Tell me about car seats - for over 12kg (post capsule) - and a Britax/Safe N Sound Q?

[feeb]

A child has to be in a booster/harness until 7 years so no...no car seat will rearface till that age.

Overseas carseats are illegal to use here as they do not meet our safety standards...you can be fined and your car insurance voided if yo uuse hem. The longest you can rearface at present in any australian carseat is 12 kgs although there is currently a lobby for amending the standards so seats that will rearface longer can be sold here (such as ones sold in some scandanavian countries).

You also have to take into account height as well as weight...we bought a 12kg rated capsule but they only go to 70odd cms in height....DS topped that at 9months and 9kilos so we had to fork out for a convertible carseat to keep him rearfacing for as long as possible. We went with the Platinum AHR AIR as it the safest reversible carseat on the market at present....but not cheap. this should last him till 4 yrs or so when he will need to go into a harnessed booster.

Mel do you have a link with the info re insurance being voided as my SIL is planning on getting a car seat from Swedden and I was having this argument about TAC and insurance not covereing her baby if she had an accident, but she felt that a fine was ok if he was safe.

DS1 because forward facing not long before I had DS2 as I needed the car seat for baby.

DS2 is still rear facing at nearly 15 months, I need to weigh him again to see how long till I have to face him the other way.
DS1 is in a maxirider AHR
DS2 a Meridian AHR both are made by S and S

[melbel]

I spoke to my car insurance agency as i was going to import one and they said if the car was involved in an accident and the seat didnt meet australian standards it would void the claim......PHI said the same thing...i can't speak for TAC as I didn't speak to them. You can also be fined if you are caught with one installed but then again I am not sure exactly how observant a police officer is going to be of the exact make and model carseat you have in the car at the time.

Be careful with buying overseas though, just because it rearfaces longer doesn't make it a safer seat...make sure to look very very carefully at all the safety and crash test ratings of the various seats.....some of them are worse than our forward facing seats.....some are really good options but some re really dodgy.

[buliej]

Here's my question - void what claim? not the claim for the damage to the actual car, right (I mean, the car seat has nothing to do with the car)? So, would it void the claim for the replacement car seat (if so, so what if your child is unharmed/less harmed than he/she would have been in a forward facing)? This is what I don't get - other than a possible fine from a very observant police officer - what could happen? OR, worse case scenario - if your child was hurt, would it mean that you couldn't claim on your health insurance/medicare - now that's a serious issue. Note, I am assuming that the seat being used is just as safe if not safer than an Aussie certified one...and I agree, plenty of research needs to be done but there are some really good options out there...and there are Britax seats in the US and UK (Safe N Sounds maker) that rear face for longer, have excellent safety ratings, and cost hundreds less than what I would say are the equivalent Aussie models (and I'm talking about the top of the line models).

[buliej]

Here's an interesting statistic:

"New research has found children are safer in rear-facing car seats. A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention showed that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing."

[Mum2Romone]

its against the law to face your child backwards after 12 months of age in Australia, regardless of weight.

Its not just a fine from an officer you need to worry about its a charge for child endangerment which could see you go to gaol ... Just use a Seat that meets Australian standards.... your ds will be able to be in a rear facing one for a whole year yet....

[melbel]

where did you find that law M2R...my son is still rearfacing at 15 months and will be until he hits the 12 kilo limit. I have no intention of turning him until then...he will most likely be close to 2 before that happens.

[feeb]

its against the law to face your child backwards after 12 months of age in Australia, regardless of weight.

Its not just a fine from an officer you need to worry about its a charge for child endangerment which could see you go to gaol ... Just use a Seat that meets Australian standards.... your ds will be able to be in a rear facing one for a whole year yet....

That is not true the only law is not to turn before 8kg or 6 months minimum, and most rear facing car seats have a max weight of 12kg. DS1 was only turned at 17 months as neede car seat for DS2 and DS2 still rear facing at 15 months.

[feeb]

its against the law to face your child backwards after 12 months of age in Australia, regardless of weight.

Its not just a fine from an officer you need to worry about its a charge for child endangerment which could see you go to gaol ... Just use a Seat that meets Australian standards.... your ds will be able to be in a rear facing one for a whole year yet....

That is not true the only law is not to turn before 8kg or 6 months minimum, and most rear facing car seats have a max weight of 12kg. DS1 was only turned at 17 months as neede car seat for DS2 and DS2 still rear facing at 15 months.

[Mum2Romone]

ok a friend was charged with having her two year old backwards. In court they showed "proof" of the law requiring you to turn them at 12kgs or 12 months which ever comes first. DS is only 12 kg now but has been turned since this incident happened with my friend... when ds was 14 months...

She was charged. She had the child in a minor accident and facing the wrong way ( backwards )

Im not going to argue about you tube videos they are clearly international and have nothing to do with Aus or the law...

this incident happened in nsw.... anyhow, do what you like but she no longer has custody of her child...