Last Updated On November 20th, 2018
The fact that traveling in a car involves a considerable amount of risk cannot be overemphasized. Thus, taking the necessary safety precautions such as fastening the seat belts is not only reasonable but also essential. However, traveling with a child or a baby can pose extra ordinary difficulties because the ordinary seats and seat belts are made for adults. Nevertheless, you can address this challenge by buying baby car seats and installing them appropriately. Although a baby car seat can be anchored to the ordinary car seats with a seat belt, this can be risky in the event of a misfit. It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that your car seats have an ISOFIX system to anchor a baby’s seat solidly to your car.
What is the ISOFIX?
ISOFIX stands for International Standards Organizations Fix. It is a relatively new standard for car and car seats manufacturers. The system is also called Lower Universal Anchorage System (LUAS) or Canfix in Canada. Americans also call it Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH). Ideally, the ISOFIX system is designed to allow you to safely anchor a baby’s car seat on one or more seats of your car in the surest way possible.
Is ISOFIX safer than a regular car seat?
According to crash test performance research, there is no evidence that ISOFIX seats can protect a child in more effective way than a regular seat. In other words, a regular car seat can protect a child just as a car seat with ISOFIX fixture. However, there is one very critical thing that makes ISOFIX fittings worthy of the attention they have been receiving. The basic idea of the ISOFIX fitting is that it does away with the need to secure a baby’s car seat to a car using adult seat belts. Consequently, it eliminates or significantly reduces the risk associated with mistakes which occur as a result of human error and incorrect fitting of children’s car seats. This is particularly important because it is estimated that about 80% of baby’s car seats anchored to cars with adult seat belts are fitted incorrectly.
Incorrectly fitted children’s car seats are extremely dangerous because they cannot provide the required support in case of car accidents. ISOFIX seats eliminate or reduce the chances of incorrect fitting of children’s car seats, and therefore, they improve your children’s chances of survivals in the event of a car crash.
Other benefits of ISOFIX car seats
Other than reducing the risk of misfit, other pros associated with ISOFIX car seats compared to ordinary car seats include;
- ISOFIX is easy and fast; it takes just a click to anchor a child’s car seat solidly to the car
- The top tether trap or an extra support leg enhances stability to keep your child safe
- Booster seats can also be secured with ISOFIX
- ISOFIX has been proven to be safe in crash tests
Take Away
Overall, it is apparent that although there is no a significant difference of ISOFIX fitted children car seats and those properly anchored with seat belts, ISOFIX seats eliminate the chances misfit. Thus, car seats without ISOFIX are not as safe as those with ISOFIX.