Two Thirds of all Child Car Seats are fitted incorrectly....

[y2blade]

Pretty shocking report on Meridian tonight last night

Exclusive Meridian Tonight investigation

No-one thinks they would gamble with a child's life - and yet that is exactly what some motorists are doing when they go on journeys with poorly fitted car seats.

We have discovered that more than two thirds of the parents we checked are getting it wrong. Our Features Editor Reshma Rumsey has this special report.

http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/child-car-seat-sa...

---

follow-up report with hidden cameras tonight (Tuesday)

[Efbe]

why don't cars come with child seats built in in some way?

There is usually space under the seat for other stuff. making the seat raisable would make sense IMO. This combined with a 5 point harness as an option in the car and you wouldn't have to worry about them so much after kids had left rear facing buckets

[Captain Muppet]

This is how evolution works, isn't it?

[Efbe]

Captain Muppet said:

This is how evolution works, isn't it?

natural selection.

I'm not having my kids evolve with a child seat attached!

[sjg]

Efbe said:

why don't cars come with child seats built in in some way?

There is usually space under the seat for other stuff. making the seat raisable would make sense IMO. This combined with a 5 point harness as an option in the car and you wouldn't have to worry about them so much after kids had left rear facing buckets

Volvo do in many of their cars, but as boosters for older kids rather than younger ones.

I'm surprised it's still that high, I thought as ISOFIX had been around for over a decade now and most cars seem to have it that relatively few seats would be secured with seatbelts these days.

[Fastdruid]

I think the trouble is that isofix is quite a lot more expensive than 'normal' seatbelt held seats so people on a budget don't buy them and its easy to fit the 'normal' seat belt held seats badly.

There is also the issue that if you buy an isofix seat you are limited to cars newer than about 2005, that can get quite limiting. We've not got an isofix seat because although both the RX-8 and MPS have the fittings my (98) mondeo doesn't and didn't want to buy another seat just for the few times my son comes in my car (as different to near daily in the RX-8/MPS).

[boobles]

I missed this report lastnight!

I still think that child seat manufactures could do more in educating parents on how to install them.

Nobody intentionally fit's them wrong but it is a huge problem....

[y2blade]

boobles said:

I missed this report lastnight!

I still think that child seat manufactures could do more in educating parents on how to install them.

Nobody intentionally fit's them wrong but it is a huge problem....

I think you can watch it here:
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/fullprogramme/
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/child-car-seat-sa...
If they don't work try the ITV player app on your phone.


Tonight's program is undercover with hidden cameras (out and about during the day today) to see what the store staff are doing when they give advice and even when they fit them for the customer.

Edited by y2blade on Tuesday 14th February 13:50

[boobles]

y2blade said:

I think you can watch it here:
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/fullprogramme/
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/child-car-seat-sa...
If they don't work try the ITV player app on your phone.


Tonight's program is undercover with hidden cameras (out and about during the day today) to see what the store staff are doing when they give advice and even when they fit them for the customer.

Edited by y2blade on Tuesday 14th February 13:50

Nice one.

[edward1]

From my memory of how I was shown some seats fit, this does not suprise me. I was shown by a well known baby store that to fit some of the car seats seemed to rely on pressing the child seat down into the seat base whilst simultaneously wrestling the seat belt tight and clamping it with the locks ont he child seat. The mechanism for holding the child seat in these cases appeared to be the opposing force of the seat cushion trying to push back up against the seat belt pulling it down.

I did not purchase this type of child seat, we now have one that is of the impact cushion type, where the seat belt simply pulls around the cushion as it would a person and relys on the inertia reel. a quick pull no the seat confirms it is OK. I fnd this a very easy system and also means the seat can very quickly be taken out and used in other cars.

The other seat we have is an evolva 123. I find this slighly more tricky to fit and get right but again it relies more on the inertia reel operating as designed and compared to the Prince seat by the same manufactuer is much easier to fit.

Personally I find Iso fix not only expensive but also restrictive as you don't then have the flexibilty of using you child seat in other non-isofix vehicles.

[EDLT]

Efbe said:

Captain Muppet said:

This is how evolution works, isn't it?

natural selection.

I'm not having my kids evolve with a child seat attached!

How is it either? I'd bet everything I own that the majority of PHers didn't spend their childhood being carted around strapped to a child seat and we've got a variety of know-it-alls and retards on here.

[Deva Link]

edward1 said:

Personally I find Iso fix not only expensive but also restrictive as you don't then have the flexibilty of using you child seat in other non-isofix vehicles.

We've got an isofix base and with the baby seat clipped on it I'm surprised by how much the whole thing moves around, even with the base rammed down towards the isofix hooks as tight as possible.

[boobles]

EDLT said:

How is it either? I'd bet everything I own that the majority of PHers didn't spend their childhood being carted around strapped to a child seat and we've got a variety of know-it-alls and retards on here.

[callyman]

y2blade said:

I think you can watch it here:
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/fullprogramme/
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/child-car-seat-sa...
If they don't work try the ITV player app on your phone.


Tonight's program is undercover with hidden cameras (out and about during the day today) to see what the store staff are doing when they give advice and even when they fit them for the customer.

Edited by y2blade on Tuesday 14th February 13:50

Truely shocking to watch.

Part two here.
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/is-your-car-seat-...

[boobles]

callyman said:

Truely shocking to watch.

Part two here.
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/is-your-car-seat-...

Wrong advice is not acceptable! I shall not mention one of the retailers.......

[redgriff500]

Doesn't surprise me.

I've found my 18yr old daughter, my wife and her parents ALL fit the seats incorrectly.

I have explained it many times and shown them the picture on the seats.

Yet everytime they move / refit them they are wrong.

[y2blade]

callyman said:

y2blade said:

I think you can watch it here:
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/fullprogramme/
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/child-car-seat-sa...
If they don't work try the ITV player app on your phone.


Tonight's program is undercover with hidden cameras (out and about during the day today) to see what the store staff are doing when they give advice and even when they fit them for the customer.

Edited by y2blade on Tuesday 14th February 13:50

Truely shocking to watch.

Part two here.
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/is-your-car-seat-...

Thanks for the link...I missed it last night as I was late home.

No excuse for trained fitters to be getting it wrong

[Amateurish]

Fastdruid said:

There is also the issue that if you buy an isofix seat you are limited to cars newer than about 2005, that can get quite limiting. We've not got an isofix seat because although both the RX-8 and MPS have the fittings my (98) mondeo doesn't and didn't want to buy another seat just for the few times my son comes in my car (as different to near daily in the RX-8/MPS).

We've used Britax isofix for both our group 0 and group 1 seats, and both could be fitted with a normal seat belt as well.

[KevinA3DSG32]

Am I correct in thinking the Isofix requires purchase of some other part (seat belt tensioner?) to work? Although the car has Isofix compatability you need the seat belt tensioner to make it work?

[Deva Link]

KevinA3DSG32 said:

Am I correct in thinking the Isofix requires purchase of some other part (seat belt tensioner?) to work? Although the car has Isofix compatability you need the seat belt tensioner to make it work?

No, it doesn't have anything to do with the seatbelts - that's the key point, people are much less likely to mess up installing an Isofix seat.
Isofix seats attach to separate metal anchor points between the base and back of the car seat.

Edited by Deva Link on Wednesday 15th February 10:42