For better understanding, the material is submitted in the "Question-answer" format. And we will start the "debriefing", as usual, from the basics.

When do you need a child car seat?

Car seat belts are designed to fit the anatomy of an adult. However, for children, they will be not only useless, but also dangerous. A properly selected and installed car seat significantly reduces the risk of a child getting a fatal injury in all sorts of troubles and emergencies.

Who Invented the Baby Car Seat?

The first documented information about child safety seats goes back to 1935, when the American magazine of popular mechanics Modern Mechanix published a note about a chair on a steel frame, which was attached to the bottom of the car with a special spring. The design of the product allowed the child to sway slightly while driving and “ate” small irregularities in the roadway.

A year later, a comfortable car seat entered the arena, which is now called the “catapult”. Such a stigma stuck to him due to the lack of at least some security measures taken. The chair was not attached to the seat of the car in any way, and one can only guess what awaited the young passenger during emergency braking or changing the trajectory of the car.

These low-quality newspaper scans show a catapult car seat (left) and the first child seat with a seatbelt (right).

The prototype of a car seat with a seat belt was released in 1939. The invention was invented by the American Lester Bresson, who made a children's "seat" in his own garage from improvised materials.

The forefather of modern armchairs is considered to be the development of Professor Aldman from the Swedish University of Champers. Observing the sending of astronauts into space, he came to the conclusion that lying "against the grain" can significantly reduce the load during a sharp deceleration. The idea was put into hardware nine years later when Volvo released the world's first rearward facing car seat for toddlers.

Child car seats began to look like modern models in the 70s of the last century.

Popular child car seats

Child car seat - up to what age?

In global practice, it is customary to divide car seats into groups according to height and weight. Each group is designed for a specific age category and is marked with numbers from "0" to "3".

  • Group 0 - compact infant carriers for newborns and children with low weight. Outwardly, they resemble a basket from a stroller. The maximum load for group 0 seats must not exceed 10 kg. The installation of such seats is carried out perpendicular to the direction of movement, i.e. feet towards the side door.
Armchairs for the smallest toddlers in the form of a cradle with a rigid frame are designed to carry passengers in a prone position.

  • Group 0+ - the so-called carrycots. They are designed to transport babies from birth up to the age of approximately 9-12 months. (no more than 13 kg). To ensure a comfortable fit, the kids are located in the bowl-shaped body of the reclining car seat. Seats for the smallest passengers must be installed purely against the direction of the car.
  • Group 1 - chairs of this group are intended for children from 1 to 4 years old (9-18 kg). They are suitable for babies who are already able to sit on their own. The child in the car seat of the 1st group is fixed with its own three- or five-point belts, the back of the product is often flexibly adjustable in terms of the angle of inclination. Until the age of one and a half years, many of the models of chairs of the first age group are installed “against the wool”, but as soon as the child grows up, they can be turned “forward facing”.
  • Group 2 - used for children aged 4 to 7 years in the weight category 15-25 kg. They are extremely rare in the "wild nature" - often manufacturers combine them with group 3, making the backrest reclining to transform the chair into a booster.
  • Group 3 - booster seats for older children (up to 12 years old). Their main task is to raise the child to the height at which the regular seat belts of the car will pass as needed.

"Thoroughbreds" are usually "zero" age groups of child car seats. The rest most often unite several groups under one wing (“1/2”, “2/3”, “0+/1/2/3”, etc.).

Where is the safest place to put a child car seat?

The preferred place for installing a child car seat is, of course, the back seat. Theoretically, the safest position is considered to be the central part of the rear sofa: in a side impact, the child will be at a distance from the door, and in a frontal impact, in the space between the backs of the front seats. However, not all cars have belts and brackets for fastening the chair in the center.

The option of installing in the center of the rear seat is good because the seat will be equidistant from dangers from either side.

Another low-vulnerability zone is behind the driver, who intuitively tries to avoid a collision from his side. Car seats of the "zero" and "first" groups can also be installed on the front seat. Be sure to back against the direction of movement of the car.

Important! If the car seat is installed in front, be sure to disable the passenger airbag. If triggered, it can injure a child.

