Studies show how a child restraint system helps minimize childhood injuries inside the vehicle, and how the quality of the product and its correct placement allows reducing injuries by up to 75% in case of accident or impact.
This year RACE and the rest of European Club cars have participated in an analysis of Child Retention Systems (SRI), in order to develop assessment elements that help us (parents) in the purchase and use of child seats. It is intended to improve the safety of children traveling in cars. Let's talk about the new standard (i - Size) is an evolution in the safety of SRIs and is applicable to car seats with ISOFIX system. Current regulations (ECE - R 44) will live for a while with the new apply, and will regulate the car seats that are fastened with the vehicle belt, and the ISOFIX chairs. i - Size, has been designed to offer additional protection and greater safety, as it increases head and neck supports, as well as greater protection against side impact
What is the new i - Size approval standard?
Products must exceed one side crash test to obtain approval. In this way, a requirement is introduced that has been proposed by the clubs for years.
As of now, the child restraint system should not be selected based on the child's weight, as before, but based on your height. In this context, the manufacturer will be able to determine to what height range his SRI is directed (for example, from 40 cm to 100 cm high), suppressing the division of the chairs into categories.
All children must travel seated with your back to the direction of the march until 15 months (condition applicable only to SRIs approved under the new directive and to products with ECE-R 44 approval).
Also Isofix child seats with support support may obtain universal approval, although only for use in cars with seats with a special signage (suitable according to "i-size"). It is expected that the first cars with these seats with special signage will go on sale from 2014.
At present, it is not planned to prohibit the use of approved SRIs in accordance with ECE-R 44
For those parents who already have an SRI, the new regulations will not change. It will be allowed to continue using previously acquired SRIs (Of course, provided they have not been modified).
And what if we need to buy a safety seat now? RACE indicates that “parents who need a new SRI will be able to continue buying approved products according to ECE-R 44 for now, and when the first products approved according to the market are launched to the new regulations, they should be adequately informed about whether it is possible to use these SRIs in their vehicles ”.
