Sunshine7

Has anybody taken their UK car seat to use on the plane? Our youngest likes to run, run, run, but will happily sit strapped into the car for hours on end without a whinge. Can you place the car seat on top of the plane seat or would that be a silly idea?

I know we would obviously have to get rid of it once in Australia and buy an Australian one - just thinking of the actual plane journey.

mark wool

UK car seats are illegal here and if your child was injured in a crash you would not be insured. As i was told by the lovely ozzie lady in the shop uk are illegal because they dont reach the high oz standard. Yeah right.

Anastasia Beaverhausen

From what I can gather ISOFIX is different to the Australian system of tethering car seats, so wouldn't bet on it being legal here.

Depending on the shape of the car, the tether points in cars are either in the parcel shelf (sedans), boot at opening (hatchbacks), behind the back seats (wagon/estates) and on the roof in some other cars. The shape of the tether points are all the same regardless of location and the fixing on the tether strap on the seat are all a standard shape. Tether points are also known as Anchor Points.

Up to you if you want to bring a UK seat over and take the risk, but remember the cops do spot check and if you have an accident you may invalidate your insurance if you have an illegal seat.

Personally, I don't think the seats here are more or less safe than the UK. I was much happier with the fit of my UK seat, but then I had a different seat and different car to what I have here.

Kids up to 7 need a seat. My 6 year old is in a booster seat that lifts him to the height of the seat belt and doesn't require tethering. Baby shops over here will have all the info about weight and height for which type of seat.

MrCro

anyone have photos of these tether points and an aussie carseat fitted?

Kingseat

If no one comes up with photos tonight I will take a couple in the morning. Basically it is a bit of seatbelt material from the top of the child's seat that teathers to a bolt in the boot of the car.

MrCro

another little question, how do people go on when the import their cars from UK? As the tether points won't be there?

Alfresco

You have to have them installed as part of the import process. $$$$

That's why I still don't know whether to ship the car or not (the hassle).

Our kids are grown up now, so they wouldn't be used anyway while we own the car.

WA-REDNECK

Your UK car seat is illegal in Australia. They will not have the Aussie version of the British kite mark and therefore they are no good - Not saying they won't do the job though..

Cheers

Pine Cone

What about 7 seater cars? How do people with lots of kids manage.....you can't fit anchor points for 5 car seats in a MPV can you? I think our car has 2 anchor points (we're in NZ) but we still use our UK car seats (with no tethers) as they are way better quality that anything we can buy here.

Shot81

i soooo would NOT bring a car seat from the UK....
even here its shocking to see how some silly people just plonk them in....
sorry to be really graphic but....
does any one know what happens to a baby seat when you have a crash ?
depending on the force of the impact and the way the car has been built, if the seat is not in properly the seat can go flying out the windscreen and you will have a baby seat and a decapitated baby 50-60 meters down the road... not a nice sight from what i have been told by a friend who's a fireman......
the woman in the car said she had strapped the seat in....shame she did not lock the seatbelt like she should have done...!

the tethers are used to hold the seat in place... to stop this happing...worst case is baby gets whiplash... better then flying out a window....
so please just buy one in AUS...
i recon they should have tethers in the UK too...

hope the above it not rude or offensive, just letting you all know that saving a few $$$ is not worth it.... just in case if you where thinking about it.

LittleKittyCat

Our car has seven seats (three on middle row and two in the back that fold down into the boot). We only have two children, whose car seats are in the middle row, but from looking at the car there are three anchor points behind the middle seats, and then there are two in the boot, right at the back for use with the back seats. I wouldn't use these seats for the car seats personally because there is only a tiny bit of boot behind them to protect them from rear crashes, but you could if you wanted to.

I would reckon that both the isofix and the tether system are fine, it is just that the isofix is pretty idiot proof whereas it would be easy to attach the tether incorrectly. Our daughters car seats are certainly fastened in to our car very securely. They are expensive though. I think our Safe-n-Sound ones were about $500 each.

moneypenny20

Someone asked about car seats on the plane. If you've got to buy a ticket for a small child then bringing the car seat to use is a good idea and lots of people do it.

Bear in mind though you'd be carrying it around if you change planes on the way and it won't be legal and so shouldn't be used once you're here.

heldownunder

My three year old would need a new car seat but still a little confused over booster seat. Dd is 5 so has a booster seat with a seat belt its a highback one which uses the seatbelt to strap her in. It can be tethered to headrest. The official site suggests these type dont need to be tethered us this right ir am i best ebaying them here (leave 2 with parents for return visits ) and buy new there...

Gems

Lots of the Aussie mums use maxi cosi seats here to match their prams.
Police here are not give tests on how to identify car seats. So will not have a clue if its Australian or European. All they check is that the child is in a car seat not what brand.

Maxi Cosi are in bringing the baby capsule to Australia, just gone through testing here. So looks like eventually they will bring it in.

Oh and a Australian news programme a few weeks ago said the Isofix is actually safer than the Australian seats and that Australia needs to bring them in.

My Nissan Pathfinder booklet says I can fit isofix in it (Car bought new in Perth)

Personally I regret not bringing my Maxi Cosi with me.

Gems

Gems

Found this on mums forum, you may find it interesting:

Some research papers. All papers I have read are consistent that ISOFIX in side impact is better then our seats.

The paper below is an AUSSIE testing paper. It has the same seat with Aussie anchorages, Latch + TT and ISOFIX + TT. Check out the photos on page 7.(first article)
A Preliminary Evaluation of Child Restraint Crash Performance with Three Anchorage Systems in a Holden Commodore Proceedings 2004 Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference, 14-16 November, Perth, Western Australia, Vol 2, 10p

http://www.rsconference.com/pdf/RS040079.pdf?check=1

Another Paper

http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/2004/...-35-inf19e.pdf

Gems