Counterfeit child car seats putting children in danger

Published: 09/11/2012

A growing number of fake child car seats are being sold to unsuspecting parents in the UK.

The seats, which are readily available online and via auction sites, are often very poor, offering children very little protection in a road traffic accident.

These products, which both look and feel like the genuine article, are often difficult to differentiate between and therefore are naturally enticing to parents who are looking to save money and snap up a seemingly quality product at a bargain price.

Hamish McPhillips is from the Transport Research Laboratory’s Child Safety Centre:

“It is very difficult to recognise these counterfeits, because on initial inspection they can look very similar to the genuine items.

“A recent crash test performed by TRL on what was suspected to be a counterfeit product resulted in the seat coming apart.

“While the seat appeared to have appropriate safety ratings, the instruction manual was in poorly written English, a clear marker that it is counterfeit.”

Parents are advised to look for an orange label on the product. This denotes it has been officially tested and approved and has met Government safety standards.

Content correct at time of publication