Slough Borough Council’s trading standards team, in conjunction with Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue, conducted a two day child seat safety check this month and found that only 47 per cent passed.
Out of the 32 Slough car seats checked, 17 failed. Most of the faults were due to loosely fitted seats, seats not fitting the car properly, and incorrect seat belt routing, all of which can be easily amended.
One of the more shocking finds was buckle crunch, where any part of the plastic from the surround of the seat can rest on the car’s seatbelt clip.
This is dangerous because the pressure exerted will pop or crack the buckle on impact. In a crash at 30mph a child’s body is thrown forward at six times its normal weight, making the child weigh the same as a baby elephant.
Others included –
* A 13-month-old child sitting in a booster seat designed for a bigger child of three years
* Old EU standard seats being used – new regulated ones came out last June
* One seat had no seatbelt tension which could result in serious injury to a child as they would be flung forwards in a car accident
* One seat didn’t fit the car at all
Emma Richards, Slough Borough Council’s trading standards officer, said: “It was very disappointing for us to find that more than 50 per cent of the car seat checks failed and also very alarming.
“As always we cannot stress the importance of correctly installing a child’s car seat. If any parent is in any doubt they should have the seat checked out. We will be holding further events across the year.
“Always check your seat fits the car, if it is incorrectly fitted, you may as well not have one.
“You should check the seat on every journey to make sure it hasn’t come loose. If it has, place as much weight as you can into the seat and pull the seat belt as tight as you can.
“We’d also like to say a big thank you to the fire brigade for helping us on the two days.”
Commissioner for Slough public safety, John Edwards, said: “These results are very disappointing as the number of failed car seats has risen by three percent since the last check in March.
“There is no excuse these days for car seats not to be fitted properly to prevent a child from being seriously injured in a car accident.
“Every parent has a responsibility to ensure their child is safe in the car and, if in doubt, should ask a professional to fit the car seat for them.”
Slough Borough Council
