Half of Aussie parents are installing child seats incorrectly

New research has revealed that nearly half of Australian parents are installing their child’s car seat incorrectly.

Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) recently surveyed 400 Aussie parents to find that 90 per cent read the instructions supplied with new restraints. However, of those, many installed them incorrectly or did not strap their child in safely.

Presenting the findings at the Safety 2018 World Conference in Bangkok earlier this month, NeuRA Associate Professor Julie Brown put forward a simple solution: better instructions.

“Research undertaken at NeuRA identified a critical relationship between comprehension of instructional materials and errors in use,” said Dr Brown.

“This suggested instructional materials in their current form may not be effective in communicating how to use restraints correctly, and that we may need to take a new approach to how instructional materials are regulated in product standards.”

The NeuRA research asked those surveyed to install a forward-facing Britax seat in the rear seat of a car and then secure a dummy, using instructions supplied by the manufacturer.

Without a professional on hand, the most common errors included incorrect use of tethers and seat belts to secure the seat into the car, straps placed too high or too low and too loose or too tight on the child, and the seat improperly configured between rear-facing and forward-facing use.

Dr Brown and her team then consulted those surveyed to develop new instructional materials, before finally settling on a format in which 80 per cent of participants were able to comprehend and follow the instructions.

“Instead of a group of experts sitting around a table developing user guidelines, we asked parents to work with us to develop and drive new instructions, and to then road test them as part of our ongoing research to review and deliver correct comprehension and proper use of installation guidelines,” Dr Brown said.

The improved instructions comprise A3-sized instruction sheets, tags fixed to the restraint and access to an online video that demonstrates the process.

The revisions saw a 27 per cent improvement in correct seat installation, stakeholders said.

The World Health Organisation says correctly installed child restraints reduced deaths among infants by about 70 per cent.

Figures show that incorrect installation can increase the risk of injury in a child by three times.

Australia overhauled its restaint legislation in 2014 with the approval of ISOFIX child seats.