Up to one third of child car seats studied by Consumer Choice were found to have problems, according to a survey carried out by the magazine in conjunction with other consumer organisations throughout Europe. The seats were tested for a range of traits, including the difficulty of following the fitting instructions; the ease of actually fitting the seats (having followed the instructions) and their comfort for children. Crash tests also assessed the protection offered in front-on collisions and rear-impact accidents for seats fitted in a rear-facing position.
Of the seats available in Ireland, the Jeenay Nest Egg was deemed to be one of the best tested for the aged group up to nine months (up to 10kg), while the Britax Rock-a-Tot is recommended in the birth-to-15 months age group (up to 13kg). Consumer Choice magazine's "choice buys" recommend the Britax Super Cruiser (up to 25kg or about six years) for older babies and toddlers.
However, buying the best child car seat is only the first step to safe car travel for small children. Earlier surveys have found that even those seats with clear fitting instructions can be incorrectly fitted to cars, thus leaving the child at a much greater risk of injury should the car be involved in an accident.
Hurried parents or guardians (and let's face it, who isn't putting a child into a car seat in an absolute rush sometimes?) dealing with a disgruntled child can quickly fasten twisted seat belts, resulting in the child being uncomfortably - and sometimes dangerously - belted up.
Two years ago, the regulations governing the design of child safety restraints were updated to incorporate improvements campaigned for by consumer groups. Among the changes are requirements for the seats to be tested using inertia-reel seat belts (instead of static seat belts) as found in all recently manufactured cars. Child seats must now also have much clearer labels explaining how to fit and use them. All child car seats which comply with these updated tests will have an ECE R44/03 label.
"It's best to try the seat in your car before you buy. If you cannot do this, buy from a store that allows you to exchange the seat if it doesn't fit your car correctly," says Jean Cahill of Consumer Choice. You should never buy second-hand car seats and always replace the seat if the car is in a crash, even if it doesn't appear to be damaged, she cautions. Front passenger-seat airbags are a relatively new feature in many cars which can have fatal consequences for child passengers.
In a crash, a passenger-seat airbag may inflate so violently that it can kill a very young child in a rear-facing seat. Speaking at the annual Congress of the International Academy of Legal Medicine in Dublin earlier this year, William Smock, a professor of emergency medicine from the US, said 79 people (44 of them children) in the US had been killed by airbags in collisions at speeds of 15 miles per hour and less.
Last April, another article in Consumer Choice concluded that most people don't understand the label that the car industry has begun to fix in cars illustrating the inherent dangers of airbags to drivers and parents. Consumer groups are continuing to campaign for more effective labelling in relation to airbags.
In the long term, they want to see an automatic cut-off switch which could disable the airbag if a child seat was in use. Mercedes-Benz is the first company to incorporate such a device into its cars. Another preventative measure suggested is to increase the speed at which the bags are deployed to 20 miles per hour or more, and have a manual cut-off switch.
In spite OF these concerns, the general message is clear: it is essential that specific equipment - either child seats or booster seats - are used for the restraint of children up to 10 years of age. In an accident, the effective weight of a child can be 20 times its normal weight, so it is never, ever safe to hold a child in your arms while travelling by car.
The Rules of the Road booklet states the following: "The driver of the vehicle is legally responsible for ensuring that any child under 17 years complies with the requirement to wear a safety belt or appropriate child restraint." Following the recent coach accident on the Chapelizod bypass in Dublin, it is interesting to note that the road-traffic transport regulations do not require the wearing of safety belts on coaches, though they do recommend their use where available.
An EU directive recommends that member states introduce seat belts in all mini-buses and coaches. As yet, there are no plans to implement this directive in Ireland. The National Parent's Council has highlighted the problem of overcrowding on school buses. "We don't want to wait for a serious accident to happen before the Government acts," Rose Tully, secretary of the post-primary branch of the council, told The Irish Times after that coach accident early this month.
