Car seat safety first, with Maxi-Cosi

July 11, 2016

Did you know 71% of children’s car seats are fitted incorrectly*, or are completely incompatible to the car or the child? But that there’s an easy way to get your car seat safety and set-up checked, completely free?

We’ve been working with Maxi-Cosi and last week went on a mini road trip across south London with our new 2WayPearl car seat to find out if we’d installed it correctly and see what goes on behind the scenes at Good Egg Safety car seat safety checks.

MaxiCos 2Way Pearl rearward facing car seat - review

Good Egg Safety is an independent organisation supported by brands including Maxi-Cosi, and it offers free safety checks on car seats to see that they’re installed correctly are the correct fit for your child.

Take a look at the video we made of our trip that takes a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on, along with lots of tips from the Good Egg Safety expert on things like the new i-Size regulations, the importance of rear facing seats for younger children. And an impromptu car disco:

So what happens at the Good Egg safety checks?
Car seat safety checks with Good Egg Safety

Car seat safety checks with Good Egg and Maxi Cosi

Car seat safety checks

  • The Good Egg Safety checks take place across the UK at a variety of locations (find your nearest one here). Ours was in the car park of the giant local Sainsbury’s
  • I was asked a few questions about the girls’ age, height and weight to check they were in the right stage of seat. I had no idea of the weight of either *terrible mother alert* – it’s not a massive issue but bear this in mind before you go!
  • The Good Egg Safety expert then checked the seat was installed properly in the car and then once Florence was sat in it, that the harness was on the right setting and the straps were tight enough

Car seat safety checks - Good Egg and Maxi Cosi

Good Egg Safety car seat checks

Car seat safety checks with MaxiCosi and Good Egg

  • She marked us against certain criteria but most importantly, pointed out how to fix any errors and made sure the seat was  set up as safely as possible
  • P.S. It’s all *free*

What car seat safety tips did we pick up?

As you can see in the video we picked up a lot of useful tips. Here’s the key info:

The importance of the new i-size regulations…I’d heard about these but not really known what they were or why. There’s a Maxi-Cosi infographic about it here which explains it all really clearly:

i-size regulations explained - infographic from Maxi-Cosi

How important rear facing is…We were sent the Maxi-Cosi 2Way Pearl seat and initially had it forward facing for the drive over (I hadn’t realised how much of a difference it made). There’s more info about i-Size and the importance of rear facing car seats here.

And here’s the car seat turned round accordingly.

Maxi Cosi 2Way Pearl stage 2 car seat

Other useful car seat safety tips we found out in the check

  • Babies are changed to forward facing far too early – the first stage car seats are often suitable for much longer than parents seem to think and can often be used up to 15 months
  • The most common mistake parents make is not having the straps tight enough. I knew this and thought ours were pretty tight, but they weren’t tight enough
  • Don’t put your child in the seat wearing a thick coat or snowsuit. Use thin layers, put a blanket over the top or put their coat on backwards over the top of the harness
  • While they’re sat in the car seat, don’t let them hold anything that you wouldn’t throw at their face (so, nothing heavier than a soft toy). In a crash everything accelerates so even a sippy cup will have the weight of a brick. This means no books, iPads and so on

One thing to stress about the checks is that it’s not about telling you off. It was our first time using the seat and we’ve never used the base before – as you see in the video there were a couple of errors we’d made, but it was about making sure we knew how to get it right. As we said on the way home, car seats are something that seem simple, can be easy to set-up wrong, but are crucial to get right.

Car seat safety tips - do you know how to correctly fit a child's car seat? Lots of tips and advice on car seat safety, plus new regulations and benefits of rear facing seats explained

I’ve been telling everyone I know about these car seat safety checks because it was so useful for us (and it only takes about five minutes if you’re off shopping anyway). So go go go!

Car seat safety checks

Thanks to Maxi-Cosi for working with us on this post and sending us the 2Way Pearl car seat and isofix base. * stat from Good Egg Safety.

More posts…read our SnuzPod review, how to get a baby on board badge and how not to leave the house

5 Comments

  • Alice

    July 11, 2016 at 11:29 am

    Car seats are so so so important… I think it should be law that we get their installation professionally checked. This is such a great service, and free! Amazing!

    PS: those dungarees are just ADORABLE.

  • Mel Wiggins

    July 11, 2016 at 11:38 pm

    Good grief, that is a list of things that has put the fear in me! I am guilty of so many slack car seat safety things, this is really helpful and I will be making some changes tomorrow! Thank you! x

  • Jess @ Along Came Cherry

    July 12, 2016 at 9:15 am

    This is such a good idea, I’ve always had their straps really tight but lately Tiger has been freaking out and starts pulling them off and screaming so I have to loosen them a bit. I always leave the installing them to Mr C as I just don’t think I would be able to do it properly. It’s such an important thing to do properly x

  • Polly

    July 12, 2016 at 9:52 pm

    We’ve just gotten a new rear facing seat for Beastie now we have a car, want to keep him rear facing for as long as poss. Great tips there – but I’d struggle on long journeys if he can’t have a sippy cup or his books :/

  • katie albury

    July 20, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    We’ve literally just upgraded our car seat for Elsie. It’s such a big scary responsible job fitting car seats and ensuring your babies are safe in the car so posts like this are really handy! x

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