There was a change in the car seat law recently, it was to do with backless booster seats, or ‘booster cushions’. I do remember hearing about it but as we weren’t using backless booster seats I didn’t take much notice.
The new law basically states that as of March 2017 any booster cushions in production will need to be restricted to older children, those over 22kg or 125cm in height. Anyone who owned one for their younger child before the law change will still be able to use it though.
Halfords have put together this really useful article explaining it all so if the law applies to you then you can make sure you understand it fully. In the article Halfords are saying that they still recommend high back booster seats for children between 15kg and 22kg and I definitely agree with that. Given that you can get high back booster seats for kids up to the age of 12 we wouldn’t even think about using a backless one.
Tiger is just 15kg but we still have him in his harness in a group 1 car seat because he’s quite little and doesn’t look too big for it yet. It says you can use it until the child is 18kg so I think we will keep him in it until then but when he has reached that weight we will swap to a high back booster.
One like this Recaro Monza Nova from Halfords. It’s suitable from 15 – 36kg (3 to 12 years approximately), has an adjustable head rest and also had a pretty cool feature.. you can plug the speakers into an electronic device allowing them to listen to their own music. You don’t need batteries for it, we plugged my phone in and the kids thought it was awesome how the sound came out the car seat! It also has side impact protection and an air circulation system.
Halfords also offer free fitting demonstrations if you visit one of their stores. You can see their full range of car seats here.
This is what it looks like in our (very messy) car, just to give you an idea. It won’t be going in the front because there’s an airbag but I need Matt to take the other one out as I don’t know how to put it back in again! This one is super simple and just sits on the seat with the belt going over the top but the other one has a harness and I’ve never put it in myself, that’s really bad isn’t it?! I just leave all car stuff to Matt which one day I must change 😉
Thanks to Halfords for working with us on this post and don’t forget to head over and check out the new car seat laws.
