Why Use Experts to Install Child Car Seats
When it comes to child car safety, there are great laws in place ensuring our children are protected appropriately with the best equipment available. With standards for car seats and specific guidelines for each stage of your child’s growth, it’s fairly easy to make sure your child is strapped in to their specific requirements.
However, despite legislation stating which car seats should be used for which age groups, and standards that safety equipment must meet, there’s still a risk that your child is not being protected to the best level possible. This is why it’s necessary to seek the help of safety experts to help install your car seat.
It can be difficult to get right
Laws exist to ensure protection to a minimum standard amongst safety equipment such as car seats and boosters. The equipment you buy could be the best and safest in the business, but it might be tricky to install correctly. Each seat and booster is different; even within brands car seats of different sizes can have completely different fitting instructions.
It could be that you are not correctly fitting the seat yourself. This is usually through no fault of your own, as an upgrade to your child’s seat could mean installing something in a completely different way than before. You are not alone in this instance, as 9 out of 10 parents this year have said they’ve experienced problems fitting a car seat, according to a survey conducted by Halfords and Britax in association with Mother & Baby magazine.
In addition, you need to be sure the seat is compatible with your car, or the equipment may not be installed to the best fitting position. Over half of parents are not sure that they have purchased the right car seat equipment for their car.
Older cars for example, may not have ISOFIX points, which is something many new car seats and boosters rely on to secure them in place. It’s worth checking the make and model of your car before upgrading your seat, and similarly if you’re upgrading your car, it’s worth noting the features and whether it would be compatible with your existing car seat or booster.
If installed incorrectly, your child could be in danger
As much as 70% of 3,000 seats checked by Good Egg Safety in 2015 had been installed incorrectly. This is worrying as it means that kids sitting in those seats could be put at serious risk in a crash situation. In short, the seat could fail and offer little to no protection for the child, should an accident occur.
Experts are everywhere
The good news is, experts are everywhere. Good Egg Safety are relentless in their child car safety campaigns and can be found checking seats and helping parents up and down the country throughout the year. Check here for events near you soon.
In addition, Good Egg Safety have worked with TRL to develop courses which car seat retailers, professionals and individuals can study in order to become child car safety experts. Anyone with their CPD certification will be able to help you check your car seat is fitted appropriately. Always ask the retailer about their safety qualifications and how to fit a car seat before you consider purchasing.