GeoffM

Ok, so I knew a European child car seat would unlikely be legal in the US but not why - so I looked it up. Along the way some consumer reports site suggested that US seats would crumple up and disintegrate in an accident compared to European ones - but then http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php...05&postcount=4 actually gives a rather more balanced view of the subject, explaining the differences of why some Canadian rules are better, some European rules are better, some US rules are better etc.

Thought it might be interesting for somebody. In the meantime I need to buy a pair of seats before the kids arrive. More expense .

Ash UK/US

My oldest daughter no longers needs a car seat, my youngest uses just the booster seat, I don't miss the hassle of car seats.

I did use my US seats when traveling to/in the UK. With the exception of the very first time we flew with my oldest we have always bought their own tickets on flight so they could have their own seats too, it was also a hassle flying with car seats. I got into an arguement on a BMI (domestic flight) because they would not allow me to use a rear facing car seat (still not sure how it was safer to have a unsecured baby ) and on the US flights they would check for a certain safety sticker.

GeoffM

We went on 6 flights with 3 different airlines with our then-18 month old in a car seat to and within the US. Not once did they check the stickers! Some are obviously more careful than others.

Rules for lap babies on aircraft are crazily outdated. If you get the extra lap belt for the baby then any sudden stop would force your top half of the body forwards and crush the baby between your legs and torso. If there is turbulence you're supposed to take the baby out of the bassinet (which has a seat belt of sorts) and hold it - with dropping the baby (upwards or downwards) being the first thing to happen to your flailing arms. Crazy. Obviously the safest would be a proper seat but we can't all afford that expense (some would say don't bother flying then - easy for them to say).

sir_eccles

Buying the seats is the easy bit. Installing is the tricky bit. The isofix system in europe is called latch in the US. Consumer reports tested cars and found even though they all had the latch fittings they were virtually impossible to use correctly. Call your local fire station, they should have someone trained to fit it for you.

ryanayr

I didn't think it was much to do with qualitative differences; more of a market issue. In other words, certain products have simply not been subject to the testing standards in the US because they have not been positioned for that market. So it's not like your UK one would fail the test, it just hasn't taken it and therefore lacks the credentials...

Mummy in the foothills

I think one huge difference is the time they rear face in the US. It used to be one year and 20lbs and now the AAP reccommends 2 years or as long as they can meet the car seat height and weight for rear facing. Baby buckets go up to a lot more than they used to.
In UK they forward face at 9 months or so. That seems scary to me. If you ever watch the Youtube videos of what happens in a crash to those big heavy baby heads.

GeoffM

I would never have thought of a fire station!

No, if you read the link (yes, it's long) it explains some things which are difficult to meet in both countries simultaneously as the rules contradict each other in some places.

I think part of that is practicalities. Most cars in the UK wouldn't fit a child sitting backwards without the kid's legs being bunched up against his/her chest, while the child's headrest is pushing against the back of the front seat. But the UK recommend rear-facing for much longer, 4 years I think, compared to the 2 years in the US.

Ash UK/US

It was after the first flight we took with our eldest (then 2.5 months) that we saw the lack of safety on flights for kids that we decided that they would have their own seats.

US based airlines do not even have belly belts for lap kids, very scary.

Mummy in the foothills

You should watch the videos, bunched up legs can result in a broken leg or hip that heals, broken neck can result in internal decapitation. Definably not able to heal from that.
Kids can comfortably sit with their legs curled up or folded. and in UK you drive shorter distances, so they'd stretch more often.

GeoffM

To be honest, I'm not going to! It'd give me nightmares!

The bunching up of legs I mean more from the day-to-day comfort thing than in an accident. We had a Focus C-Max which is probably a mid-size hatchback and some of the baby seats simply wouldn't fit behind the front seats. Maybe seats for 2+ year olds are more upright and thus there is more chance of fitting?

The decapitation thing... that must be very rare and in any case there's almost as much chance of being hit from behind causing massive G forces towards the back instead of to the front.

Bob

Depending on the town, it might even be the police station.

Most towns we've been in Maine would have a day in the month that the fire station would do a check and another one at the police station.

Where we are, you've got to make an appointment and they do it one or two days a week.

Anyway, if you google it, there's a national certification type body that these folks have to go through to be able to do this and the site should tell you where to contact to find somewhere locally, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.