Car Seat Terminology
A
B
Buckle crunch – occurs when the vehicle plastic seat belt buckle bends over or touches the hard plastic part of the car seat. It should be the webbing (material part of vehicle seat belt) that keeps the car seat in place. The vehicle buckle should never bend over a car seat. You can find more information on buckle crunch in our article ‘Considerations when choosing a car seat and Correct Installation of car seats and boosters.
C
CRS – Child Restraint System, more commonly referred to as a “car seat”. Very effective in preventing critical and fatal injuries when correctly installed and used, and used every single time the vehicle starts moving.
E
ECE – Economic Commission for Europe, which is a European approval standard, indicated by an orange sticker on all legal European car seats. For a car seat to be legally imported, sold and used in South Africa it needs to have the orange ECE sticker on it and needs to be on the NRCS’s homologated list.
American, Canadian, Australian, etc car seats are illegal to import, sell and use in South Africa. Only seats that have the ECE certification (orange sticker) and on the NRCS’s homologated list of car seats are legal and safe to use in South Africa.
The latest regulation is Regulation 129 – R129/01, R129/02 and R129/03. seats. ECE R44/04 is the oldest, approved standard that can still be sold and used legally.
(Please note: All iSize car seats fall under the R129 testing standard)
Comparison Table
R44/04 vs R129/01 i-size vs R129/02 vs R129/03
H
Harness – The webbing (strap) in a car seat to restrain a baby or toddler. It is not the vehicle seatbelt. Do not exceed the harness weight limits as indicated on the stickers and in the instruction manual.
HBB – High back booster seat (full back booster) used from 18kg and 4 years old until the child is 1.5m tall, which most children reach between 10 and 12 years old. Provides crucial head and side impact protection. A HBB positions the vehicle seatbelt safely and correctly over the child’s shoulder and across their pelvis (preventing the seatbelt from cutting into the neck and sitting on stomach). The minimum 15kg weight to start using a HBB is only applicable to above average children regarding height (tall and skinny). It is safest practise to keep your child in a harnessed car seat until 18kg and only then start using as booster until they reach 1.5m. Please note that even if your 3 year old weighs 15kg and 1m tall, they are most likely not mature enough to sit in a high back booster.
Head flop – The term given when a baby’s head falls forward onto their chest (chin to chest). This happens when babies have little/no neck control and when their chin falls to their chest can close their airways, resulting in positional asphyxiation. Head flop can be caused by one or a combination of the following: incorrectly positioning your baby in a car seat, not using the inserts, an incorrectly fitted harness (too high or too low where it comes out at the back of car seat over baby’s shoulder), incorrect installation of the car seat (e.g., wrong recline angle) or when the vehicle seats are very steep (when an adult sits with their bum lower than their knees). Car seats that install with ISOFix or on a separate ISOFix base are more likely to cause head flop because of the design, which is even more likely to occur when the vehicle seats are steep. When you use a dedicated infant seat (carrier / capsule) that clicks into an ISOFix base and baby has head flop, you may solve the problem by installing the car seat without the base, using the vehicle seatbelt.
I
ISOFix – international standard for attachment points. ISOFix installed car seats will help reduce (not eliminate) installation errors and are often quicker to install than car seats which use the vehicle seatbelt to install.
Please note: A car seat never installs with ISOFix on its own. There must always be 3 (three) points of contact. ISOFix only provides 2 (two) contact points. Current designs allow for a Top Tether strap or Support Leg as the 3rd point of contact. Without the 3rd point of contact the car seat will violently pivot (turn) during an accident, most likely causing critical or fatal injuries, which could mostly be prevented, if installed correctly using the 3rd point of contact. The third point of contact could be a Top Tether anchor or a Support/Load leg. The Top Tether strap should be tightly anchored to the designated Top Tether anchor point in the vehicle. A Support Leg must only be installed on a solid floor, no hollow underfloor storage compartment.
Video illustrating what happens during accident when using Top Tether vs no Top Tether
Impact shield car seats – These are forward facing car seats that use a shield over the abdomen of the child, instead of a harness.
N
NRCS – The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications. For a car seat to be legally sold in South Africa, it needs to be on the NRCS’s homologated list of child restraints
P
Positional asphyxiation – When someone’s body position causes their airways to close and they experience a lack of oxygen. Head flop can cause positional asphyxiation. Premature babies, healthy but low birthweight babies and babies with special needs (such as Down syndrome or Dwarfism) are particularly at risk because they have very weak neck muscles – consider a lie-flat or near lie-flat infant seat. For more detailed information, please read our article Car seats and accessories for children with Special Needs.
R
Rotation seats – These car seats offer the user the option to rotate the car seat towards the door of the vehicle. Please read our article 360-degree rotating car seats.
Re-thread harness – A car seat that uses a harness that must be manually re-routed through the slots in the back of the seat, to adjust the harness height.
No-rethread harness – A car seat that has an integrated headrest and harness, meaning when you move the headrest to the correct height, the harness will adjust automatically and simultaneously also be the correct height.
S
Seat belt – Vehicle seat belt (not to be confused with the car seat’s internal 3-point or 5-point harness).
NOTE: Vehicle seat belt lengths sometime vary. Not all seat belts in the vehicle are necessarily the same length.
All high back boosters, booster cushions and most car seats installed with vehicle seat belt (belted installation) require a FULL 3-point seat belt (i.e. lap belt AND shoulder belt). Without the shoulder belt, the seat will tip forward or sideways, violently crashing into hard parts of the vehicle interior, most likely causing critical or fatal head/brain/spinal cord injuries to your child.
Currently (2024) the only car seat available in South Africa that can be installed with a lap belt (and support leg and lower tethers), is the Volvo (Britax Römer) Maxway. All other car seats and boosters in South Africa must be installed with a full 3-point vehicle seat belt.
Seat belt guide- found on seat belt installation car seats to ensure the correct positioning of the vehicle seat belt. Please use the correct seat belt guides for the installation.
Red – forward facing (R44.04)
Blue – rear facing (R44.04)
Green – found on R129/02/03 for rear and forward facing installations.
Support leg / Load leg – Provides the crucial 3rd point of contact in ISOFix bases or car seats. Must rest on a solid floor, not a hollow under floor storage compartment. Check with the manufacturer if you may open the lid and extend the leg down, however, many support legs are not long enough to reach all the way down and thus cannot be used. Do not insert any object between the floor and support leg. Fillers for storage compartments are available overseas, but not always in South Africa. Always contact your car seat manufacturer directly if you are unsure.
Swedish Plus Test – Currently the most stringent test available that tests the forces on a child neck in a frontal impact. This test is a voluntary test that car seat manufacturers can choose to subject a specific car seat to. The Swedish Plus test is carried out at higher speeds and a shorter braking distance.
T
Three Across – The ability to fit 3 car seats next to each other on the back seat of the vehicle.
Top Tether strap / anchor – Top Tether is an alternative design to a Support Leg as the 3rd point of contact for ISOFix bases or car seats. Not all vehicles have an anchor point for a Top Tether strap. Top Tether anchors can easily be confused with cargo hooks, please refer to your vehicle’s manual to establish if your vehicle has Top Tether anchor points. A Top Tether is also referred to as a TT.
