dave77

Hi

Just wondered what the law is like in NZ regarding childrens car seats please. Is it similar to the UK? Upto what age do they need to have a seat/booster?

Is it worth bring your UK car seats over with you or is it unlikely they will fit?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

simonsi

Try here for some good info

Most car models are sold worldwide to some degree and people and therefore seats will be somewhat the same shape so it will be model-to-model differences that dictate whether a car seat fits or not rather than anything to do with the country it is in. So far as I know ISOFIX is a worldwide standard so if your seats fit those brackets you should be good to go (although there are still some better fitments than others).

We have quite happily taken car seats (non-isofix) on holiday before now and never had a problem...

dave77

Great link, thanks for that! Have some karma

simonsi

Oooh, my first

Genesis

Its amazing how many parents have NO idea about the importance of child booster seats..I was one of those plonkers. The booster seat raises said child and causes the lap belt to straddle the upper legs..NOT THE WAIST area where many organs would be mashed on impact if it was resting in the lap area. If you put a small child without a seat booster into a 3 point harness you will see what I mean. And those lap belts some cars have are HUGELY dangerous for adults and more importantly kids. I have heard of cases where less injury would have been sustained had they not been worn. Personally unless its an emergency or an adult who understands the risk I would never ever put a child in one of these useless belts. Better to take an extra car.

dave77

Completely agree, I'm sure it is law in the UK now for children under 12 (or a certain height) to have to use a booster seat. I cringe when I look back as a kid and there were not even seat belts in the back of most cars