What to consider when buying a baby or child car seat

By: Helen Foster

Let’s start with the basics, the law in Australia says that every child under the age of seven must travel in a child restraint (the catch-all, official, name for the different forms of car seats) when in a vehicle – and most experts say it should be for far longer than that. And here’s some good news: simply by buying your car seat in Australia you’re already ahead of the safety curve.

Australia has one of the strictest child car seat safety protocols in the world. “Every form of child restraint sold here must conform to Australian safety standards and the testing for this is at least equal to other countries and sometimes far more stringent,” explains Dr Bianca Albanese, Postdoctoral Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia and the Transurban Road Safety Centre.

“For starters we test how the restraints perform in more types of crash – front on, rear end and side impact (one reason why you’ll notice car seats in Australia have thicker side panels than those in other countries). We also include a lot of different performance requirements, particularly related to head protection and crash protection provided to children using booster seats, for example.”

Any child car seat sold in Australia, should clearly state that it is certified to the AS/NZS1754: 2013 safety standard. But, from here, there are a few decisions you need to make to choose the perfect seat for your child, your car and your budget.

1. Understand the types of car restraint

Walk into your local baby store and you’re likely to be confronted with row after row of grey and black car seats, all looking kind of similar, but with different names – so here’s a very simple explanation of the main options.

Capsules: Suitable for babies up to 6-12 months. These are self-contained carriers that can be lifted in and out of the car with your baby inside. They keep your child in a rearward facing position – ie. facing toward the back window.

Rearward and forward facing car seats: These are fixed to the back seat of the car using anchor points built into your vehicle, alongside the vehicle seatbelt or a fixing system called ISOFIX. Simplistically, there are three types of these: seats that face the rear, seats that face forward and convertible versions which can change the direction they face as your child grows.

Booster seats: These are seats for older children. They enable an adult seatbelt to better fit a child’s body. Without one, it does not sit in the safest places to absorb impact during a crash.

Within each of these categories different configurations of harnesses and booster seats can determine roughly what age the car seat is most suited to – but, as we’ll see shortly, age isn’t the most important consideration when deciding what to buy.

2. Choose the best type of restraint for your child

This is the most essential step in choosing a car seat as using the wrong type could not only see you breaking some road rules, it’s also less protective. So, first, let’s look at what the law says.

Legal requirements

Babies 0-6 months: Must use a rear-facing restraint with an inbuilt harness. This can be a capsule, a rear-facing seat, or a convertible seat in a rear-facing position.

Children aged 6 months to 4 years: Must use a rear-facing restraint with an inbuilt harness (this may initially include a capsule) or a forward-facing child car seat with an inbuilt harness.

Children aged 4-7: The minimum legal requirement at this age is a forward-facing car seat with an inbuilt harness or a booster seat with a lap-sash adult seatbelt or child safety harness.

That can help steer you toward the right type of car seat to buy to ensure you don’t break any road rules. “However, the laws haven’t quite kept up with what we know about safely transporting your child,” says Zora Marko, Project Manager of the Starting Out Safely Program at Early Leaning Association Australia. “For example, we now know that it’s best to keep children in a rear-facing car seat for much longer than the law allows.”

In addition to this, even though the laws state specific ages, a child’s age itself should not determine when it’s time to buy a new type of car seat, or change their position in a convertible seat. Children grow at different rates and changing things too early, or late, will reduce a seat’s level of protection. “Every type of child restraint will have a shoulder height marker on it and you don’t need to change to a new one, or position, until your child reaches these,” says Zora Marko. “Always use the shoulder markers as your guide rather than age to determine any decisions.”

Although the law does allow use of an adult seatbelt once a child reaches the age of seven, “in reality a child is likely to be much older before they are ready for this,” says Marko. A test called the Five Step Test will help you determine if they are tall enough for an adult seatbelt, or should continue using a booster seat.

3. Choose a seat for your budget

A more expensive car seat does not necessarily confer extra protection. The Child Restraint Evaluation Program (CREP) independently tests a selection of car seats in the Australian market and finds car seats costing under $200 score as well as, or in some instances, even better than those costing twice as much.

If you are on a budget and worried that you might need two or three different seats, remember, convertible car seats adapt as your child grows. Some of these can even last from newborn to around the age of eight, so, when weighing up prices, consider how many years the seat will last your family.

Capsules have the shortest usable lifespan. “Six to approximately 12 months,” says Zora Marko. “If you want to keep your baby facing rearward after this, which is best practise, you’ll need to buy a convertible seat anyway.” If you want to reduce your initial outlay, you may want to hire a capsule.

4. Find the right model for your car

Once you’ve decided on the type of child restraint you want to use, you then need to pick the best model, and the type of car you have might play a role here.

“The first thing I tell people to do is get their car manual and find out where the anchor points are, then check if they have a fixing mechanism called ISOFIX as this is an option instead of using a seatbelt to tether a car seat,” says Tammie Deshon, Child Car Seat Safety Project Coordinator at the WA Local Government Association. Older cars are less likely to have ISOFIX, which has only been approved here since 2014. ISOFIX also only covers products suitable for children up until around four years of age. If you want to use a convertible seat that covers a longer age range, ISOFIX won’t be an option.

Some back seats are smaller than others and the greater the age range that a car seat covers, the bulkier it is likely to be. Also think about the seat positions you need in the car. “Rearward facing seats can be bulkier and if positioned in the middle of the back seat (generally accepted as the safest place) this can push the driver’s seat too far forward for a tall driver,” says Deshon. “If you are in a car with a smaller backseat, or where seats need to come further back, look for more compact models.”

It’s also important to consider how your family might grow. If you’re planning on having more children you might want to look at slimmer seats that will allow you to have two, or even three, car seats along your back seat.

It can be hard to judge all this when researching online, so if you are confused, Deshon says there’s no substitute for actually trying the seat in your own car. “Many baby shops will allow you to take a seat out to your car and actually check that it fits,” she says. Manufacturer helplines can also give excellent advice or call the Child Car Seat Safety Infoline (1300 780 713) to find a Type 1 CCR Fitter to assist.

5. Reconsider accessories

You can now buy car seats in different fabrics, with built in cup holders, there are even some with internal speakers. But do you really need any of this? Our experts aren’t convinced. Accessories, fabrics, manufacturing materials are irrelevant to how safe a product is and can just push up cost, and make the seat harder to use – and correct fitting is the most important element in assuring that a seat performs as you’d expect.

“The biggest mistake I see is people buying a seat that’s too complicated,” says Tammie Deshon. “Find one that you can actually install correctly and easily yourself, and that’s not too heavy to lift in and out of the vehicle. The main features I would look for are an internal harness that’s really easy to adjust. ISOFIX if your car supports it, and an easy seatbelt pathway if it doesn’t – some of them can be very complicated. I’d also suggest choosing a seat that your child can use for a quite a while. If you do choose any extras make sure that the manufacturer has actually tested the seat with them installed. Child car seats don’t need to have bells and whistles, they just need to do what they need to do in an emergency.”

Get more information

Child car restraints significantly reduce the risk of death or serious injury to a child in a crash. If you need help, you can call the Child Restraint Information Line on 1300 780 713 between 9am and 2pm Monday to Friday.

You can also visit the Road Wise website or Kidsafe WA for more information.

For information on safely transporting children with disabilities and medical conditions, visit Mobility and Accessibility for Children in Australia (MACA).