Backless booster seats a safety risk, Which? saysWe want backless booster seats to be phased out
21 June 2010
Almost half (47%) of four to 12 year olds are at risk of serious injury if the car they're travelling in is hit from the side, Which? research has revealed.
In May, we surveyed more than 1,000 parents of children aged between four and 12 who should by law be using a child car seat.
Our poll revealed that 17% don't use any child seat and a further 30% use backless booster cushions - which, although they meet legal requirements, offer inferior protection to full-sized seats in side-on crashes.
We are warning parents to be very wary of using backless booster seats, due to the low level of protection they can offer.
View this video to see the difference a seat back can make to a booster's crash safety.
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The above video shows two Which? crash tests of the Sunshine Kids Monterey seat, which has a removable backrest. If used with the backrest, the Monterey offers good protection, scoring 68% in our safety tests.
But without the back - which the on-seat instructions say you can remove for children weighing more than 15kg - it scores 20% overall. It earns just one star (out of a possible five) for side-impact protection as the child is exposed to serious risk of injury.
Peter Vicary-Smith, Chief Executive of Which?, says: 'Every year in the UK, around 30 children under 12 years old are killed while travelling in cars, and a further 300 are seriously injured – kids might pile the pressure on parents not to have to sit in a full car seat when they get a bit older, but it could mean the difference between life and death.
'Nobody who has seen the footage of a side impact collision on our website would choose to use a backless booster seat – while they’re better than using no car seat at all, they simply don’t provide enough protection.'
Which? is calling on manufacturers and retailers to phase out backless boosters. It is very unlikely these seats will pass more stringent legal requirements for child seats expected to arrive in 2012.
Child Safety Week 2010
Our call for action on backless booster seats coincides with Child Safety Week, an initiative by the Child Accident Prevention Trust that aims to raise awareness of the number of accidents that seriously injure or kill children and how to prevent them.
View our exclusive content on Child Safety Week to find out why we are also calling for more education on child car seat fitting.