Can car seats really protect the safety of your child? Ways to choose the most suitable car seat!

29/04/2022

On a normal Sunday, you are driving around with your family. You carefully buckle your baby into the car seat before driving, and slowing down the car in order to do everything you can to protect your baby. But accident is always "unexpected". In the last remaining 400 meters from the destination, suddenly a car from the side of the rapidly cut the line, a car accident happened.

After the accident, you immediately check whether the baby is injured. Fortunately, the car seat was firmly installed, and the use of rear-facing installation has kept your baby safe. You realized that even if you're a good driver, you can't predict what you'll encounter on the road - anything can happen. The car seat is especially important for the baby. Even if it is only a short drive in slow speed, you should never take it carelessly as the accident often happens in a careless moment!

You will never know when the car seat is going to save your child's life. (Image source: Pinterest - The Hoffmann Law Firm, L.L.C.)

Some people think that as long as an adult holds a baby for the entire car ride, it will all be safe. Studies have found that the death rate in a traffic accident without the use of a car seat is eight times higher than with the use of a car seat; and during an emergency brake, the force generated reaches 300 kg. Even if you can still hold your baby tight under this condition, the worst case scenario is a life-threatening cervical rupture.

Even if a parent is watching, a car seat is still necessary to ensure safety.

After understanding the need for a car seat, you may want to know how to choose the right safety seat! The Consumer Council published the latest car seat test report in the monthly magazine "Choice", which includes a total of 25 models of 9 brands, suitable for newborn to 12-year-old infants and children. Let's find out what we need to pay attention to when choosing the right car seat for our babies!

In fact, there are different styles of car seat that are suitable for different growth stages of infants and toddlers. The Consumer Council pointed out that the suitable ages of the car seat listed are for reference purposes only. Each child's growth rate is different, it is best to choose the car seat base on the child's height or weight.

>Newborn to one year old infants  (weighing less than 10kg):

Due to the immature development of the baby's neck and spine, you need to use a basket-type car seat, and must use the rearward installation design, so that the baby can lie flat. The side protection design of the car seat is very important. When there is an accident, it helps to move forces away from your child in case of a side collision. The head cushion and back cushion can also make the car seat more closely fit the child's body shape, reducing the forces by the collision inside the seat.

According to the Consumer Council's evaluation report, there were simulations of a traffic accident in order to test the degree of impact on the dummy in each car seat, to test the protection level of the car seat. The results showed that the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Lounge, which is suitable from birth to one and a half years old, scored 5 points in the frontal and side impact tests. In the overall rating of the evaluation, it also received 4.5 points.

※ Note that if a car seat can be installed in the passenger seat, the airbag in the front seat must be turned off.

>For children aged one to four years old (weighing about 10-18kg):

For children between the ages of one and four, it is best to choose a rotatable car seat that can be both rear-facing and forward-facing. Not only allows the child to slowly change from rear-facing to forward-facing after reaching 15 months (about 76cm high), but also makes it easier to get into and out of the car with a rotatable car seat, making the process of fastening or unfastening the seat belt easier!

Peg Perego Viaggio 360 car seat comes with rotatable base, and also provides a variety of headrest height and seat back recline adjustment, which can easily meet the growth of children. It received 3 points of the overall rating in the evaluation report.

>For children between the ages of 4 and 12 (weight 18-36kg):

Some parents think that for the ages between 4 to 12, car seat is no longer necessary as the child could sit properly on their own. Does that mean the child could take the ride without car seat and directly use the adult seat belt?

Although most of the regulations regarding to the use of car seat are only for the stage between the newborn and four years old, and there are fewer restrictions on the car ride for children after the age of four, but before the child reaches 12 years old, the height is not high enough to fit the seat belt. Adult seat belts will be too loose for a child. In addition, their body is not fully developed. The adult seat belts may cause abdominal injuries to children, so it is best to use booster seat or car seats to ensure safety.

Car seats that can be flexibly adjusted is a very important feature. Whether the seat can be flexibly adjusted and the adjustable head pad design can easily fit the growth of the child. Also, if the car seat could fits most of the car model and can be easily installed, you will have less trouble when you need to buy a new car, which also makes it an important selection principle. The Cybex Solution Z i-Fix car seat for children aged 4 to 12 years old performed best in this area, scoring 4.5 points in the evaluation.

For more details on the test results, please refer to pages 14 to 20 of the Consumer Council's monthly magazine "Choice" (No. 544) for more information and test results of other brands. Finally, the Consumer Council also recommends that when choosing a car seat, in addition to paying attention to the appropriate height and weight of the car seat, you can also pay attention to which models of baby carriages can be used with the car seat to make it more convenient. You may ask the retailer for a list of applicable car models for future reference.