The good news first: Many current baby seats and child seats can protect the little passengers in the car. This is shown by a comparison by Stiftung Warentest (“est”, issue 6/2024). The foundation’s joint test with the ADAC and other European car clubs and consumer organizations examined 24 models with prices ranging from 85 to 570 euros.
More than half (13) scored “good”, almost a third (7) scored “satisfactory”. But four models also fail as “defective”. The reasons for this are exposure to pollutants, but also fatal safety deficiencies. A seat costing 520 euros “even failed completely in the crash test”. Because parts broke, it came loose in the front impact and was thrown forward. According to Stiftung Warentest, the manufacturer has now stopped deliveries.
The wheat was also separated from the chaff when it came to handling. However, installing and removing most of the seats in the test proved to be easy. Here the testers explicitly mention the “Nuna Pipa Urbn” baby seat. Unlike all other bowls, it has integrated Isofix hooks, so it doesn’t need a base to use the Isofix system. “This is practical, for example, for car sharing users or parents with two cars,” says the magazine.
The best of the 24 models in the respective categories at a glance:
Children are only allowed to drive without a suitable child seat from 1.50 meters tall or from their twelfth birthday. Until then, they often need additional seats after the baby seat. Children outgrow baby seats by the time they reach 88 centimeters at the latest. Seats for babies and toddlers can be used for longer.
Stiftung Warentest can only recommend models to a limited extent that cover the entire spectrum from babies up to 1.50 meters tall. In their tests, no seat from this category achieved a quality rating better than “satisfactory”.
When buying a child seat and using it, pay attention to the following according to the ADAC:
This article first appeared at ntv.de
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