With child car seat awareness at a high now thanks to unfortunate accidents which involve children being thrown out of cars in accidents, there needs to be further education on what kind of child seat should be used to ensure that children are safe and secure in cars.
We reported sometime last month that there was a certain "pocket" child car seat on sale on the market which is being claimed by sellers to be suitable for children up to 18 kg. A quick check on local classified sites show these seats being sold for as little as RM45.
As we've said before, these are not real child car seats and should not be relied on for safety. According to MIROS director-general Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon, tests have shown that the harness-styled or portable car seat disintegrated upon impact. Its material durability was dreadful as it did not withstand the crash.
We've written about this before but today we can show you what actually happens to a child being strapped in such a child seat in a crash. Please watch the video below which was produced by manufacturer Britax.
As you can see, the harnesses on the seat are pretty much useless. If you know of any parents who are using this type of child seat, please inform them that they should look for a proper child car seat instead.
These pocket-type child seats should be replaced with ECE R44 or ECE R129 child seats. Look for an orange label that says either R44 or in the case of the newer R129 standard it should say i-Size.
"We found that 80% of the child and toddler car seats sold in the market are already in compliance with UN ECE R44 specifications," said MIROS PC3 lab crash specialist Yahaya Ahmad, adding that he observed that Malaysian retail prices of UN-compliant child seats have decreased significantly over the years.
The two child seats that we are offering as part of our Free Child Car Seat Rental for Raya program are priced at RM499 for the seatbelt installation version and RM999 for the Isofix installation version. These are retail prices and they can usually be obtained at a discount.
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