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 only 46 per cent passed.
Out of the 64 Slough car seats checked, only 30 passed. 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.
Russell Clarke, Slough Borough Council’s trading standards officer said: “It was very disappointing for us to find that nearly 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.
Slough Borough Council
