were tested in this survey, and none, not even one, got the highest mark for safety. Each and every one was found to be wanting in a certain area. This should be seen as absolutely shocking and it’s great news something is finally to be done.

The problem with boosting safety standards of course could be to the detriment of affordability. Manufacturers need to find a way to make the safest seats possible without ripping off their customers with hugely inflated prices.