Car seat conundrum

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
We are getting ready to move our family from the U.S. to Luzern. We have 4 young children, ages 2, 4, 4, and 7. I have read the car seat laws in Switzerland require them all to be in car seats, but I am unable to find information regarding at what age/height they can transition from a 5 point harness car seat to a simple booster seat. Does anyone know?

Also, have any of you U.S. Expats had luck bringing your U.S. Car seats to Switzerland? I saw that the car seats must be approved by carrying a red sticker. Is there somewhere we can take a U.S. car seat to get it approved in Switzerland? I would really like to avoid buying all new car seats since we already have 3 sets of them here in the U.S. (Our 2 cars and MIL car)

Thanks for any info/advice!

2
from http://www.tcs.ch/de/test-sicherheit...sicherheit.php

Seit dem 1. April 2010 müssen Kinder bis 12 Jahre oder 150 cm (was zuerst eintrifft) eine Kinderrückhaltevorrichtung (Kindersitz) verwenden. Zudem müssen Kindersitze mit einer ECE-Etikette der Version 44.03, .04 oder R129 versehen sein.

Babys und Kinder während der Fahrt im Auto richtig und altersgerecht sichern.

Derzeit überarbeitet der europäische Gesetzgeber die Zulassungsvorschrift für Kindersitze. Die erste Phase (auch «i-Size» genannt) der neuen Richtlinie wurde bereits von der UN ECE verabschiedet und ist seit dem 1. Januar 2014 als ECE R129 auch in der Schweiz in Kraft. Die neue Richtlinie wird während mehrere Jahre parallel zur ECE R44 bestehen.

kids up to 12 years of age or 150cm (whatever comes first) must be in child seats. In addtion they must have the ECE approval, version 44.03, 04 or 129....concurrently valid are seats with the EU approval ECE R129.

also just found an English doc on TCS:

http://www.tcs.ch/de/assets/testberi...-052010-EN.pdf

TCS is the AAA equivalent for Switzerland

3
Thank you backtoch! Very useful info!

4
Child seats are classified by weight range

Group 0: up to 10kg or approx 10mths

Group 0+: up to 13kg or approx 2 yrs

Group I: 9 to 18kg approx 8 mths to 4 yrs

Group II: 15 to 25kg approx 3 to 7 yrs

Group III: 22 to 36kg approx 6 to 12 yrs

Information from my car manual. There are overlaps. The simple booster seat would be in Group III.

5
Obviously a 10 year old will be using a booster seat and not a 5 point harness one.

The UK guidelines recommend using booster cushions for kids over 22kg but the booster seats with a back and regular car seat belt can be used from 15kg.

We used the booster seats with back and headrest initially and then moved onto the booster cushion variety later on but not up to age 12 as our son reached 150cm long before then. ( EU laws are only up to 135cm)

https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-t...r-booster-seat

6
technically you can't use the US seats, we used ours as at the time I wasn't aware of the regulation. I guess it could be a problem of insurance coverage if you ever were in an accident, as I am pretty sure seats that are approved for use in the US are of the same safety level as ones approved here.

7
The danger is, if stopped by the Police you will be fined as you don't have an acceptable seat, which is the same as none at all. The chances are small but do exist especially if you have an accident.

8
Just a suggestion - Check the US seats for European approval. Some brands may be approved in different regions.

9
That won't help the approval must be on the seat in question.

10
I think that's what Stanbasel meant. Look on all the cars seats and see if any of them have the EU safety approval mark on them.

11
If the seats had the approval mark on them, I doubt the OP would have started the thread.....,,,

12
Backtoch 's post states all you need to know. Use seats with ECE labels, as above.

You can pick up cheaper compliant seats at DIY shops and large supermarkets / hypermarkt

13
They won't work here. Leave them in the US so when you visit you will have them and can be picked up at the airport. If you keep a car in the US, you will need the seats. If you hire a car if you go back to visit, you will need the seats then.

There is a wide range of seats available here and a very large price range. There is a consumer magazine here called K Tip and they often publish the results of product tests. So when shopping for a car seat you might see it advertised as having excellent ratings as per K Tip. Just thought I would mention that.

14
What about vehicles with no seat belts?

(yes, they do exist)

Tom

15
Thank you everyone for your input - very helpful! I cringe at the idea of buying 3 new car seats and a new booster, especially since my 4 year twins will graduate to the next category of car seat when they turn 5. Does anyone know what the fine would be for using a U.S. car seat if we are pulled over or in an accident? I have nice Britax car seats here that are not even 2 years old; for the price I paid I sure was hoping to get more out of them!

16
Can you sell the seats in the US? Shipping them here is not cheap.

Are you sure the seats you have do not have the ECE label mentioned

already?

Getting your US seats approved by the European Council is unrealistic!

You can buy new & second hand approved seats here, a Swiss E-Bay

http://www.ricardo.ch/kaufen/kind-un...tze/l/cn40521/

As you can see, the seats are sold according to the weight of the child.

17

Ultimately, it's a call you have to make. You could risk keeping the seats until the kids are ready for the next seat.

Also, i'm guessing you won't be spending anywhere near as much time in cars as you do in the US

18
Britax are sold here. This is a link to a shop. Maybe you have one of these?

http://www.babyjoe.ch/Hersteller/Roe.../%25252Bbritax

Best to look underneath or on the back of your carseats for a label. Take a picture of it and post it here if you like.

Also, it is not the age of the child but the weight which determines if they can use a booster. I have used a booster seat for clients with a 4 year children and they were fine.

19
I've NEVER had anyone look at my car seat stickers ever. You can't tell me that US ones are less safe, just that they have not been through EU officialdom processes.

For my 41⁄2-year-old, I've also taken an EU seat to the US and I'm sure it's non-compliant there too....it only has the EU markings.

I assume your seats have FMVSS 213 "S" markings? That's pretty much the equivalent of ECE R44/04.

I would say they're perfectly adequate to keep your children safe - they're modern, recently-purchased car seats.

20
For the 4 year olds I would look at getting this type of seat.

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...e-booster-seat

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...child-car-seat

They can be used up to age 12 so your older child could use one if this type too.

For the three older children this type would also be fine.

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...ack-reflection

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...d-car-seat-jet

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...-football-seat

For the 7 year old you could also just use the booster cushion like these but personally I would still go for one with a back initially. You can usually remove the back when the child gets tall.

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...oster-seat-red

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...ster-seat-blue

http://www.halfords.com/camping-car-...ster-seat-city

As you can see there are a whole range of prices so you wouldn't have to break the bank in order to get new seats when you arrive which conform to the European standards.