What to Look For in car seats
The most important thing to look for in a car seat is a safe and secure
fit. Attractive fabric choices or good value accessories are absolutely
useless if your car seat fails to provide the essential protection that
your child needs when travelling in the car.
Once you are completely certain that a car seat fits your
car safely and securely, here are some other key safety features to look
for:
- 5-point safety harness which fits snugly - baby and
younger children's car seats come with an integral, adjustable safety
harness. It needs to fit very snugly over the shoulders to meet the
buckle coming up between the legs.
- One-pull harness - the easier all straps on a car seat
are to adjust, the more likely you are to fit it correctly. Many harnesses
are now designed to adjust by quickly and easily pulling one single
adjuster strap until the harness is a snug fit.
- Tamper-proof buckle - this is coloured red to make it
easy to spot and release in an emergency by an adult, but designed to
be difficult for young fingers to undo. If your baby shows interest
in touching the buckle be firm and say no from the start.
- Padding - all baby and child car seats should be well padded
for both comfort and added protection. The shell should be sturdy (though
it may be lightweight) and contoured.
- Strap covers - some car seats have padded sleeves around the
harness straps and a padded cushion under the buckle for extra comfort;
if not already fitted, these are available as individual items from
accessory companies.
- Weight - if you are going to be using it with different
cars or carrying your baby in it, a lighter model may be best.
- Seat covers - many car seat covers are removable for machine
washing; most manufacturers also supply spares.
- Choice of positions - forward facing seats (from 9kg up) may
have the option to recline or lie flat, which is a bonus if you want
your baby to sleep on longer trips.
- Instructions - some car seat instructions are excellent, but
most are complex; have a look at the instructions in the shop before
buying and ask the retailer to explain anything that isn't clear.
- Installation - most car seats need an adult lap and
diagonal belt to secure them, although some forward facing car seats
can be secured with just the lap belt in the middle of the back seat,
which is the safest place and useful if you have two or more older children.
Some manufacturers sell fixing kits for child car seats that cannot
be fitted using a car's existing belts - the big advantage of these
is that you can fix the seat in the middle of the back seat. If you
need to buy a fixing kit, choose one made by the manufacturer of your
car seat, if available. If your car has ISOFIX points you will not need
to use the seatbelts to secure it. However, some ISOFIX seats can still
be installed using the car seat belts, which could be useful if you
are using the car seat in more than one car.
  
Click
here to look at Babyworld's range of car seats
Buying Your Car Seat
Fitting Your Car Seat
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