Are UK child seats any good in Oz

[pm79]

Hi, 

We have 4 child seats - some with isofix and some without. One has got strap at the back which goes behind the seat and clips onto the anchor. I have read somewhere that Overseas seats are illegal in Australia. Is that true? I am exporting my car so can take the car seats in them. Is there any point in taking them or will I have to buy new anyway?

[Guest]

Unless they are tested and passed to Aus standards then no, they are not legal. So UK car seats are not legal in Aus

You may have almost the exact same seat in paper but tested to EU standards does not matter a jot in Aus. It's Aus standards only. 

Isofix here is also to be used with a top tether iirc. AgIn, tested to Aus standards.

 

 

[Guest]

Useful website for car seat testing and ratings in Australia for the Aus market.

https://www.childcarseats.com.au/

[pm79]

Thanks Snifter. So basically you are saying that it's better to leave all the UK car seats here and buy the new ones there. I guess I can at least take the booster seats!

[Ken]

2 minutes ago, pm79 said:

Thanks Snifter. So basically you are saying that it's better to leave all the UK car seats here and buy the new ones there. I guess I can at least take the booster seats!

No. Even booster seats have to comply with Aus standards. There is an actual difference in that both seats and booster seats have to have a top tether in Australia (which no one else in the world uses) but even if there was no difference you'd still need the Australian piece of paper to comply with the law.

[pm79]

Thank you for your replies. I have gone through this website in detail and can see that overseas car seats would be illegal in Australia. So my next question is can you suggest some stores to buy car seats on the day of arrival as we would need it straight away. We are going to Melbourne. 

[starlight7]

Target?  KMart?

[FKS]

As others say, yes you do need Oz car seats. We brought our UK ones over in the hope we'd be able to use the UK ones for our two older children (who were 7 and 8 years at the time). We were told that, while legally they didn't have to be in a car seat at all, it would be illegal to put them in a UK car seat. The police told me that in reality they were unlikely to be a problem and acknowledged the ridiculousness of this (at least for my two older children). However, if something happened, I imagine you'd be in trouble unfortunately. Was incredibly annoyed especially as the supposedly safer ones we've bought since moving to Oz seem nowhere as good or secure feeling as our old UK ones! On a practical note Target and Big W sell a wide range of seats. 

 

[pm79]

3 minutes ago, FKS said:

As others say, yes you do need Oz car seats. We brought our UK ones over in the hope we'd be able to use the UK ones for our two older children (who were 7 and 8 years at the time). We were told that, while legally they didn't have to be in a car seat at all, it would be illegal to put them in a UK car seat. The police told me that in reality they were unlikely to be a problem and acknowledged the ridiculousness of this (at least for my two older children). However, if something happened, I imagine you'd be in trouble unfortunately. Was incredibly annoyed especially as the supposedly safer ones we've bought since moving to Oz seem nowhere as good or secure feeling as our old UK ones! On a practical note Target and Big W sell a wide range of seats. 

 

Thank you FKS. That's very helpful. My kids are 7 and 4. I agree with you about the ridiculousness as the car seats we have in UK are rated one of the safest from safety point of view. But I guess there's nothing much we can do about it. Don't want to take any risk in new country so better to just buy from there. 

[Peach]

Just to add, it is the same going back the other way: the UK doesn't accept Australian car seats either. 

[Guest]

IIRC Aus testing also includes side impact which iUK testing does not (or at least did not though it may be they do now,  no idea). 

There are plenty of options on the Aus market. The top tether aspect is a really good thing also. It does exactly what it's meant to do if it's used correctly. Isofix here is still used with a top truer iirc so extra safety feature if so.

Isofix is generally viewed as a good option in that it reduces the risk of installing incorrectly and therefore being at risk more in an accident. A good belt and tether car seat fitted properly will do the same. The top tether stops movement. 

In terms of safety, a sit on backless booster is far more dangerous to use even with a seatbelt as it slides around on the seat and moves easily. Also if a kid slips their arms out of the belt they are then only in place with a lap sash as it were. In event or emergency breaking or impact this has the potential to cut into the child and cause very serious injury. I'd never use one even if the child keeps their arms in the seatbelt. That they can slide side to side or forward on impact puts me off also.

Theu are being phased out here because of the safety risks. 

[FKS]

2 hours ago, snifter said:

IIRC Aus testing also includes side impact which iUK testing does not (or at least did not though it may be they do now,  no idea). 

