how to choose a car seat for a child?

It is essential to place your child in an approved car seat. While every parent wants the safest, choosing the right equipment can be a headache.

The equation is now simplified for choosing a car seat: since September 1, 2024, only car seats meeting one of these standards, the R 129, which is also nicknamed “I-Size”, can be marketed. Car seats are listed according to the child’s height, not weight. Before, the equipment was distributed by weight group: those under 10 kilograms, those under 13 kilograms, the group of children weighing between 9 and 18 kilograms. It was complicated to navigate. With the R129 standard, the only one available on new products, it is much simpler. It’s the same logic as when you buy clothes: you will find, for example, the range 45 to 75 centimeters authorized for a seat, and directly indicated above.

This new standard extends the period during which children must be seated rear-facing. With the previous standard, it was nine kilograms, which a child could reach at six months. Now it’s at least up to 15 months, and it can go beyond, in a suitable seat. This standard also provides that seats are subject to stricter crash tests, to better protect the child’s head because a baby is not muscular enough at the cervical level to resist rapid braking or to a frontal impact. Finally, this standard generalizes the Isofix fixing system. Hooks that attach directly to the anchor points provided on vehicles (all new cars are equipped since 2011).

A child must be placed in a car seat up to 10 years old. There, we install them on a booster seat with backrest, in the back. This may sound big, but a quarter of children under the age of 10 killed on the road, as passengers, were unrestrained. It’s important… And then it will also save you a fine of 135 to 750 euros, if a child is not properly restrained.