Around World Stuff: Car seat safety

Around 70% of car seats are being used incorrectly, this guide can help you selecting and fitting car seats.
Choose a seat that is suitable for your child's weight and height. Babies should be in rearward-facing baby seats. Do not move your child to a forward-facing seat until they weigh at least 9kgs and can sit up unaided, but keep them in a rearward-facing seat for as long as possible.
Once your child is above the maximum weight for a rearward-facing seat or the top of their head is above the top of the seat, they should be moved into a forward-facing seat.

Group 0 for babies up to 10kgs (22lbs)
From birth to 6-9 months, they can be used in the front or rear of the car. It is safer to put them in the rear. Do not put them in the front passenger seat if there is a passenger airbag. Rearward-facing seats provide greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forward-facing seats.

Group 1 for children weighing 9-18kgs (20-40lbs)
From 9 months - 4 years, they can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front. Only move your child to a booster seat once they have exceeded the maximum weight for the child seat, or the top of their head is higher than the top of the seat. Group 2 for children weighing 15-25kgs (33-55lbs)
From 4 to 6 years they can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front. Some Booster seats are designed to be converted into a booster cushion by detaching the back rest.
Group 3: for children weighing 22-36kgs (48-79lbs)
From 6-11 years, they can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front. Booster seats and booster cushions do not have an integral harness to hold the child in place. The adult seat belt goes around the child and the seat.

Make sure the seatbelt passes through all the correct guides on the child seat. Push your weight into the child seat as you tighten the seatbelt to make sure the child seat is securely held. There should be no slack in the seatbelt. The child seat should rest firmly on the car seat, with hardly any forwards or sideways movement. Check that the seatbelt buckle is not resting on the child seat frame (this is known as 'buckle crunch).

Make sure the seat's harness (if it has one) is correctly adjusted for your child. It should be quite tight, so that only one or two fingers can fit between the child's chest and harness. Clothing can affect how snugly the harness fits, so check it every journey. The harness buckle should not rest over the child's tummy.

Every year, around 40 children between the ages of 0 and 11 years are killed while travelling in cars, about 500 are seriously injured and up to 9,000 slightly injured. The proper use of child car restraints would prevent many of these deaths and injuries.