Perodua launched a five-year nationwide road safety campaign this morning. The initiative, simply called Perodua Road Safety Campaign, has the mission of improving the behaviour of Malaysian drivers.

It starts with encouraging drivers to follow basic traffic laws as well as practice good driving habits. The initial focus will be on four pillars of good driving habits, namely wearing seat belts, not using mobile devices while driving, the usage of turn signals and the use of child seats. Sounds incredibly basic doesn’t it? Yes, Malaysians are an ignorant and/or stubborn bunch.

Perodua president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said that the campaign, which will include putting up materials at all Perodua sales and service outlets nationwide, has the target of reaching one million customers within a year.

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“We believe that this one million target is achievable as a total of 1.2 million customers patronise our sales and service outlets every year, and we will take this opportunity to educate them on positive driving habits through these touch points,” he said.

“As part of this five-year programme, Perodua hopes to work with various government agencies such as JPJ, JKJR and Miros to make the roads safer. We are firm supporters of the government’s efforts in enhancing road safety and want to play our part,” Aminar added.

Along with the campaign’s launch, Perodua is also introducing its own child seats under the Gear Up accessories brand. Two types will be available – one for infants weighing up to 13 kg or up to 18 months old (red or grey colours) and another for toddlers weighing between nine and 36 kg (red or black colours). The latter is suitable for kids aged between nine months and 12 years old. The video below highlights the features of the seats.

These child seats, which can be affixed easily to Perodua models with ISOFIX mounts (from 2012), are priced at RM660 for the infant seat and RM780 for the toddler seat. These are introductory prices from now till Chinese New Year 2018, after which, prices will be pegged at RM790 and RM980 respectively. Still very much affordable, like the cars Perodua sells.

One of the often cited reasons why Malaysian parents neglect buying and using child seats, ignorance aside, is the high cost of the chairs. As part of Perodua’s Gear Up range of accessories, the price of the child seats can be included in the hire purchase loan, which means that no upfront lump sum payment is required.

Perodua Sales MD Datuk Dr Zahari Husin pointed out that doing so will add only RM11 to the monthly car loan payment, which surely removes all excuses to get one if you have children. Made in Malaysia, the child seats meet ECE R44 standards.

The government has plans to make child seats mandatory, but if there’s one thing more important than your pocket, surely it’s your child, so get those seats and secure the most precious cargo you have.