Child seats putting lives at risk
Many UK parents are relying on car seats that haven’t been properly tested to keep their children safe.
At the moment child car seats don’t need to be tested on side impact, meaning many seats on our roads today would fail in the event of a side-on collision.
The government and car seat manufacturers are aware of this failing and are changing the law, but until then parents are running a risk every time they get in their cars with their children; side impact crashes account for the 40% of fatalities and in 70% of these crashes, a child was seated on the struck side. However, most parents don’t even realise there is a risk and presume that all car seats on sale in the UK are fit-for-purpose.
In fact, there is a huge difference, and Kevin Macliver, founder of the Multimac car seat, is campaigning for all UK car seats to come with a five-star safety rating for parents. He has been crash testing car seats for over 13 years.
He said, ‘I know of some incredibly expensive top brand seats that only just make it through testing. I certainly wouldn’t have put my children in those seats armed with the knowledge I have. I believe that all parents should be given the right information to make an informed decision, especially when it comes to safety products for their children. In the car seat industry this simply isn’t happening.’
