Home News New campaign highlights child safety issue

New campaign highlights child safety issue

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

With eight out of 10 child car seats fitted incorrectly in Ireland an industry initiative is currently underway to promote the use of ISOFIX. This is a system of anchoring car seats rigidly to fixed attachment points in the car, developed in the 1990s by car seat manufacturer Britax in conjunction with Volkswagen. Studies have shown that 96 per cent of seats using ISOFIX are correctly installed in cars, whereas only 30 per cent of belted car seats are correctly in place and are therefore ineffective. Britax has developed a new range of ISOFIX car seats in conjunction with the AA and the range is now available in Mothercare stores across the country. AA Ireland is also offering a 50 per cent discount on AA membership with purchases of approved Britax car seat from Mothercare to promote child safety in cars. Mark Bennett, Britax technical support manager said the incidence of car seats being incorrectly fitted was alarming. “Unfortunately parents who are striving to protect their children can totally negate their good intentions by not installing the car seat correctly and, more alarmingly, can actually increase their child’s risk of injury,” he said. According to Mr Bennett, there is also a growing number of poorly fitted car seats, due to child-minders, friends and relatives who are not fully confident. “There is now a Britax ISOFIX system for all car seats, from infants to 12 year olds, so with the simple click-in system, parents can be confident that the seat is fully secure at all times, regardless of who’s minding the children,” Mr Bennett added. “So, as well as reducing the risk of misuse, ISOFIX gives parents peace of mind and offers an easy, convenient means car seat installation.” Estimates indicate that up to half a million cars on Irish roads (approximately 25 per cent of all cars) currently have ISOFIX fittings, although European regulation dictates that all new cars from 2011 must be fitted with ISOFIX. “Mothercare Ireland actively campaigns for car seat safety due to the large number that are found to be fitted incorrectly, putting children at severe risk,” said Laura Ward, marketing manager. “There has been a substantial increase in the sale of car seats since the new EU legislation came into effect in May 2006. There is no point in having a car seat or booster seat for your child if it is fitted incorrectly. All our stores have car seat experts that will happily check that a car seat is fitted correctly and exercise our ‘Check it fits’ policy.” AA Ireland’s Conor Faughnan said they had collaborated with Britax in promoting their new ISOFIX range because of the proven enhanced safety offered by the ISOFIX option. “New car manufacturing is more and more focussed on high safety specifications and on protecting passengers, so it makes sense to take advantage of the ISOFIX car seat option, if it is installed in your car,” he said. “Car seat retailers, such as Mothercare are also more than happy to check any car seat installation and offer help, so the advice to anyone who is unsure about their child’s car seat is to have it checked by the experts.”