Pushchairs: How we test
Our tests consist of 3 main elements: safety and durability tests, an expert assessment of its comfort and usability for the parent and child, and a parents' convenience panel.
Testing on stairs
Parent panel
Parents with young children aged between 6 and 36 months put the strollers through their paces on pavements, bumpy ground, stairs and around obstacles.
They rate how easy the chair is to push, steer, fold, carry, adjust to suit their child, and comment on aspects such as its appearance and useful features.
Pushchairs are rated less highly if they possess for wobbly frames or handlebars, difficulty in folding, lifting and carrying, uncomfortable handles and inconvenient shopping baskets.
We brave beef stew with vegetables, so you don't have to
Expert assessment
Our lab experts consider:
- the ergonomic aspects of each pushchair – ie how effectively it's designed to cater for each of the people who might use it
- how suitable each chair is for children of different ages - will particularly large or small children will find it comfortable?
- how easy it is to use by a carer, checking it has no features that'll make it particularly unpleasant or difficult to push
- how easy it is to transport folded, on public transport and by car
- how easily the fabric can be cleaned of fruit puree and beef stew
Safety and durability testing
Durability testing
We check whether each pushchair complies with the current British Standard BS 7409:1996 and also BS EN 1888:2003 for more recent pushchairs.
We test to both Standards because to be sold legally in the UK a pushchair must comply with the British Standard. But we think the newer standard has some useful tests in it too, especially those that investigate what might happen in an accident. So we take a belt and braces approach to your child's safety.
The pushchairs are put through more than 30 tests. These include:
- strength and stability
- quality of construction
- presence of choking hazards
- arm, leg or finger traps
- the quality of the restraints
- brakes
- locking mechanisms.
Every pushchair is also wheeled for approximately 28 km along a very bumpy treadmill track to test how it will stand up to a life of uneven pavements, potholes and kerbs.