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Choosing a Car Seat
Use this guide to choose a child car seat, what to check about your car, and tips on installation. Follow our tips to buy and install the best seat for your child and car and the right seat size for your child.Use this table to find the right size of seat for your child. Use your child’s weight as the deciding factor; the ages given are just a guide. Weight categories
| Seat group |
Weight Range |
Approximate Age Range |
| Group 0 |
0-10kg (0-22lb) |
from birth to about 11 months (boys); 14 months (girls) |
| Group 0+ |
0-13kg (0-29lb) |
from birth to about 15 months |
| Group 1 |
9-18kg (20-40lb) |
about 9 months to 4 years |
| Group 2 |
15-25kg (33lb - 3st 13lb) |
about 4 years to 6 years |
| Group 3 |
22-36kg (3st 7lb - 5st 9lb) |
about 6 years to 12 years |
It's safest to buy a specific child seat to suit your child's weight as they grow. This means you should use a Group 0+ baby seat for newborns up to around 10kg, then change to a Group 1 seat for children from 10kg to about 15kg.At 15kg (about 3 years) you can change to a Group 2/3 seat, which will suit the child all the way up to age 12, when they should use the adult seat belt. Which child seat group you need? All child safety seats are categorised according to the child's weight. Some seats span different groups but we find that multi-group 1/2/3 seats tend to be a compromise, so we recommend you avoid them. As a child's bone and body structure dramatically changes during the first few years, what's needed from a safety restraint also changes.Group 2/3 seats are common, and we find they work well for children above 15kg (around 3 years upwards). Beware of boosters Some Group 3 products are just booster cushions. These raise the child's body to a height suitable for use with the adult seat belt, but the booster cushions are not as safe as Group 3 seats with 'wings', which provide extra protection for the head and chest in a side-impact crash.The booster cushion satisfies the new legal requirement for kids up to 4ft 6in, and they're cheap but the full child car seats are safer – if more expensive. Choosing a child car seat Make a list of the cars in which you might use the seat – for example, friends’ or grandparents’, as well as your own. Many seats are described as ‘universal’ – so in theory they can be used in any car using adult seat belts.However, there’s no such thing as a truly universal seat yet. Because the belts and the passenger seats in cars differ greatly from model to model, some seats work better in some cars than others – check with the seat manufacturer and try the seat in your car to be certain.Think about whether you’ll need to use the child car seat with a lap belt in the centre of the rear seat in any of these cars. Not all seats are designed for this. Generally, it’s better to use a standard three-point seat belt (or Isofix system) if you can.Use our Best Buys as a starting point for choosing a seat. But it’s always helpful to take your child and car with you to a retailer, and to try the seat in your car before you buy, because some designs of seat suit some cars better. A good retailer will find seats that suit the car or cars you’ll be using it in, and show you how to install it properly.Never buy a second-hand seat – it could have been in crash which will have weakened it.Don't assume your Isofix car will suit all Isofix seats - some cars have a false floor which won't work with a support leg.Use the following websites to check what car seat suits your car www.britax.co.uk & www.maxi-cosi.comIn your car Check the seat belt in your car is long enough to secure the seat.Check you can feed the seat belt through the slits in the child car seat without any obstructions.Check the shape of the car safety seat fits neatly with the shape of the car seat.Place your child in the seat and try to strap them in securely.Check the seat's harness can be secured and adjusted easily. Check the car seat leaves enough space for your child to stretch their legs.Replace your child car seat(s) after any accident which results in ANY damage to your car, however slight. Installing your child seat Generally, always carry children in the rear seat if you can. If you must carry the child in the front, never fit a rear-facing car seat if there is a passenger airbag which hasn’t been deactivated. If it goes off, the force could kill your child. If it’s safe to fit the child seat in the front, adjust the car seat to its furthest-back position.Make sure you follow the child car seat instructions carefully. It’s a good idea to store the manual in the car.The child seat should sit firmly on the car seat, with little forward or sideways movement. When you open the buckle of the adult belt, the eat should spring upward slightly.Avoid ‘buckle crunch’ where, when the seat is installed, the buckle of the adult belt lies across the frame of the child seat. Only the seat belt webbing should be in contact with the frame of the seat. Otherwise, pressure on the buckle (in an accident, or even under sharp braking) could cause the buckle to fail.Never try to modify a child car seat yourself, for example by adding extra padding.
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