Capsule - check recommended

[satya]

If you installed your baby capsule into your car yourself and haven't had it checked I'd suggest you do.

We used one of those free services that the councils provide on the weekend and were shocked how badly ours was installed. Ours was on the wrong angle - it should've been more upright than it was, and was not tight enough (we knew this was the case as miss 5 had yelled "Brocky is see sawing" recently, we would never have known if not for her being in the back seat and witnessing it). They completely removed the seat and re-installed it.

They also fitted an extra piece of equipment that makes it safer and moved the straps up to the next level which would've been fiddly for us to do. The value of the check was $40 so well worth it. It was quick too. We were there for a total of maybe 20 minutes and that included waiting time & getting antitheft screws put on our number plates.

I know a couple of other ladies who used the service who were also shocked how different their capsule was when it was finished.

My guess is there are a lot of parents getting around with unsafe capsules simply because they haven't been installed correctly.

[DANNIIM]

The ambos used to do a service where they installed or checked car seats to see if they were installed/fitted correctly, when we enquired about it just before DS was born they had stopped doing it....such a shame considering so many ppl could be driving around with ill fitting baby car seats for there children!

[alioops]

When I installed ours, I tried as hard as I could to get it as tight as possible. I pulled on it and tried to rock it and was not satisfied until it wouldnt move no matter how hard I tried. A friend is an ambo and he has checked it and said that it was fine, but if you are installing it yourself then you need to be as rough as possible to make sure it won't move. I read the instruction manuals that came with the seats and checked the angles ect before I was happy too.

When we caught the planes to Townsville, DH installed the seat on the plane from Adelaide to Brissy, and a flight engineer installed it from Brissy to Townsville. The seat was more stable and installed according to the instructions for the Adelaide to Brissy stretch. Thank goodness we didnt hit Turbulence beween Brissy and Townsville!

[mbear]

I totally agree - i got ours installed last year when i was expecting Dd#3 at a free council thing. The guy wouldnt even put my capsule in the car coz it was too old by Aust. Standards !!! He checked my other two carseats though and put them in correctly.

EtA - he said 90% of people dont have car seats properly fitted in their car - he sees it every day he said. So yeah, its defn worth a trip, or even paying the fee that the child restraint companies charge.....

[Lolli]

I am ashamed to admit, I drove around for about 3 months with a capsule incorrectly fitted When I had it done properly, they actually used a rolled up towel to get it in at the right angle in my hatchback.
I just switched to the forward facing carseat and had that properly installed too. It cost $50 each time but that is a small price to pay.
The guy at the fitting place told me that if you are pulled over and don't have an certifcate in your glovebox saying the seat has been installed correctly, you can be fined $250 and have 3 points taken off your licence.

[lilcosmo]

Great thread Satya - we just bought our first car seat and I was wondering if we needed to get it installed by a professional or not? I will be getting ours checked before bubs comes along!

[Indadhanu]

The guy at the fitting place told me that if you are pulled over and don't have an certifcate in your glovebox saying the seat has been installed correctly, you can be fined $250 and have 3 points taken off your licence

Really? I've never heard that before!

The ambos still do the service, at least in QLD, you have to ring the hotline and for us a 4 week wait...

[DANNIIM]

Leasha seriously, we were in QLD at the time i was talking about and the local ambos said they don't do it any more. We are in WA now and i might just contact the locals up here and enquire.
I also have never heard that if you got pulled over you can get fined if it isn't fitted correctly by an authorised person.

[julia1977]

Dannim I know that in Perth you can call Kidsafe ans make an appointment to have your capsule or carseat properly fitted maybe you should call them and see if they have a list of who does it in regional areas.