Planning a road trip this Easter?
With the help of car seat experts InfaSecure, we’ve put together a simple 3-step car seat safety guide to help you ensure your child is safe before you head off on holidays.
Keep in mind that specific car seat legislation differs in each state.
Find the car seat laws in your state below:
New South Wales
Victoria
Australian Capital Territory
Western Australia
Queensland
Northern Territory
South Australia
Tasmania
Regardless of where you live, it’s extremely important your car seat is installed correctly to prevent the risk of serious injury and/or death in the event of an accident.
The three rules below are the Holy Grail of car seat safety.
Rearward facing is the safest way for babies and younger children to travel.
Australian law does allow children from 6 months onwards to move to forward-facing restraints. Despite this, it is safest to have children continue in a rearward face for as long as the car seat allows. The InfaSecure Attain Premium allows for rearward facing for kids up to 30 months.
As the name suggests, it means that the car seat is positioned so that your child is facing the rear of the car. Don’t let the word ‘extended’ confuse you. Extended rearward-facing is just the fancy name for rearward facing of kids older than 6 months.
Reward facing car seats better support a child’s head neck and spine. In the case of an impact, your child’s body is cradled while the crash forces are distributed across the shell of the seat.
In a forward-facing seat, a child’s head and body would be thrust forward by the crash forces. This can cause serious injury because their muscles and bones are not yet fully developed.
Want to know more about rearward facing car seats? Check out Infasecure’s guide here.
InfaSecure have come up with an easy way to determine whether your child’s car seat is tight enough. And it will only take a pinch of time.
You want to adjust your child’s harness to be tight and snug by pulling on the harness adjuster at the front of the seat.
Now to perform ‘The Pinch Test’.
Try to pinch the shoulder strap around your collarbone area. If you are able to pinch the strap, it’s too loose. Adjust the harness some more.
The harness is fitted correctly when you cannot pinch the strap and your fingers are sliding off.
Shoulder height markers are useful labels that give parents a visual indication of the suitability of a car seat.
Using shoulder height markers is really simple. All you have to do is follow the instruction printed on the label.
Here’s an example of some of the labels you might see.
Australian law allows for a variation of approximately 2cm above or below the dotted line. So don’t fret if your child’s shoulder doesn’t sit exactly on the marked lines.
The Attain Premium packages all the essential premium safety features into InfaSecure’s slimmest car seat yet.
It measures an incredibly narrow 420mm across at its widest point. This is InfaSecure’s most stream-line design with an in-built harness to date.
The Attain Premium comes in two sleek colours, aptly named ‘Night’ and ‘Day’, to suit your car’s interior.
You are covered by a 12-month warranty for the cover, a lifetime warranty for the shell and are automatically enrolled in a Premium Customer Program.
It retails for $709.99 and is available for purchase online or at available instore retailers across Australia.
This article is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.
This article was produced with content supplied by InfaSecure and is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.
Feature image © InfaSecure
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