A car seat safety expert has outlined five crucial actions parents must take to ensure their children's safety while travelling. Kat Gemmell, who leads car seat development at Silver Cross with 16 years of experience, emphasised that even with a correctly fitted seat, other factors can compromise safety.
First, parents should check if their child no longer needs a car seat. Under UK law, children must use a car seat until they are 12 years old or 135cm tall, whichever comes first. Gemmell advises a five-step assessment: the child should be over 135cm tall, their back and bottom fully against the backrest, knees able to bend over the seat edge to prevent submarining, the lap belt sits at the pelvis, and the shoulder belt across the collarbone.
On rear-facing versus forward-facing seats, UK law requires rear-facing until at least 15 months. Gemmell encourages keeping children rear-facing as long as possible, noting it is safer in a crash. She highlighted the Swedish Plus Test, a rigorous voluntary safety test for rear-facing toddler seats, which is increasingly sought after by UK parents.
Gemmell strongly advises against buying second-hand car seats, as there is no way to know if they have been damaged in an accident, instructions may be missing, and they might not meet current UK regulations. She also warns against two common errors: leaving bulky coats on children, which compresses in a crash and risks ejection, and not tightening the harness enough. The pinch test—checking if you can pinch the straps after tightening—ensures proper fit.
