New carseat laws?

[little bean]

Does anybody know what the new car seat laws are, and when they are coming in?

DD is just over 2 but is very tall for her age. She must be 15 or 16kg by now. My current carseat only goes up to 18kg, so I've been starting to think about booster seats.

I was thinking about buying a vario max and using it with a protecta harness. Will this meet the new laws? I don't want to go and buy something only to find out I can't use it!

[Zada]

according to the new laws, any child under the age of 4 must be restrained in a car seat with a BUILT in 5 point harness. So no, a H or protecta harness wont pass. You'd need to invest in a maxi rider or something

[little bean]

So does the harness on a maxirider go past 18kg?

In my other car, I have a convertible booster seat but the 5-point harness has to be tucked away at 18kg, and then you use the seatbelt with or without a harness (so, I guess that's not considered 5-point). Seems crazy... from what I understand, I can use this now with the inbuilt harness... then once the new laws come in, if DD reaches 18kg before she's four years old, I won't be able to use that seat (because the harness doesn't carry a heavy enough load.) Once she's four, I can use it again. What the?!

DD will definitely be 18kg before she gets to four years old... so that leaves very few options! :confused: I'll need a carseat that has a five-point harness that carries more than 18kg. Is the Maxirider the only one that would comply with the new laws?

[Zada]

unfortunatly yea they only go to 18kg. You may have to ring the rta and see what your other options are

[little bean]

ok, thanks for that.

Dd's very tall but not overweight or anything. I'm sure there must be many, many others out there in the same situation.

I'll wait til the last second to buy another seat - I guess if they are going to change the laws, they'll need to actually sell carseats that reflect the changes!!:laughing:

[gizmoduckus]

Yes, it's hard to understand but the laws will be going by age instead of weight so it will be illegal for you to have her in a harness before the age of 4.

[little bean]

Yeah, it doesn't make sense - I can't put her in a harness (because it's illegal) but I can't put her in a five-point harness either(because she'll be too heavy)!! Don't know what I'm supposed to do!

(Hopefully they will sort it all out before these mysterious new laws come in. I had a look on the RTA website and there was no mention about any changes, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to find out.)

[Sheer Bliss]

You will be able to put her in an appropriate car seat for her weight, regardless of the laws. I read through the 'testing' paper they prepared when putting these laws together ( i just googled it an d stumbled accross it.

They realised that there will be a % of children that cannot compy with the laws (i think they estimated about 3%) BUT most parents know their childrens age, not all know their weight so thought that MOST children will be appropriately restrained if they used age as a guide to make sure 97% would be in those seats.

It's not like you carry your childrens birth certificates with you, and if your child looks older (size wise) then you are not likely to get questioned by a police officer and have to argue the point.

Simply there ARE not seats currently in Australia that allow for a 18+kg child to be in a 5-pt harness. My DS is 2 and 16kg, so he might well be over 18kg by the time he is 4. He will stay in his 5-pt maxi-rider until he is over the weight limit for it, then the protecta harness in the maxi. Until they have the seats in Aust to comply with the laws - there will always be the loophole you can get out of it if your child is bigger. The laws are there to protect the children, not raise revenue by penalising those with larger children.

They aren't in in NSW yet anyway. And it really makes no difference to me...my babies will be rearward facing for as long as possible and in a car-seat with harness for as long as possible, regardless of their age.

ETA Maxis are apparently tested with a 22kg crash test dummy too, so it seems weird that the limit is 18kg!!