Guest Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 A handy video for anyone interested about ERF. http://youtube/nZnFL1EYUCY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigella Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 I was encouraged to see that Australia is finally accepting Isofix. I hoped it might pave the way for manufacturers to introduce their international seats just by submitting them to Australian testing. However it looks like they're going to continue to insist on the top tether rather than accepting other mechanisms that perform the same function. So while it's definitely a step in the right direction, it is only a step. I doubt manufacturers will want to make costly modifications to their seats for a share of the tiny market Australia offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I think Safe n Sound (Britax Aus) will have an ERF car seat in the not too distant future. They have said they are working on one and with Isofix finally being approved it might help things along. In other ERF news, our son is almost at the limit of his ERF seat. Not weight wise, he still has 4 kilos there, but the harness height. The head rest is as high as it can go ERF and the harness at its highest point and his shoulders are creeping ever closer to level with that. Once he reaches the point where the straps don't sit right we have to turn him. He'll make it to 4 at least (next month) but I am expecting to have to turn him soon after as he is growing so fast. We'll maybe use our ERF seat forward facing as a highback booster for a bit while we shop for a longer term highback booster. I have my eye on a Britax seat to age 12 that can be Isofix or seatbelt installed and uses a top tether Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigella Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Congrats on rear facing your son this long! Well done! It'll be interesting to see what Britax come up with. We use a Britax ERF seat but it's a 25kg, long seat shell so I expect it to last the little man until around 6 so I think we'll be sticking with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 (edited) Congrats on rear facing your son this long! Well done! It'll be interesting to see what Britax come up with. We use a Britax ERF seat but it's a 25kg, long seat shell so I expect it to last the little man until around 6 so I think we'll be sticking with it. Thank you Its been great and I am relishing turning him forward but will have to soon. I thought ours would last but alas our little guy being taller he's nearly reaching the harness limits. His legs fit fine and he loves facing backwards. I also love its much easier to get him in his car seat and done up with the door angle and seat facing backwards. We can use it as a FF highback booster to 25kg with the seatbelt and that should last till 5 or 6 but am wanting the next stage highback booster from Britax with a view to taking it with us. Technology has moved on and the new Britax seats to age 12 are the most up to date atm and as good as the Multi tech is, its now an 'old' seat for us and I'd like something new and to last the course in FF. I doubt used as a highback booster it rates anywhere near as highly in safety tests as the Britax KidFix Sict ones. Edited April 15, 2012 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycat Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 Hi all, know own this is an old thread but I'm wondering if any of the laws have changed about bring ERF car seats into Australia? We want to bring our Swedish car seats to Oz with us but can't seem to find any up to date info about this. Hope anyone can help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArrowsEng Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi Alycat, the rules have not changed. Unless your car seat has a "Top tether" strap that goes over the top of the seat and anchors it somewhere behind the seat and an Australian standards mark on it, it will not be legal for Australia and so you would have all the same issues as raised at the start of this article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi all, know own this is an old thread but I'm wondering if any of the laws have changed about bring ERF car seats into Australia? We want to bring our Swedish car seats to Oz with us but can't seem to find any up to date info about this. Hope anyone can help! As has been said, nothing has changed re car seats supposed to have the Aus standards approval and sticker and all that. What you choose to do re bringing car seats is your decision. There are of course aspects that people have pointed out such as insurance being valid (or invalidated) if needing to make a claim on your own policy or someone else's. I know some choose to bring and use regardless of negatives/legal aspects, others who have left their ERF car seats behind. We did ERF till our son was almost 5 (in the UK) and I can totally appreciate your concerns at FF from a younger age. Feel free to drop me a PM if you want to chat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycat Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Thanks for the update. Are there now ERF options in Oz now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 If your going to hire a car when you do your oz trip up to date Aussie cars have good safety features I think the RAA also hire out car seats which they also fit My granddaughter was hit full on on her passenger doors ( not her fault by the way ) with a 2 year old and a 6month old in the back They were all fine just shaken , the car was badly damaged but the car seats belts and air bags did a very good job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigella Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 While technically true that you can't legally use your Swedish ERF seats, Australia is not as far behind as it once was. Look for one of the new Type A4 seats. These are height based and our son was RF to age 5y3m and our daughter still RF in the same seat at 4y7m and will hopefully get similar usage from it. If you want Isofix, look at the Safe n Sound (Britax) Platinum SICT Isofix, or if you want to get the longest use get the Infa Secure Grandeur which is a TypeA4/G combination. The type G seats are FF 5 point harnessed boosters with a top tether and far safer than any European FF seat. They will easily fit the average 7yo and there are quite a few 10yos still in them. