Side impact protectors on car seats

With all that information available online, sometimes it can be difficult for you to make a choice about the best items for your baby. From all the things you need for your baby's well-being, the car seat is the most important one; we want you to have all the knowledge about car seats so that you can make the best decision about which one to buy.

An interest aspect from car seats is the one related to SIDE PROTECTIONS. It is possible that you may be wrong about some features of these important pieces on the car seat.

We don't want to scare you talking about traffic accidents, but seeing the statistics is important to understand the importance of choosing the right car seat for your baby. According to DGT (Spain), the number of traffic accidents inside cities is twice as big than accidents on roads outside cities. Although it is important to note that the severity of injuries in city accidents is generally less than in accidents outside cities.

A lot of people think that the correct use of a car seat is not that important because "they only drive inside the city". Inside cities, most of the accident involve a side impact or a frontal-side impact to the car, so definitely it is important for the car seats to have a good side protection.

It's usual to see parents in shops asking for car seats with side protectors, thinking that those side protectors are the little "wings" that car seats have on both sides. That erroneus reasoning leads them to make a poor choice about the car seat.

It is false that all car seats with those "wings" protect your baby from side impacts, but it is also false that if the car seat doesn't have the "wings", it won't protect your baby.

In order to easily understand this, we have to see two concepts: normative and marketing.

Normative on side impact tests for infant retention systems

There are two normatives regarding safety on car seats: R-44/04 and the new R-129, also known as iSize. This new normative is more demanding than the old one, and one of the requirements is that all iSize car seats are put to test on side impacts using Q-series dummies. A dummy is a special mannequin for safety tests, designed to resemble a real human being, and the Q-series dummies are the ones with most number of sensors. This means that all iSize car seats have passed the side impact test so generally they are safer. Even if you don't see the little "wings" on the sides of the car seat, if it has iSize normative, it will protect your baby against side impacts. There can also be car seats with R-44/04 normative that include side protections even if the normative doesn't demand it. So maybe an R-44/04 normative with side protections will also protect your baby correctly.

Marketing on side impact protectors.

Even if car seats are designed to be increasingly safer for babies, and the tests are more demanding, for many people is still very important what they CAN SEE on the car seat. If you see that the car seat has external elements to protect your baby in case of a side impact, you will think that is safer than othe car seat that doesn't have them, or that has them but they are internal and you can't see them. This is marketing.

In conclusion, if the car seat has the iSize standard, it will protect your baby against side impacts, rather you see the protectors or not.

If you have any more doubts regarding safety on car seats, email us or go to any specialized store. At ASALVO, we are compromised with your baby's safety and we want you to have as much information and knowledge as possible.