Good Egg Safety: New European safety regulation for child car seats comes into force
United Kingdom (PRWEB UK) 23 July 2013 -- “The current child car seat regulation has been in place since the early 80s,” said Hamish McPhillips, Child Safety Centre – Business Development Manager, TRL, “But since this time the cars we drive have changed radically. We also have a better understanding of what actually happens during an accident. The new regulation takes this into account and is designed to make child car seats safer, as well as easier to buy, fit and use.”
There are now some important additional things to consider when buying a new child car safety seat. Most importantly, all new child car seats with the regulation 129 will now feature a new sizing system. Called i-Size, it grades seats based on a child’s height and weight, and is much more accurate than the previous system. All new vehicles will have ‘i-Size-ready’ seating positions. This means that any i-Size child seat will fit into any i-Size position in a car, regardless of make or design. A vehicle fitting list (showing which vehicles a child seat will fit) will no longer be required. For seats being used in pre-July 2013 vehicles, a vehicle fitting list will still be required.
“Another significant change is that all new child car seats with regulation 129 must now be tested to ensure that a child remains secure in their seat in the event of a side impact,” said Hamish McPhillips. “Side impact collisions account for around 25% of road accidents in Europe. Despite this, the current regulation takes no account of side impact protection. All regulation 129 child car seats will also be limited to total combined weight of 33kg, to include the seat and occupant, and all regulation 129 child car seats designed for children younger than 15 months must now be rear facing.”
Known as Regulation 129 (Reg. 129), the new regulation will eventually replace the current regulation (Reg. 44), which is to be slowly phased out. The new regulation will initially only be applicable to ISOFIX child restraints with an internal harness. However, it will eventually apply to all child safety seats.
To check whether a car or child seat conforms to the new regulation, look out for the new i-Size label.
For more information on i-Size and to download your free Road Safety Professional Briefing Card and Leaflet for Parents, visit http://www.goodeggcarsafety.com/
You can also complete the online form to request free printed materials.
Jan James, Dynamic Advertising Group, http://www.dynamicadgroup.com/, 0-798-085-1360, [email protected]
Share this article