There are plenty of options on the Aus market. The top tether aspect is a really good thing also. It does exactly what it's meant to do if it's used correctly. Isofix here is still used with a top truer iirc so extra safety feature if so.

Isofix is generally viewed as a good option in that it reduces the risk of installing incorrectly and therefore being at risk more in an accident. A good belt and tether car seat fitted properly will do the same. The top tether stops movement. 

In terms of safety, a sit on backless booster is far more dangerous to use even with a seatbelt as it slides around on the seat and moves easily. Also if a kid slips their arms out of the belt they are then only in place with a lap sash as it were. In event or emergency breaking or impact this has the potential to cut into the child and cause very serious injury. I'd never use one even if the child keeps their arms in the seatbelt. That they can slide side to side or forward on impact puts me off also.

Theu are being phased out here because of the safety risks. 

Completely agree about the backless boosters - looks as though they'll be gone in the UK too soon. Our UK seats were designed to protect from side impact and I'm just frustrated as no matter how we try to fix (our very expensive and highly regarded Oz seat) for our youngest it has way more movement than her UK seat ever did and, as a parent, if anything ever happened to her I'd feel guilty for not going with my gut instinct that the UK one was safer regardless of the official tests :-(

The older ones cheaper Oz high back boosters are more similar to our UK ones. Anyway it's just one of those things about moving countries, and clearly I'm not a car seat safey expert so have to try to trust the experts know! 

 

[FKS]

11 hours ago, pm79 said:

Thank you FKS. That's very helpful. My kids are 7 and 4. I agree with you about the ridiculousness as the car seats we have in UK are rated one of the safest from safety point of view. But I guess there's nothing much we can do about it. Don't want to take any risk in new country so better to just buy from there. 

Yes, all a bit frustrating! Good luck - especially with shipping the car. I really wanted to bring our's but for us it just wasn't financially viable in the end :-( 

[Ken]

23 hours ago, pm79 said:

Thank you for your replies. I have gone through this website in detail and can see that overseas car seats would be illegal in Australia. So my next question is can you suggest some stores to buy car seats on the day of arrival as we would need it straight away. We are going to Melbourne. 

Target, Kmart and BigW have already been mentioned - they're all good discount department stores and if they've got the seat you want will have it at a good price - but if you want a specialist store (equivalent to Mothercare in the UK) there's Baby Bunting and of course there's Babies R Us (at Toys R Us same as in the UK).

PS - Am I the only one who asks "since Toys R Us sells toys then shouldn't Babies R Us sell babies?"

[Parley]

How would anyone know ?

[Peach]

24 minutes ago, Parley said:

How would anyone know ?

The issue I believe is should you have a car accident and are found to have used an unapproved restraint you risk invalidating your insurance.  At best you would be unable to claim against insurance for any injuries to the child in the seat.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

On 12/09/2017 at 09:03, Peach said:

The issue I believe is should you have a car accident and are found to have used an unapproved restraint you risk invalidating your insurance.  At best you would be unable to claim against insurance for any injuries to the child in the seat.

And not forgetting if your child died you could be up on manslaughter charges. I wouldn't want to put my child at risk.

[Guest]

On 8/30/2017 at 11:15, FKS said:

Completely agree about the backless boosters - looks as though they'll be gone in the UK too soon. Our UK seats were designed to protect from side impact and I'm just frustrated as no matter how we try to fix (our very expensive and highly regarded Oz seat) for our youngest it has way more movement than her UK seat ever did and, as a parent, if anything ever happened to her I'd feel guilty for not going with my gut instinct that the UK one was safer regardless of the official tests :-(

The older ones cheaper Oz high back boosters are more similar to our UK ones. Anyway it's just one of those things about moving countries, and clearly I'm not a car seat safey expert so have to try to trust the experts know! 

 

Did you use Isofix in the UK? If so then any car seat using a seatbelt is going to be a big change in terms of some movement. There would be movement in car seats fitted with a seatbelt only. Also having the top tether here is an extra feature and helps in impact. Having a bit of movement when a car seat is fitted with a seatbelt isn't a bad thing, in fact its normal.
If the car seat doesn't fit the seat well (some seats are more bucket like or sloping or some such for a particular car seat for example) and there was a lot movement, then I'd be concerned. 