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycat Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 While technically true that you can't legally use your Swedish ERF seats, Australia is not as far behind as it once was. Look for one of the new Type A4 seats. These are height based and our son was RF to age 5y3m and our daughter still RF in the same seat at 4y7m and will hopefully get similar usage from it. If you want Isofix, look at the Safe n Sound (Britax) Platinum SICT Isofix, or if you want to get the longest use get the Infa Secure Grandeur which is a TypeA4/G combination. The type G seats are FF 5 point harnessed boosters with a top tether and far safer than any European FF seat. They will easily fit the average 7yo and there are quite a few 10yos still in them. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Thanks for the info! If you don't mind me asking, which seat did you use for your kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigella Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 I have the SnS Platinum SICT Isofix (which can also be belt mounted). But if my kids were younger I would buy the Grandeur, I think, as it will save buying a type G when the A4 is outgrown. Son is now in a SnS MaxiGuard type G. If you're able to, it's worth going into a few stores and trying the different seats with your child as sometimes a child sits lower in one seat or another. Australian retail employees are highly ignorant and uneducated so do not listen to them as they'll probably try to tell you to turn your child FF. There is a Facebook group called 'Child Restraints - is your child restrained correctly?' and they will give you solid info on type A4 seats (there are professional fitters there too). There are many people there who will understand your concerns coming from Swedish ERF seats. Good luck! While technically true that you can't legally use your Swedish ERF seats, Australia is not as far behind as it once was. Look for one of the new Type A4 seats. These are height based and our son was RF to age 5y3m and our daughter still RF in the same seat at 4y7m and will hopefully get similar usage from it. If you want Isofix, look at the Safe n Sound (Britax) Platinum SICT Isofix, or if you want to get the longest use get the Infa Secure Grandeur which is a TypeA4/G combination. The type G seats are FF 5 point harnessed boosters with a top tether and far safer than any European FF seat. They will easily fit the average 7yo and there are quite a few 10yos still in them. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycat Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Thanks, super helpful! You'ld find the mainstream car seat retailers here in the UK (mothercare, toys r us, JL) pretty ignorant too unless you go to a specialist rearfacing retailer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycat Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Oh and random question about the car seat tether the oz seats need to have, Do you put the child in and then put the tether on or do you put the child over/under the tether with it in place? When we visited oz the hire car carseat had one on our baby's rearfacing seat, never seen one before or knew what it was for... I had a really hard time trying to lift her in and out over it. I tried taking the tether off to put her in but it had a really tight (unergonomic) latch so figured you're supposed to keep it on and put them in?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Oh and random question about the car seat tether the oz seats need to have, Do you put the child in and then put the tether on or do you put the child over/under the tether with it in place? When we visited oz the hire car carseat had one on our baby's rearfacing seat, never seen one before or knew what it was for... I had a really hard time trying to lift her in and out over it. I tried taking the tether off to put her in but it had a really tight (unergonomic) latch so figured you're supposed to keep it on and put them in?! The tether normally remains in place until you need to remove the seat from the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Oh and random question about the car seat tether the oz seats need to have, Do you put the child in and then put the tether on or do you put the child over/under the tether with it in place? When we visited oz the hire car carseat had one on our baby's rearfacing seat, never seen one before or knew what it was for... I had a really hard time trying to lift her in and out over it. I tried taking the tether off to put her in but it had a really tight (unergonomic) latch so figured you're supposed to keep it on and put them in?!Sounds like you were in the baby stage infant carrier/capsule seat. Those can be awkward.Once in an upright car seat the tether is simply tethered into the back seat or the rear of the boot of the car. The tether latches into tether anchor point and simply remains in place unless you remove the seat for any reason. Ours takes a bit of effort to unlatch when we need to move the highback booster but this isn't a bad thing, shows its firmly attached. But its only a 10-20 second job to undo it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycat Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 I suppose if still in a rearfacing seat then the setup is still similar to the infant seat? Also, is there anywhere you can buy a tether for an erf seat? or are they just inbuilt into the seats available in oz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 I suppose if still in a rearfacing seat then the setup is still similar to the infant seat? Also, is there anywhere you can buy a tether for an erf seat? or are they just inbuilt into the seats available in oz? You can buy tethers in stores. They come in 2 lengths, a standard and a longer one. The car seats have the tether points built in and cars so also (if they don't you can easily get tether points put in to the boot of a car for a few $$). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 I suppose if still in a rearfacing seat then the setup is still similar to the infant seat? Also, is there anywhere you can buy a tether for an erf seat? or are they just inbuilt into the seats available in oz? Unless the seat was made for the Australian market it's highly unlikely to have a safe or secure means of attaching the tether to it. You certainly won't make a European seat legal by attaching a tether to it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Unless the seat was made for the Australian market it's highly unlikely to have a safe or secure means of attaching the tether to it. You certainly won't make a European seat legal by attaching a tether to it yourself. Yes sorry, I wasn't clear in my reply. The tethers are only any use if you are using an Aus car seat that has been designed to have one attached. Non Aus standards car seats will rarely have a tether point (though some makes/models do have them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.