The front seat is the area of maximum risk. Therefore, it is up to you to decide whether it is worth putting a chair in front.

How to install a child car seat?

To date, the Isofix system is considered the most reliable fastening system. It is a rigid fastening of the seat to the car body by means of locking joints with special brackets in the design of the car. The chance of making a mistake when installing a car seat on the fasteners of the Isofix system is minimal. In addition, most chairs are equipped with indicators for the correct "docking" of locks with brackets. The maximum load on the Isofix mounts should not exceed 18 kg, therefore, in the car seats of the “sitting” groups “2” and “3”, it acts as an auxiliary fixation system.

Bracket of the Isofix mounting system. View from the "non-front" side.

American ancestry child car seats use the Latch attachment system. According to the “docking” parameters, it is fully compatible with the aforementioned Isofix fasteners. However, chairs in the American style are much lighter than their European counterparts due to the absence of a metal frame and can withstand weight up to 29.6 kg.

Most often, a child car seat is fixed on a car seat using standard seat belts. In the “zero” and partially “first” groups, the belt “holds” the chair, and the child is fastened in it with separate three- or five-point belts. Starting from group "1" - a standard belt fastens a small passenger, and the seat is fixed due to its own weight.

Isofix Child Car Seats

Which is better, a baby car seat or a booster seat?

The unequivocal answer to this question is everything in its time. Newborn babies and babies weighing up to 15 kg should be transported exclusively in a special chair. Boosters, on the other hand, are allowed to be used for young passengers in the weight category from 15 kg and at least 120 cm tall, who are simply uncomfortable to sit in a cramped car seat. If you put a baby in a booster, an incorrectly missed regular belt can harm the child in an accident or, even worse, the child will fly out from under it when the car stops abruptly in the event of an impact.

Child car seat - what to look for?

An important point of the programme when choosing a car seat is the comfort of a small passenger. It is necessary that the shape of the bowl of the chair follows the curves of the contour of the child's body, the design of the product is raised above the car seat to a sufficient level to provide good visibility through the window, and the back of the child seat has an angle adjustment. The permissible tilt angle is different for each age and meets the safety requirements.

The main thing is not to forget to take a good mood with you on the road.

A separate package of requirements is presented for own seat belts in equipping child car seats. In particular, the buckle should not look fragile, and the child could not unfasten the clasp himself. A fabric lining will be useful near the buckle lock, so that when hit, the lock does not injure the baby's crotch.

Also, when choosing a child seat, you need to take into account the results of independent crash tests. The most complete picture of the safety of car seats and the level of comfort in them is provided by the tests of the German automobile club ADAC.

In the role of test children's car seats in crash tests, special dummies act.

Can a child car seat be placed in front?

As mentioned above, the front method of installing a car seat is allowed at your own peril and risk. A prerequisite for such placement is a deactivated front passenger airbag and the position of the seat purely against the direction of the car.

Can a child's frameless car seat be used?

A frameless car seat is essentially a fabric pad for a car seat with separate seat belts for the child. Solutions of this kind captivate with their cheapness and practicality in terms of transportation, but in terms of safety, they openly graze the rear. However, frameless models will serve as a good option for traveling by taxi or rented car. It is better to install a full-size car seat in your car.

This is what child car seats look like without a rigid frame in the design.

Can I take a child car seat on a plane?

The possibility of using car seats on board aircraft is negotiated with a specific carrier airline. Usually there are no restrictions on the transportation of small passengers in them. Suitable for flights are seats with a sticker "For use in aircraft" (or another similar in meaning), which meet the requirements of the transport service operator in terms of weight (often up to 10 kg) and the sum of measurements of the height, width, length of the child seat (no more than 115 cm ).

Which company to buy a child car seat?

A wide range and a wide variety of car seats presented on store shelves make it difficult to choose a child seat. Above others in the hierarchy of seats for small passengers are solutions from generally recognized leaders on the world stage: brands Britax Romer(a joint British-German company), BeSafe(Norway), Chicco(Italy), Concord(Germany), Cybex(Germany), Heyner(Germany), Maxi-Cosi(Holland), Peg Perego(Italy), Recaro(Germany).

Ride safely with your kids!