Road safety

choose a suitable vehicle

If you are considering  buying a new car, make sure you take your family into account, especially any young children who need child restraints. If you already have child restraints consider taking them with you to ensure that they will fit in the vehicle. If you are just starting a family and/or need new restraints, look at the options on our website.

Choose a vehicle that has enough space for the number of child restraints you will need. Most larger cars can safely fit three in the back, while smaller cars may only have two fitted safely.

When choosing your next vehicle, think about safety, space, anchor points, seat belts, and cargo restraints.

safety

• Choose a car with a good safety rating. We have a range of vehicle safety test results online including NCAP and Used Car Safety rating, to help you find out the safety of your vehicle.
• Airbags are an important part of the vehicle safety system. Children under the age of 12 should not be seated in front of a front passenger airbag if there is an available rear seat position. 
• Seating of children adjacent to a rear seat curtain airbag is not discouraged.

space

• Allow for enough space. Check to see if the rear seats can accommodate two or three restraints, and that a front passenger will still have enough leg room with a restraint fitted in the back seat.
• Two-door vehicles can be very difficult for fitting restraints - getting children in and out of restraints can also be very awkward and result in back injuries.

anchor points

• Identify the number of anchor points and their positions, as restraints use a tether strap connected to these anchor points.
• Make sure there is enough room between the back seat and the anchor points so that the tether strap can be adjusted properly. This can be a problem in some cars.
• People movers seem ideal, but some do not have anchor points for each seat position. Also the tether strap and size of some child restraints can reduce the seating capacity, so make sure this is not an issue.
• If buying a new car, ask the dealer for fittings for each anchor point.

seat belts

• A vehicle with a centre lap/sash seat belt in the rear is safer than one with just a lap belt. The sash seat belt holds the child more securely. Newer cars usually have centre lap/sash belts with a centre anchor point.
• Make sure the seat belts are long enough. Some are too short to thread through some child car seats when in the recline position.

cargo barriers

• Station wagons should be fitted with an Australian Standards approved cargo barrier. Without one, luggage and other items can cause serious injury to passengers in a crash.
• If you need to carry luggage and other large items, this could cause problems with the tether strap in a station wagon or hatchback.

further information

• See Australia's Best Car Awards and decide for yourself.
• Just how safe is your car? We have a range of vehicle safety test results online including NCAP and Used Car Safety rating.