Cambridgeshire County Council and Good Egg Safety this week reported interim results from a series of child car seat checking events across Cambridgeshire. The first six checks have seen only 47% of seats correctly fitted. Of the remainder, 34% had minor faults, 12% had major faults and 7% were incompatible to the child or car. Shockingly, these results are above average for the UK, where only 45% of seats checked have been found to be fitted correctly!
In the UK only 45% of 2,361 seats checked have been found to be fitted correctly
Having been to some of the events myself, it is evident that a lack of awareness is a big problem, with many parents not realising that car seats do not necessarily fit all cars, or not understanding how tightly the seat or harness should be fitted.
It is a sad fact that advice from many retailers can be inconsistent and very much dependent on the expertise of the individual member of staff at the time. Therefore, I would urge all parents to do their homework before buying any car seat, and also to check their seats are still compatible if they get a new car!
There are plenty of sources of advice for parents now in addition to the manufacturer's own websites, it is just a case of knowing where to look. I've mentioned some before in previous blog posts, but here you go:
If you take one thing away from reading this, however good you think your seat(s) might be fitted, please find out where your nearest seat checking event is (you will find lots on the Good Egg Safety website) and get it checked: better to be safe than sorry!
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