Isofix isn't automatically safer in terms of impact. What Isofix does is take away the error for installing incorrectly (and therefore unsafely), although even Isofix can be installted incorrectly it seems  Some Isofix car seats fair badly during testing, same as some installed with a seatbelt. Some seatbelt ones fair better than some Isofix. End of the day, a properly tested highly rated car seat is going to get my vote over something less well rated in testing. Isofix or seatbelt, whatever is the better option and fits the car well will get my $$ or ££. 

From Which UK 

Seatbelts vs Isofix in a crash

When a car crashes it stops suddenly, but the child car seat and its passenger carry on moving. A child car seat is designed to protect your child by holding him or her in place, absorbing some of the forces of the crash, and actively controlling how their body moves to reduce injury to their internal organs, and delicate areas such as the head, neck and abdomen. When a seat is installed using a seat belt, there is some give in the belt. This means the seat moves slightly more in a crash, but the forces transmitted to the seat (and hence the child) can be slightly  lower, because of the energy absorbed as the belt flexes.

With Isofix mounts the connection between the seat and the car is more rigid, and more of the crash force is transferred between them.  In a sideways impact the car seat is often held more firmly on the seat, so there can be less sideways movement, and more force is transferred to the seat. However, some Isofix car seats now have connectors which allow for a bit of sideways movement, to compensate for this.

Our testing shows that car seats with Isofix connectors can sometimes get a worse overall safety score than the same seat installed using the adult seat belt.  In a car crash the car rapidly decelerates, but the car seat and child in it carry on moving. Often the actual difference in safety of the seat will be negligible. Some Isofix versions of seats do better overall than their belted versions.

The key thing to remember is that Isofix was introduced to make fitting a child car seat much easier, and to lower the risk of getting it wrong. If a seat is installed incorrectly, it won’t give as much protection as it’s designed to, which could lead to a higher risk of serious injury.

Read more: http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/child-car-seats/article/isofix-child-car-seats/are-isofix-child-car-seats-safer - Which?

 

 

From the Britax website

Incorrectly Installing
With so many belts and straps, ensuring correct car seat installation can be confusing. You should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to fasten straps, making sure the car seat is secured tightly to your vehicle with no more than a couple of centimetres movement from back to front or side to side. If you do not feel confident installing the car seat yourself, you can consult a professional Child Safety Restraint fitting service.

[newjez]

On 07/09/2017 at 20:06, bristolman said:

Yes it's pretty crazy. We had a similar situation with motorcycle helmets, the UK helmet I had was tested to international race standard but didn't have the Australian Mark so was illegal. I was blissfully unaware for about 6 years ?

I think they have just acknowledged that the UK/EU standard for motorcycle helmets is actually better than the Australian one, and have allowed them. But this is the issue with standards and the difficulty in ratifying them. 

[FKS]

8 hours ago, snifter said:

Did you use Isofix in the UK? If so then any car seat using a seatbelt is going to be a big change in terms of some movement. There would be movement in car seats fitted with a seatbelt only. Also having the top tether here is an extra feature and helps in impact. Having a bit of movement when a car seat is fitted with a seatbelt isn't a bad thing, in fact its normal.
If the car seat doesn't fit the seat well (some seats are more bucket like or sloping or some such for a particular car seat for example) and there was a lot movement, then I'd be concerned. 

Isofix isn't automatically safer in terms of impact. What Isofix does is take away the error for installing incorrectly (and therefore unsafely), although even Isofix can be installted incorrectly it seems  Some Isofix car seats fair badly during testing, same as some installed with a seatbelt. Some seatbelt ones fair better than some Isofix. End of the day, a properly tested highly rated car seat is going to get my vote over something less well rated in testing. Isofix or seatbelt, whatever is the better option and fits the car well will get my $$ or ££. 

From Which UK 

Seatbelts vs Isofix in a crash

When a car crashes it stops suddenly, but the child car seat and its passenger carry on moving. A child car seat is designed to protect your child by holding him or her in place, absorbing some of the forces of the crash, and actively controlling how their body moves to reduce injury to their internal organs, and delicate areas such as the head, neck and abdomen. When a seat is installed using a seat belt, there is some give in the belt. This means the seat moves slightly more in a crash, but the forces transmitted to the seat (and hence the child) can be slightly  lower, because of the energy absorbed as the belt flexes.

With Isofix mounts the connection between the seat and the car is more rigid, and more of the crash force is transferred between them.  In a sideways impact the car seat is often held more firmly on the seat, so there can be less sideways movement, and more force is transferred to the seat. However, some Isofix car seats now have connectors which allow for a bit of sideways movement, to compensate for this.

