Isofix Car Seats

What is the Isofix System?

Why an Isofix Car Seat?

Car-seat cushions and seat-belts are designed for the comfort and protection of adults and, until fairly recently, have been the only means of supporting and attaching child seats too.

Inevitably, compatibility problems can arise where child seats are attached to the car using seatbelts and so far there is no 'universal' child seat that can be installed satisfactorily in all seating positions in all cars.

With some 70% of conventional car seats not being fitted correctly the whole idea of the ISOfix system is to make it easier to fit children's car seats in the car.

'Clunk-Click' Child Seats

Car manufacturers now fit 'ISOFIX' mountings to their new cars and Isofix child restraints have latches on the back to lock onto the mounting points with a simple push/click.

As the Isofix points are integral to the car's frame, once the seat is 'clicked' onto these points the car seat becomes locked to the car's frame. A seat which uses Isofix mounting points doesn't rely on a correctly fitted seatbelt to hold it in place and is inherently safer.

The points can be found near the bottom of the back part of the passenger seats, they sometimes look like two slits in the material.

3rd Fixture Point

Many Isofix car seats have additional, third, anchor point. These either take the form of a leg, which extends down to the floor of the car, or a belt which reaches up over the back of the seat to an anchor point in the boot or rear of the seat.

The two latches at the back of the child restraint prevent it from moving forwards but it is the car seat cushion itself that supports the weight of the child restraint – if the cushion's too soft then the child restraint can rotate forwards in a crash increasing the risk of injury.

The 3rd point greatly reduces this 'rotation' and the 3-point fixing should work even better than 2-point fixing, because it holds the child seat even more securely. However, the 2-point fixing is still generally much better than using seat belts to secure car seats.

Suitability

Most cars made since 2002 have 2 fixing points but some cars now have 3, your car handbook will provide you with more information - in fact if you are contemplating buying an Isofix child restraint it's essential to check the handbook first.

The handbook will also provide clear instructions for attaching a child restraint to the lower anchorage points and, if provided, to the top-tether mechanism too.

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