Question Are European seats really safer than US?

[khanbulgarski]

I am from Europe and I just ordered my second American child seat, because here

a) as soon as the child is 24 pound they have to go FF

b) as soon as the child is 40 pound they have to sit using 3 point seat belts

I didn't like that and though even there are rumors that European standards are more advanced than US ones I still want my children to sit longer RF and in a 5 point harness. The hell with the different standards and all. For me to think that 80 million or so American children are in a greater danger than Europen when riding in a vehicle sound impossible. Am I right or not? Am I right to have trusted my chidren' safety in American rather than in European seats? I hate to think I have done a mistake.

Would be most interested to hear your comments.
Sincerely.

 

[wendytthomas]

I don't know that ours are safer when used properly. But it's well known that rear facing as long as possible is beneficial. Scandinavians are well advanced there, rear facing for 40+ years to 4-6 years old. But then they don't use harnessed seats forward facing, they go straight to boosters.

In the US we have many seats that harness beyond 40 pounds, so we can get kids to a mature booster age easily. Whether or not it's necessary to harness longer is unknown, but at least we can get kids to an age where they can sit properly in a booster. We don't have to worry about 40 pound two year olds in boosters and nothing more.

But I don't think a rear facing six month old in either location, or a forward facing harnessed 3.5 year old in either location is safer than the other.. We just have more option.

I think Europe is ahead of us in booster requirements, though. Don't they require a booster until 12 or something (even a backless)?

Wendy

 

[TechnoGranola]

If you're in Europe, you should be able to use any seat approved to European standards, correct? In that case, you could get a Swedish rear-facing seat and use it legally and it would have a higher weight and heigh limit than any of the U.S. seats. I know if I could use a Swedish RF seat legally, I'd totally get one!

I think Europe is ahead of us in booster requirements, though. Don't they require a booster until 12 or something (even a backless)?

I'm pretty sure this is the case in Germany, but not sure if it's all over Europe?

 

[delgirrrl]

I'm in NZ, and until recently we could only get NZ/AUS standard seats which RF to a maximum of 12kg and FF to a maximum of 18kg. Most European seats (Swedish aside) have the same limits.

I believe our standard of seats is very high. But they are limiting. When I had DS I did huge amounts of research and bought what I believed (and still believe) to be the best NZ/AUS seat available. But at 8 months he was too heavy to RF. At that point, clearly any standard seat which offered RF beyond that would have been safer than an NZ/AUS seat for him.
When he got to 2 years 2 months, he was 18kg. Again, any standard harnessed seat would have been safer for him than an NZ/AUS standard seat.

I imported seats because our seats were not suitable due to their weight limitations.

In Europe, you can legally use a Swedish seat, allowing RF to 25kg. Most would probably agree that if you have a 22kg then the safest seat you could ever use would be a swedish seat. One of the swedish seats also goes to 25kg FF.

IMHO if you have a child under 4/5 who weighs over 18kg, and you don't want to use a Swedish seat, then a US seat with a higher weight limit would be safer. Likewise, any seat which offers RF in beyond 12kg offers your child more protection as they get older.