Children's Car Seats.....a rant

[Conor]

Having forgotten to get the car seat out of my little ones mum's car for the n'th time I decided to go out and get a spare car seat last weekend.

Having spent literally hours selecting what looked like the safest and best I bought it and headed home.

Last night I was handed an article in a paper about unsafe carseats, the one I chose had been on the list for the last 2 years, but was still on sale in Halfords.....more over it turns out they also added a £30 markup for the priviledge if endangering your childs life.

So I'm off back to Halfords to see if I can get a refund or an exchange. Even though it wasn't that bad in the tests (mostly issues surrounding the possibility of being badly fitted rather than poor crash test results) I can't bare the though that she might be injured while in that seat.

Conor

[Lou]

I particularily enjoyed the response of the manufacturers to these tests (you know, the people who design and sell these seats to protect children?)....


"If the regulations surrounding children's car seats were tightened we would be delighted to comply"


So, they won't do it themselves just because it is the right thing to do and although their seats just pass the tests there are concerns. No, they will only improve them if they are forced, at which point they would be "delighted".

C'mon Conor, name and shame the seat and dissuade anyone else from buying it!

[Fiona]

Conor, I was a bit surprised when I heard this on the radio yesterday, the manufacturers who only have to comply with the minimum standards have apparently said if the safety standards were increased they would comply.

Sounds like if just one manufacturer increased their standards without being told to they would be the market leaders.

[Conor]

I must admit I am more than a little disgusted that companies that make a living out of child safety should continue to manufacture and sell duff child seats (it was the Britax Ranger BTW). They have plenty of seats above the required standard in their range but continue to sell all of them. It appears from looking at the details of the which reports that all manufacturers seem as bad as each other.

I'm equally disgusted by the retailer, halford's, who keep selling them, in fact I recognised most of their stock on the list of dubious seats. I was already concerned that the scales in the store to use to weigh your child in order to check the appropriate seat were completely random. According to halford's my 3 year old weighs 25kg, not the 16kg she weighs outside of the retail park.

[Conor]

A follow up

Went into Halfords on Friday night, they replaced the seat for another model (2004's top model according to Which), for a slight extra cost, with no question or issues.

The woman in the shop said that they were discontinuing some lines, including the ranger.

To be fair, Halfords were great about replacing the seat.

Conor

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Conor

A follow up

Went into Halfords on Friday night, they replaced the seat for another model (2004's top model according to Which), for a slight extra cost, with no question or issues.

The woman in the shop said that they were discontinuing some lines, including the ranger.

To be fair, Halfords were great about replacing the seat.

Conor

Write to them and tell them how happy you are with them and why don't they reproduce the test article in all the shops so people can make an informed choice?

We marketing types love being told how good our customer service is !!!

Chris