How safely has your child’s car seat been fitted?
Getting the right car seat for your child and fitting it correctly each time is absolutely imperative.
But an investigation by Which? into child car seat fittings discovered that 90 per cent of UK stores are failing to fit them correctly.
Which? sent car seat fitting experts undercover to 42 stores across the UK, asking staff to fit two different seats.
Of the 42 stores fitted, only 4 managed to correctly fit the seat.
Which? found three particular chains performing the worst, making errors that would put children’s lives at risk.
The worse three stores were Babies ‘R’ Us and Mamas & Papas who both failed 11 of the 12 fittings while Kiddicare failed nine.
But Which? slammed Kiddicare as the worse of all for failing to use a fundamental safety feature which would securely attach the seat to the car. The failings in their fitting could have been fatal in an accident.
Independent stores faired better, achieving seven out of twelve successful fittings.
But throughout the investigation, staff generally failed to spend enough time fitting seats and explaining how to use them.
Which? editor, Richard Headland, said: “It’s unacceptable that retailers are providing such shockingly poor fitting services, which could potentially be putting children at risk.
“We have given our findings to the retailers and urged them to improve their staff training and knowledge of child car seats so they offer the correct advice every time. Parents should be able to trust the advice they get from major retailers.”
To make sure your car seat fits correctly: http://www.which.co.uk/baby-and-child/baby-transport/guides/how-to-fit-a-child-car-seat/10-simple-child-car-seat-fitting-checks/
The worst car seat fittings can be seen here: which.co.uk/badfitting