See all Motoring NewsEvery parent knows the daily stress of protecting their children, and car seats are a crucial part of the safety puzzle. With numerous car seat options and guidelines, it can be overwhelming to ensure everything is done correctly.
Fortunately, Carzone has compiled the best advice for parents in one place as its new Car Seat Safety hub goes live.
Sinead McCann of Carzone says, “We want to use our experience and knowledge to help our customers and their families with all their safety questions.”
The advice hub features a car seat tips video in collaboration with car seat safety specialist Lucy Murphy, ensuring that every child in the car is well-protected.
A primary consideration for parents should be the importance of rear-facing car seats, which are up to five times safer than forward-facing ones. In the event of a crash, the risk of serious injury or fatality reduces from 40% with a forward-facing seat, to 8% with a rear-facing one.
While new regulations recommend rear-facing until at least 15 months, it’s ultimately safer to keep children in this position for as long as possible.
Children are particularly vulnerable in car crashes due to their disproportionately heavy heads and underdeveloped neck muscles. Frontal impact tests reveal that the strain on a child's neck is much greater when seated forward-facing compared to rear-facing. In a rear-facing car seat, the seat shell acts as a protective shield, absorbing the impact energy and distributing the forces across the child's back, neck, and head, significantly reducing the strain on their neck.
“Alongside the immense safety benefits, rear-facing seats are in many cases, more convenient and flexible than forward-facing ones,” says McCann. “The low sides on these seats can make it easier to transport kids in and out of the vehicle, especially for parents or guardians with disabilities or grandparents. They also tend to be much narrower than forward-facing ones and are usually secured using seatbelts rather than with Isofix, making them much more likely to fit in a three-in-a-row set-up. Lots of parents are doing their research and making the switch, following the lead of Sweden, where rear-facing until 6 or 7 is not uncommon, with plenty of models available on the market here now that facilitate this too.’’
When choosing the right car seat for your child, it’s important to consider their height and weight, as well as how long the seat will last. Carzone recommends keeping their percentiles and projected growth in mind. Continuously monitoring this information will help save money and time over the years when your child is in a car seat.
In addition to tracking your child’s growth, there are other ways to plan ahead and keep costs low. For example, not all car roof lines and car seats are compatible, and not all seats within a vehicle are suitable for car seats. This should be checked against both the vehicle and the car seat manual beforehand. If you are shopping for a new car and plan to expand your family, it’s wise to ensure that your car seats fit before making any purchases.
For more car seat tips and advice, visit our new car seat safety hub or join the ‘Ireland – Rear Facing Car Seats for Toddlers and Children’ group on Facebook.