ISOFIX Baby Car Seats explained
Author: MotorTorque Team
Published: 21 October 2005
If you ever drive with infants and children in the car, you may want to make sure that your car has ISOFIX fittings. This article explains what they are, how they came about, and why they are a good idea.
Why ISOFIX car seats?
Before ISOFIX, the only way to fix a baby seat in a car was by using the seatbelts. There are many flaws with this: All car seats and seat-belt systems are different, and there is research which indicates that a seat-belt designed to restrain an adult isn’t the best way to install a child seat. Another reason is that it is fiddly and it is too easy to make a mistake: According to the Automobile Association, up to 80% of people don’t fit their child seats in their cars correctly - a mistake that could potentially cost a life in the case of an accident. ISOFIX - which stands for International Organisation for Standardisation Fix - aims to address this problem, by adding attachments points for infant and child seats in the car. After a period of trial involving 4 anchor points, the final ISOFIX standard came with 2 attachment points - a trade-off between the higher safety of the 4-point system, and the time it takes to actually install and remove a child seat in the car.The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) are currently working on a 3-point anchor standard, but no final decisions have yet been made.
Is my baby safe with ISOFIX
Yes and no - experts agree that the 4- or 3-point ISOFIX systems would be far better and much safer than today’s 2-point system, so the new system isn’t as safe as it could be. However - the 2-point ISOFIX child seat restraint system is still far safer than the old seatbelt-based system. If you want your child to be as safe as possible, ISOFIX is the way forward.See Also:
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