american Carseat - do the meet the Australian Standard?

[Kaidyns mumma]

Well i have a 14 month old who is growing out of his regualr baby car seat, and im looking in to buying an american car seat which is one of the e way convirtible car seats and one of the features i like most about it is the rear facing as he wills till be able to go rear facing for awhile, and well my only problem is i dont know if it fits the Australian Standards, im not sure if you will be able to help me or not since you are an american, but ive called around everywhere i have been told too and i cant seem to get a straight answer and i dont want to spend the money on it and it not be the australian standards, the reason im looking at an american car seat is because its about a half the price of the car seats here and alot better, so if you could help me that would be great.

Mel xox

[leebeeag]

All American carseats will NOT meet Australian standards, having said that i have imported 3 britax seats from the USA and use them all here for our boys ,as the Australian standard seats just dont cut it in my books...
it does cost alot especially once you add postage but i have NO regret doing so, and will do time and time again to prevent my sons being injured or worse.

pm me if you want any more info.

[hipmaman]

All American carseats will NOT meet Australian standards,

Do we know for sure that they do not meet Australian standards? Or is this the case of US seats have not been tested against Australian standards, therefore it's an unknown performance issue?

Thanks.

[ketchupqueen]

It's that part of the Australian Standard is that it has to be tested and certified against the Australian Standard. If it doesn't bear the certification labeling, it can't be used, same as Canadian, or EU, or US standards. A seat MAY meet the standard but if it hasn't been through their specific testing process, it can't be used. There's no reciprocity.

[Kaidyns mumma]

thanks you for your replies

I looked around for australian car seats and i found one and bought it yesturday, its not the most expenisve on the self but it has all; the same features as the top notch ones so that was good enough for me, Im still trying to work it out and testing Kaidyn in it, so hopefully i will sort it out soon lol, i wish American car seats where to Australian standards, the American car seats look alot better and safer then the ones we have, i like alot of things in the american car seats that we dont have here, hopefully they will make our car seats the same as american soon

once again thanks for all your help


Mel xox

[Adventuredad]

Some Australian choose to import the Swedish rear facing seats which enable rear facing far longer than any other seats. These seats allow 25 kg rear facing and most kids can sit rear facing until age 5. Certification is the same as with US, they are not technically legal since they are certified for Europe according to ECE R44.