With child car seat awareness at a high now thanks to unfortunate accidents which involve children being thrown out of cars in accidents, there needs to be further education on what kind of child seat should be used to ensure that children are safe and secure in cars.
We reported sometime last month that there was a certain “pocket” child car seat on sale on the market which is being claimed by sellers to be suitable for children up to 18 kg. A quick check on local classified sites show these seats being sold for as little as RM45.
As we’ve said before, these are not real child car seats and should not be relied on for safety. According to MIROS director-general Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon, tests have shown that the harness-styled or portable car seat disintegrated upon impact. Its material durability was dreadful as it did not withstand the crash.
We’ve written about this before but today we can show you what actually happens to a child being strapped in such a child seat in a crash. Please watch the video below which was produced by manufacturer Britax.
As you can see, the harnesses on the seat are pretty much useless. If you know of any parents who are using this type of child seat, please inform them that they should look for a proper child car seat instead.
These pocket-type child seats should be replaced with ECE R44 or ECE R129 child seats. Look for an orange label that says either R44 or in the case of the newer R129 standard it should say i-Size.
“We found that 80% of the child and toddler car seats sold in the market are already in compliance with UN ECE R44 specifications,” said MIROS PC3 lab crash specialist Yahaya Ahmad, adding that he observed that Malaysian retail prices of UN-compliant child seats have decreased significantly over the years.
The two child seats that we are offering as part of our Free Child Car Seat Rental for Raya program are priced at RM499 for the seatbelt installation version and RM999 for the Isofix installation version. These are retail prices and they can usually be obtained at a discount.
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thats very scary. what i disappointed most when some parents still holding their baby/child when they can afford a brand new C – and D segment car.
several months after i married, i’m looking for a good car with isofix. finally found the cheapest B segment car with 5 star euro ncap rating at that time, which is kia rio. to my surprise, all 3 seat belts at the back is 5-point belt system so i got 3 position to fix my isofix baby seat. be it on the right, left or centre. bought ferrari car seat at rm600 and i keep on forcing my wife to put our baby on that seat since he’s still a newborn. if my wife put my baby on her lap, i’ll stop my car on the road side & refuse to drive until my baby is secure. it’s been a couple months of hard times to educate my wife about the importance of child seat. thank god, all my effort didn’t go to waste. ever since my baby is 2 months old, my wife will always put him on the child seat. at first, my baby will only seat there if my wife is beside him (at the back). from 6 months old onwards, my baby begin to liking his seat and he’s ok if my wife and i seat in front leaving him alone at the back. from 9 months old, my baby keeps on crying, i figure he needs the view. so i change the position of his seat from right side to the middle (thank god kia rio comes with 3 isofix seat belts at the back, hehe). since then, every journey we took, i do feel safer. my point here is, it’s hard to educate our family about the importance of safety, but we must keep on forcing them. for both our sake and theirs too :)
Actually isofix has nothing to do with seat belt. It’s two metal anchors near your seat base
i think he meant three isofix compatible seat at the back. coz my kazen oso got rio n i did noticed got 3 isofix sticker in her car. left right middle.
You sir, are the change we want to have. Well done.
It’s really worth getting a proper car seat. It doesn’t matter if it is a Ferrari one or a Britax etc as long as it meets the requirements set by the safety agencies it’s good to go. Better safe than sorry.
I still have seen many letting the kids climb front and back and playing in the car while driving…
From VW CC, to MyVi…
dont forget to mandate car makers to have sufficiently long seat belts to allow belted child seats.
both my saga and savvy’s seat belt is too short to have proper installation!!
Wow…the boy can replace Farah Ann with that move.