Experts have issued a warning to parents concerning the way their fit their kids’ seats into cars.
In a post shared to their Facebook and Twitter accounts, Child Seat Safety urged mums and dads not to jam them under the headrest.
‘When you’re fitting a car seat in a vehicle, don’t wedge a head restraint over the top of a seat. It’s tempting to do this, as they do get in the way sometimes,’ the post read.
They went on to reveal that doing this could put a youngster in serious danger if the vehicle were to get into a collision.
‘In a crash, the child will come forward, the seat needs to go with them. If it’s wedged in by the head restraint the child will come forward without the protection of the seat.’
Child Seat Safety then shared their very straightforward solution: ‘Remove the head restraints and put in the boot or turn them round,’ they continued.
When you're fitting a car seat in a vehicle, don’t wedge a head restraint over the top of a seat. It's tempting to do…
Posted by Child Seat Safety Limited on Thursday, January 11, 2018
The status clearly shocked some users, who were unaware of the common mistake.
‘Omg I never knew this! I thought it would hold it in place more securely’, one said, while another added: ‘Scary! Car seat safety needs to be more accessible for parents 😳😳😳.’
Others were keen to share the status and spread the word to make sure Child Seat Safety’s message reached other mums and dads.
The organisation, which offers impartial advice and training in fitting car seats, has over 50 years’ experience within the road safety industry.
CEO of Good Egg Safety Jan James backed up the company’s claims: ‘This is not an uncommon issue, we have seen this at many of our car seat checking events,’ he told the Huffington Post.
‘It is easily resolved by removing the vehicle headrest so that it doesn’t interfere with the effectiveness of the child car seat which obviously must take priority.
‘Many parents don’t realise this, but it’s an easy error to fix.’
