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Car Seats & Travel - Help and Advice
Baby and Child Car Seats
A car seat is one of the most important items you will buy for your child. Our expert car seat and travel advice will ensure you choose the right seat, suited to your child's weight, that fits your particular car, giving the highest priority to your infant's safety.
Julie Baughan - Partner
When you start looking at baby car seats and older child car seats it is easy to look at test reports and make instant decisions about particular brands or seats. However, it is also vital that the seat you choose is compatible with your car.
Safety Standards
All baby car seats and child car seats available for sale in the UK have passed stringent tests for safety. They all meet or exceed the European standards, but also meet the fire retardant standards required by the British Standard for sale in the UK.
The standards do not allow companies to make 'substandard' child car seats - many of the differences between cheaper seats and the more expensive models are the ease in which they can be fitted, comfort for the child, and the range of cars that they will fit.
Car Compatibility
So now we know child car seats meet a set standard, here comes the more tricky part - not all baby car seat or child car seats are compatible with all cars so it is very important to check which seat fits in your car. The highest rated baby car seat or child car seat in a magazine test report could be the worst fitting seat in your vehicle, putting your baby or child at high risk from injury.
Stage 0+ Infant Carriers – Baby Car Seats
These baby car seats take your baby from newborn to around 1 year - it is the weight of your baby that determines which baby car seat must be used, nothing to do with baby’s age or the length of their legs. The 0+ plus seat will take your child to 13 kgs or 28 lbs. Some fine boned little girls could reach 18 months or 2 years before meeting this weight.
Baby Car Seats are ALWAYS fitted Rear Facing
While using the baby stage car seat your baby will always face the rear of the car - this ensures that during an impact baby will be forced into the seat, then on the recoil the baby and the seat will remain together - the seat shell will support and protect baby.Â
After An Accident Of Any Kind
If the car seat has been involved in an accident it must be replaced as it may have sustained damage not visible to the naked eye. The harness is designed to stretch preventing it from damaging internal organs. This can only happen once so any subsequent impact would leave the harness without the ability to stretch and could harm baby. It is for these reasons that you should never be tempted to purchase or borrow a second hand baby car seat or child car seat.
Stage 0+ and 1 Car Seats – Baby Car Seat & Child Car Seat
These baby & child car seats are much larger seats, designed to protect your baby from newborn to around 4 years. When used for a baby up to 9 kgs, the seat is used rearward facing. Once baby has reached that 9 kg weight the car seat can be turned round and is used forward facing – please note, baby does not have to be forward facing until he/she is 13 kgs. When purchasing this style of child car seat you must check that it is compatible with your vehicle when fitted forward and rearward facing.Â
This style child car seat will remain in the car even when being used with a tiny baby because they are too heavy to move easily. This may result in you constantly waking your sleeping baby, hopefully baby fall asleep again quite quickly -Â you must never be tempted to leave baby asleep unattended in the car.
Stage 1 Child Car Seat
The Stage One child car seat will take baby from 9 kgs to 18 kgs, this is from around 1 year (this age is only as a guide, baby must weigh 9 kgs and be sitting unaided) to around 4 years in a forward facing position. These child car seats will generally need to remain in the car as they are heavy to move around, and need to be fitted taking great care to follow the seat belt routings with attention every time to tightening down. The stage 1 child car seats are also more car specific for correct fitting, not every seat fits every car. If you have two cars it might be better to purchase two seats, each one fitting the car perfectly rather than buying one seat that only fits each car satisfactorily.
Recent research has shown that travel is much safer in rear facing car seats.Â
With this in mind, seats are now being produced in the Group 1 category that will allow the child to travel facing the rear of the car until 18 kg or around 4 years. It is important to check the compatibility of these seats with your car as they are far more bulky. This may mean the front passenger seat has to be drawn forward placing the occupant in danger from the air bag or dash board.
Stage 1 & 2 Child Car Seat
A number of child car seats are now available to cover from 9 kgs to 36 kgs. This will take a child from around 1 year to 12 years. The child car seat is supplied with a removable harness. The harness is to be used for the child from 9kg until between 15 kgs and 18 kgs. The child car seat is used with the adult seat belt 'free running' as used by you, using a guide on the headrest to keep it in the optimum position. The back of the seat will continue to adjust in height, and in some cases width, accommodating the child in the car seat until around 12 years of age.
These child car seats are generally designed to be used until the child is 135 cms in height or 12 years.
Stage 2 & 3 Child Car Seat
These child car seats take your child from 15 kgs (33 lbs) to 36 kgs (79 lbs), from around 4 to around 12 years depending on the child’s height and build. If your child is over the 36 kgs weight but is below 135 cm in height it is recommended that the child remain in the seat.
The majority of Stage 2/3 child car seats have a height adjustable back to allow you to gradually change the height of the backrest as your child grows. This also changes the height and angle of the seat belt guide, keeping it constantly in the optimum safest position. These seats do not have to be fitted to each car and will generally fit all vehicles without too many problems - sports car owners with bucket seats will need to choose a seat with a small base.
Stage 3 Child Car Seats – Booster Seat
This stage car seat is not recommended until 22 kg or 6 years. It has no backrest or side protection and just raises the child to a height that will allow the adult seat belt to sit in the correct position. Some do have a clip to help with this problem.
ISOFIX Fitting Car Seats
Many cars, but not all, are now being produced with Isofix fittings (these are not fitted as standard with many makes of cars and even though the salesman and hand book may refer to them they may not be fitted, so always do a manual check). These fittings are a pair of bars/hooks attached to the chassis of the car at the time of manufacture and cannot usually be retro fitted. This system will give you the opportunity to simply click the child car seat into the fittings without worrying about whether you have the seat belt routings correct or the belts tightened enough.Â
The Isofix child seats are categorized in three groups - it is important to check the compatibility with the child car seat manufacturer as to which seat you can use in your vehicle before making any buying decisions.Â
Vehicle Specific Child Isofix Car Seats
The manufacturer will supply a list of cars that have been approved for the use of each seat within their range.
Semi Universal Child Isofix Car Seats
These are able to be fitted to ranges of cars. The majority of the seats will have 2 anchorage points - the Isofix clips and a drop-down foot to the floor these cannot be used if the floor of the car is not solid  (a storage box is fitted in some vehicles).
Universal Child Car Isofix Seats
These seats use a top tether as the second anchorage point. The tether is attached either to the back of the seat or into the boot of the car. We would recommend that you check where this second point is in your car, some do restrict the boot space or if a dog travels in the boot the webbing straps of the car seat could become damaged.
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