International children car seat standards for multiple regions
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 12 Aug, 2023
- |
The main incompatibility is indeed that Australia requires the use of a top tether strap, so all child seats sold in Australia are built with this in mind, and all cars sold in Australia after the mid-1990s will have the attachment hooks for the tether strap. Also, Australian child seats use the adult seatbelt to attach the bottom of the seat to the car. Note that the Vicroads link you point to is about tethers being optional for some models of booster seats, not child seats. These are meant for children 4+, and are not suitable for younger children.
EU standard child seats use the ISOFIX system, where the child seat is secured to the base of the seat instead; this replaces both the tether and the seatbelt. Cars in the EU may not have the attachment hooks to allow the use of an Aussie seat, and EU child seats will not have the seatbelt path needed to secure them into an Aussie car without ISOFIX.
In 2013, Australia started accepting the use of ISOFIX attachments, and newer cars in Australia as well may have ISOFIX built in. However, the rules state ISOFIX attachments can only be used in addition to the top tether, a rather literal “belt and suspenders” approach. You’d thus think there were some seats on the market that did this, but I’m not aware of any, and even if you did find one, you’d have some trouble ensuring that your rental car was compatible.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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