Younger, lighter passengers represent a unique challenge to engineers working in road and car safety. For parents of young children, choosing the right child seat and making sure it is properly attached are key questions.

What’s the law regarding children in cars?

Recent legislation introduced in September 2006, dictates that children up to 1.5m (4' 11") tall or who weigh up to 35kg (five stone nine pounds) must be protected with some form of seated support if travelling in a vehicle.

This can vary from a baby seat for young children up to a booster cushion for older children, generally children up to the age of 12.

A child must not be carried in the front seat of a car placed in a rearward-facing child seat where there is a passenger side airbag active. Indeed, it is a good idea not to sit a child in the front seat of a car with an active airbag at all, regardless of whether or not it is rearward facing.

Airbags are designed to fire within certain tolerances and to restrain passengers within tolerances. A child's bones and physical structure is too delicate to be properly protected by a firing airbag. An airbag might restrain an adult with minimal injury but the force of the airbag could be too great for a child's smaller frame and softer bones to withstand.

Children under three must be carried in a vehicle in the correct child seat, the only exception being a taxi. A child in the back of a regular passenger car can wear a normal, adult restraint if the child is sharing a seat with two other properly restrained children and there is no room for a third child seat.

Until May 2009, drivers in Ireland can also sit a child unrestrained in a rear seat if there are no suitable restraints available.

According to the Road Safety Authority (www.nsc.ie) unrestrained children are especially vulnerable to the dangers on the roads. Fifty-nine children under the age of 16 who were unrestrained were killed in accidents between 1996 and 2003 according to the RSA.

The RSA can be contacted for information on info@rsa.ie.

Remember that the restraint of children under the age of 16 is legally the responsibility of the drivers.

Which seat?

Rearward-facing child seats are used for the youngest passengers as children that age have delicate neck bones and muscles and these seats effectively lay the child flat.

The fact that they are rearward-facing protects the child's face from flying debris such as glass. It also prevents the child's head from being thrown forward on impact, something that could not be guaranteed on a forward-facing seat even if the child was lying flat.

There are two groups of rearward-facing child seats; Group 0 covers children up to 22lbs or 10kgs while Group 0+ covers children up to 13kgs or 29lbs. As a rule you should be moving from 0 to 0+ at about 9 months.

The forward-facing seat option has practical benefits as it elevates the child as well as allowing the child to face forward which gives him/her a better view of other people in the car and the world outside.

Group 1 child seats are suitable for children weighing roughly 9 to 18kgs or 20lbs to 40lbs. The good news about Group 1 child seats is that they will last from when the child is nine months to three years so you will get good use out of it.

Group 2 is also a forward-facing seat and is effectively a booster seat. These are used for children from four to six years and weighing 15kgs to 25kgs or 33lbs to 55lbs. Some of these booster seats are designed to have a removable back rest so when the child grows, the seat can be modified to a Group 3 booster seat although it is important to check the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Group 3 is the final phase of child seats. Group 3 seats are just boosters that allow shorter or smaller people to be elevated up to meet the seatbelt. They are suitable for children weighing from 22kgs to 36kgs or 48lbs to 79lbs; the age group being roughly six to 12 years.

Which? magazine conducted tests on child car seats in 2005 and published their results.

What is Isofix?

Isofix is very important if you have children and are buying a new car. It is an ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) for child seats.

Specifically, Isofix child seats bypass the need to have the child and the seat restrained by a seat belt. Special clasps bolt directly to the car via compatible clasps fitted to the car in the factory. One clasp at the top and two clasps at the base of the seat bolt directly onto anchor points in the seat. Most new cars now have Isofix.

The idea behind it is that it makes the fitting of a child seat easier, quicker and more reliable; it eliminates the possibility if incorrectly fitting a child seat, which can be an issue with a conventional child seat.

The system is standardised in the United States, where it goes by the name of Latch, but it is not a requirement by law in new cars in Europe. This is relevant if you plan to buy a used car because some manufacturers make Isofix an optional extra.

Isofix mounting points in the seats are usually indicated with markings.

More information on the Isofix system, which is highly regarded in the industry, can be found on www.iso.org.

What about the car manufacturers?

Most car manufacturers work in conjunction with child seat manufacturers and dealers will be able to advise customers on the best child seats that can be fitted to their chosen car.

Euro NCAP (www.euroncap.com) also regularly crash-tests new cars with child seats and child-sized crash dummies installed in them. They publish these results under the child protection rating.

Most modern cars now come with front passenger side airbags that can be deactivated in most cases. The deactivating of the airbag is usually done with the ignition key and is not permanent; the airbag can be reactivated using the key again. The owner’s handbook will direct you.

Most cars usually have clear labelling directing users on how to deactivate the airbag and where to do it.

Any practical advice?

If you are in an accident, replace the child seat even if it looks fine. Child seats are built to very high tolerances but the integrity of the seat could be compromised by the impact.

Most child seats have a certain recommended life span - check the booklet the child seat comes with.

Some child seats, even if they are not involved in a collision, can only be safely used within the recommended lifespan.

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