Child safety

Stage 3 - Moving to a booster seat

Use a safety-approved car seat for as long as your child is within its recommended height and weight range.

Age isn’t important when it comes to using the most suitable car seat. When your child has outgrown the child car seat, move them to a booster seat. A booster seat with a guide that keeps the safety belt on their shoulder away from the neck is best.

Help keep your child safe
•    Put the booster seat in the back seat of the vehicle as this is the safest place.
•    Use a booster seat with an adult lap/sash safety belt, never with an adult lap belt only.
•    A child harness can be used with a booster seat or with the child sitting on the vehicle seat.
•    A booster seat without a back can be good for older children.
•    There are also other devices on the market that hold the vehicle safety belt in the correct place when the child is sitting on the vehicle seat. These are all right to use providing the instructions are followed and the child is within the recommended weight range for the product.

Moving from a booster seat to the vehicle safety belt
Your child can move out of a booster seat when they are tall enough for the adult safety belt to fit correctly when they sit on the vehicle seat. Many children need a booster seat until they are around 12 years of age.

•    The diagonal part of the safety belt must cross their shoudlers not their neck
•    The lap part of the safety belt must cross their pelvis, touching the thighs, not up around their tummy.
•    They should be able to sit right back on the vehicle seat with their knees bent over the seat edge.
 

If you have any questions about car seats ask for advice from a Safe2go technician at a Plunket car seat rental scheme,  another hire outlet or your retailer.