Our testing shows that car seats with Isofix connectors can sometimes get a worse overall safety score than the same seat installed using the adult seat belt.  In a car crash the car rapidly decelerates, but the car seat and child in it carry on moving. Often the actual difference in safety of the seat will be negligible. Some Isofix versions of seats do better overall than their belted versions.

The key thing to remember is that Isofix was introduced to make fitting a child car seat much easier, and to lower the risk of getting it wrong. If a seat is installed incorrectly, it won’t give as much protection as it’s designed to, which could lead to a higher risk of serious injury.

Read more: http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/child-car-seats/article/isofix-child-car-seats/are-isofix-child-car-seats-safer - Which?

 

 

From the Britax website

Incorrectly Installing
With so many belts and straps, ensuring correct car seat installation can be confusing. You should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to fasten straps, making sure the car seat is secured tightly to your vehicle with no more than a couple of centimetres movement from back to front or side to side. If you do not feel confident installing the car seat yourself, you can consult a professional Child Safety Restraint fitting service.

Hi no we didn't have isofix in the UK. 

[DukeNinja]

K-Mart. We don`t have a car, however we still got a car seat, for time when we want to go further afield using a GoGet vehicle.

http://www.kmart.com.au/product/babylove-vantage-ii-convertible-car-seat/998801?intv_id=10151&cm_cr=No+Campaign-_-Web+Activity-_-Ft_rv_prod-_-Ft_rv_prod-_-BabyLove+Vantage+II+Convertible+Car+Seat&catalogId=10102&mpe_id=36942&langId=-1&evtype=CpgnClick&storeId=10701&ddkey=http%3AClickInfo

[can1983]

I really had no idea about this, using uk car seat in oz at the moment! got another one in a shipping container arriving next month. oh dear .....

guess this also applies to all electrical, soft furnishing, furniture everything hasn't been testing to Australian standards.

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, can1983 said:

I really had no idea about this, using uk car seat in oz at the moment! got another one in a shipping container arriving next month. oh dear .....

guess this also applies to all electrical, soft furnishing, furniture everything hasn't been testing to Australian standards.

I’d not sweat the household items and stuff. 

Car seats are a different beast altogether it seems though. If you are found to be using one you can get a fine and possibly points. Police can and do stop cars for random checks here. I’ve been stopped myself so know all too well. One faulty rear light and they have my car the once over. Thankfully it was one bulb was all. Car seat tether was clearly on view when they looked in the car. If it had not been I could well have been fined or had points or both. 

 All Aus car seats are meant to be used with the top tether and tested to Aus standards. So infant carrier, high back booster and car seat. All should have a top tether and anchored into the car via a thick strap. 

Also it could in event of accident and/or injury invalidate a claim. I cannot comment on this aspect as having read a case where this has happened yet but then in all honesty that sort of thing wouldn’t make the news even on a slow day. 

 

[can1983]

33 minutes ago, snifter said:

I’d not sweat the household items and stuff. 

Car seats are a different beast altogether it seems though. If you are found to be using one you can get a fine and possibly points. Police can and do stop cars for random checks here. I’ve been stopped myself so know all too well. One faulty rear light and they have my car the once over. Thankfully it was one bulb was all. Car seat tether was clearly on view when they looked in the car. If it had not been I could well have been fined or had points or both. 

 All Aus car seats are meant to be used with the top tether and tested to Aus standards. So infant carrier, high back booster and car seat. All should have a top tether and anchored into the car via a thick strap. 

Also it could in event of accident and/or injury invalidate a claim. I cannot comment on this aspect as having read a case where this has happened yet but then in all honesty that sort of thing wouldn’t make the news even on a slow day. 

 

Yeah I wasn't going to on furniture but strictly speaking a uk fire retardant label on you sofa isn't legal is it? so a house fire where your uk sofa fuelled the fire etc etc

gonna get new car seats, stupid law which makes no sense but the law is the law..

[Quoll]

4 hours ago, can1983 said:

I really had no idea about this, using uk car seat in oz at the moment! got another one in a shipping container arriving next month. oh dear .....

guess this also applies to all electrical, soft furnishing, furniture everything hasn't been testing to Australian standards.

Telephones are the other usual culprit - land line cordless ones so if you’ve got your U.K. phone system in your container you should bin that as well.