bridie

One down here in Bunbury. They are insured to fit it, and they give you a certificate to show it's been fitted correctly (not sure what you're meant to do with that mind?!)

Pollyana

I used to work for a major Queensland motoring organisation and I asked them about the UK car seats not being legal in Australia. Their attitude was - and I quote - "they're not Australian so they aren't good enough. All our standards are higher than the British ones, thats why you can't use British ones"

kez81

Hi, im using the carseat we took over from the uk for my 4 year old its britax car seat it was quite expensive and we had just bought it before we come over weve had no problem with it at all fits into the car perfect.

I also have a capsule mama's and papa's for the new baby which was my daughters we took that over also, i intend to use it but if it doesn't fit correctly we will buy a new one.

kezx

kez81

poor you, i know whats its like i was 11 days late with my daughter they would have left me 14 but i had a heavy bleed so was induced early, its 10 days here so that bit better but hopefully you will go on your own.

kezx

kez81

Ha ha that makes me laugh the laws on car seats is pretty strict in the uk so i have no problem using my uk one as long as it fits well if it didn't i would have bought a new one.

kezx

MartinLuther

Could someone explain why they think the British Standard is better? When I left the UK, seats did not have the top anchor strap. Has the UK moved to the full ISOFIX standard with the top anchor point? Does that mean I won't be able to use the ones that I left there to use when visiting the folks?

PoppetUK

The reason I believe the car seats in the UK are better is due to fitting. Here in Oz there is a big song and dance about the top tether but what good is that if you cant get a good tight fit with the seat belt. In the UK we don't have the top tether but isofix. If you don't have isofix (attached to the car - no belt needed) and you fix by the seat belt you will find a number of the seats have a lever so once you have the tension pulled as tight as you can do with your hands you pull a lever and it tightens it further and doesn't budge. I had very little movement in my seat at home but here it moves. My 18 month old is in a maxi rider which doesn't have much side impact cushioning around his legs.

Isofix hasn't been put into cars here as far as I am aware. I have come across a lot of people who take the view the oz standard is better. Needless to say they haven't ever used a car seat in England!!!!

In England I bought all my car seats from In Car Safety Centre in Milton Keynes. They would always work on finding the best seat for the car not always the most popular etc but the right one. They would check for buckle crunch and explain what to look out for etc. Over here its a car seat and it fits in every car that's there attitude. I am sure GMTV crew would have a field day if they checked the cars for correct fit here!!!

We left our UK car seats at home. If I could have a top tether added to it I would pay for that any day. I didn't bring them because I thought it would be better to get the Oz ones. I fell that even my cheap ones I used on the plane would be just as good as the current ones I am using.

I could go on forever about car seats!!!

bridie

Thank you

Probably wil be induced today or tomorrow as 10 days over now..... not what I'd planned but hey, as long as we're both fit and healthy at the end of it all I guess that's the main thing.

tried to give k but alas, need to "spread"

MartinLuther

So it's a toss up between top tether and tightness. I did like the tightness created by the lever but I also like the top tether. A combination of the two would be great.

I guess the compromise ISOFIX standard is still in use and not the full standard.

IanJakeCharlieDaddy

The top tether only provides protection from frontal impact in my view. It does nothing for lateral impacts and would only prove to spin the child seat on one axis. The seatbelt pre-tensioner in the UK models as referred to previously take out all of the slack from the seatbelt and make it "one" with the main seat. This just leaves any slack in the seatbelts in the seat which you need to do as tight as you can.

I would definetly be bringing my seats from the UK...

...unless it completely invalidates my car insurance.

What would happen if there was an accident and I had UK seats in the car? Would my insurance be invalid for the whole car?

Thanks

Pollyana

Quite possibly your insurance would be invalidated.
Don't quote me on it, I am only speaking from what I was told by the aforementioned Qld motoring organisation, but they told me quite clearly that any UK car seat, if used here, would be considered illegal, and therefore you wouldn't be covered by insurance.

kez81

How would your insurance company know you were using a uk one unless you told them you were??

Does it even invalidate it if say there was no child in the car at the time of the accident just the seat?? or no one was hurt?? very confused

It a pile of shit really if this is the case how ridiculous!!! we were never told about the uk car seats being illegal i read it another forum about a year after we arrived.



kezx

MartinLuther

I can't see how the seat would spin - it's still held down by the lap belt (albeit not as tightly in the UK). Also with a head on collision in the UK there is a danger of the seat tipping forwards as only the seat (and not the belt) prevents this happening. This is one of the issues raised by the AA with regards to the 2 point ISOFIX compromise. The tightened belt relies on the same principle.

IMHO both countries could do with raising their standards

Not sure about the insurance aspect. I suspect that you would get into real trouble if the child was injured in a non-standard seat but I have nothing to back that up.

Bishop3912

Does anyone know if the same rule applies to car booster seats (I have just the bum one and the one with a detachable back) they are both just secured by the seat belt being put across the kids? Can't seem to find a specific reference to this on the links only on "car seats" which I am assuming related to the 5 point harness ones? Sorry if Im being a bit thick!! but would appreciate your responses.

Wave the Sails

Talk about head in the sand..........

I've just been and bought a combination car seat/booster seat for my two year old (he's heavy) and was told 'there are no car seats with Isofix anywhere in Australia, because none of the cars here have it'. How ridiculous! I've got a Chrysler and it very definitely has Isofix bars on it.

Honestly

http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/conne...ld+restraints/