The right seat

NRMA's John Brown explains what type of car seat is right for your child.

Tips for choosing the right child restraint

Infants: up to nine kilograms, about six to nine months

• Use an approved rear-facing infant restraint.
• Keep your child in this restraint until they no longer fit.
• Never carry your child in your arms or share your seatbelt with your child.

• Use an approved forward-facing child seat — do not use a booster seat yet as it does not offer the same amount of protection.
• Use the approved forward-facing child seat child until your child is too big for it.
• The harness of the restraint has to fit your child snugly and your child must keep both arms in the harness.

Older children:for children from about 18kg (about five years) until they fit correctly into an adult seatbelt at about 145cm tall.

• When your child is too big for a forward-facing child seat and too small for an adult seatbelt, use a booster seat.
• Use a rigid booster seat with back and side wings and a sash guide to keep the seatbelt in place.
• Never use a booster seat with only a lap belt. Use an adult lap/sash seatbelt or a child harness with a centre rear lap belt. A booster seat with a crotch clip will help keep the lap belt in place.
• Use a booster seat until your child can achieve a good adult seatbelt fit — when the seatbelt fits low across the hip bones and the sash strap stays across the outer shoulder, usually when your child is about 145cm tall. Use the booster seat until your child's eyes are at the same level as the top of the car seat or until they weigh 26kg.

Note: sizes and ages are a guide only.
For more information, see
The RTA guide to choosing a child restraint .

Car seat tips

• Make sure your child restraint is fitted to the height and weight of the child (see above information).

• Correctly fit the child restraint in your car:

  Make sure there is enough room in the back seat of your car so the child restraint can fit — the centre position of the back seat is best to protect your child from side collisions.

  Be sure your car has enough appropriate anchor points for the number of restraints you need to fit.

  For booster seats, make sure you have a centre lap/sash belt — this is safer than just using a lap belt. Make sure the seatbelts are long enough to use with the booster seat.

  Never install a child seat in the front passenger seat if your car has an airbag. An airbag can hurt or kill your child in a crash. Children are always safer in the back seat, but if you don't have a back seat, slide the front passenger seat as far back as you can and if your child is more than eight kilograms, then use a forward-facing child seat or booster seat on the passenger seat. It is not recommended, however, that children travel in the front passenger seat and in some states of Australia it is illegal to have a baby capsule in the front passenger seat.
  

• Don't rush to the next seat. If your child can physically fit into their seat, leave them in the one they are in. Parents often upgrade their child's restraint too early.