Foreign seats in Canada?

It is still illegal to use a UK/Irish seat in Canada isn't it? My friend is using a maxi-cosi axiss in her car for her 20month old and she has had it checked by a tech here and they said it was a great seat and it was fine to use here

I always thought it was illegal so a little confused now. They are also using an irish infant seat on a smaller baby aswell which is a 3 point harness and the tech also told them that was fine,

Wow, I am really, really surprised that a tech said that! Yes, it is illegal to use a foreign seat in Canada. Seats used in Canada must have the maple leaf sticker and must be in accordance with CMVSS.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/safedrivers-childsafety-notices-2007c09-menu-353.htm


She's a resident of Canada? Or just visiting?

That is exactly what I thought and said to them and they said they had been to the seat check and got their install fixed and was told it was all good. Yep they are resident of Canada now. They have Canadian seats in one car but the foreign seats in the other one.

Unfortunately, there are different qualities of training across Canada, some involve going in to regulations, and others are very basic. It's hard to say what the case is here, but it's possible that the tech who helped her wasn't trained to the full amount of information that would be needed to give accurate information to parents.

Would it be possible to point her to this thread? Or encourage her to start her own thread?

We are in Saskatchewan so no private techs so hard to tell how good a tech it was. They have Canadian seats in 1 car and then the Irish seats in the other car. When the infant seat is outgrown they will be down to just 1 Irish seat as they will replace it with a Canadian seat.

I dont think they will listen its illegal now after being told by this tech its good, it doesnt help the only car seats around here are all AOE's so to them their 2 maxi cosi's are alot more sturdier and better quality. I'm working on getting them to keep rearfacing the baby when it out grows the infant seat and they like the look of the peg rearfacing so I might win that battle. No chance getting them to turn the 30lb 20month old though, i already tried.

I had no idea. We live in Michigan and drove through ON to get to upstate NY with a total of four kids in restraints and it never crossed my mind. Are most American seats ok or were we breaking the law?

Julia B said:

I had no idea. We live in Michigan and drove through ON to get to upstate NY with a total of four kids in restraints and it never crossed my mind. Are most American seats ok or were we breaking the law?

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If you're a US citizen visiting Canada you're fine to keep using your seats when you visit the country, but Canadians are required to use seats which are certified to CMVSS standards. Most US seats can't meet our standards the way they are sold down there and are modified in order to be sold in our market. In some seats it's extra foam in the head area, in some it is actual additions to the shell, in others it is a difference in instructions, and in others we have actual different designs. (The Peg Perego convertible for instance has an ARB in Canada while it's US counterpart doesn't.)

There are a number of differences between US and Canadian standards that make it important for Canadians to only purchase seats certified to CMVSS standards. I can't even begin to contrast Irish standards with Canadian since I don't know what standards they use - EU maybe?

At any rate, no properly trained technician would say it was ok to use a foreign seat and I would question every other piece of information they were given if the tech who helped them wasn't aware of something as basic as the legal requirement for Canadian residents to use Canadian seats.

I have remarked on how cool, the UK seats that I see here now and then, but always mention how they are not legal for use here.

I did have a drool over a really nice Bebe Confort Creatis with High Trek stroller combo a number of years ago, mom was local but living in France and was only using it outside the car, baby rode in a Canadian spec carseat while in the vehicle.

bbartlettnfld said:

I have remarked on how cool, the UK seats that I see here now and then, but always mention how they are not legal for use here.

I did have a drool over a really nice Bebe Confort Creatis with High Trek stroller combo a number of years ago, mom was local but living in France and was only using it outside the car, baby rode in a Canadian spec carseat while in the vehicle.

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Yeah, I definitely think seeing some of these seats is cool - but, it's very different to go from drooling to "here, let me help you with this illegal seat and while I'm at it I'll tell you you can keep using it because it doesn't matter"

I've seen some cool European ff'ing harness seats and marvelled over how the belt path really was so different - and in the sentence before and after that, told them they have to buy a Canadian seat, lol.