Which reports that carrycots for use in cars are putting babies at risk of serious injury, if not death, crash tests have shown.
The problem is that standards for child car seats (and these carrycots) are not high enough. To meet the compulsory standard (called ECE R44.03), a child seat must withstand a low-speed front crash, equivalent to around 30mph. There are no requirements for side-impact crashes.
Which? tests child seats to the more realistic standards used by safety body EuroNCAP when crash testing the safety of cars for adults. These simulate a 40mph head-on crash and a side impact.
"Based on our findings, manufacturers should stop promoting carrycots for use in cars unless they can prove babies would be safe in the more severe crashes that EuroNCAP use in their tests," according to Malcolm Coles, editor of Which?.
With a violent twist, both cot and crash-test dummy were catapulted forward
In the stricter tests Which? carried out, the Mamas & Papas Navetta carrycot virtually disintegrated in a front crash at about 40mph. It slid forward on the seat, visibly distorting, and, as it approached the seat edge, the cot body fractured, with one end becoming detached as the mounting points were ripped out. With a violent twist, both cot and crash-test dummy were catapulted forward and the cot body torn apart with the dummy barely held inside.
The Bebecar Carrycot Tracker did little better. In the front crash, the frame distorted badly, and in the side impact, it offered scant resistance as it slid across the seat into the door. Micro-seconds later, the dummy followed, crumpling like a Christmas paper chain, as if it had been held by its legs and dropped on its head.