Child Restraints Legislation in Europe 831651

A short review is presented on crash protection standards for children in the European countries. In Europe the only international standard is the new ECE 44 regulation on child restraints, which is currently replacing most of the existing national standards. The specific requirements of this regulation cover aspects such as: configuration of the systems, allowed types of buckles, straps, retractors, adjustment devices, corrosion and crash performance. An evaluation of the crash performance of a wide variety of current restraint systems is presented, based on two years of experience with the regulation. This shows the restrictive nature of the regulation and the need for substantial redesign of most of the current products. Finally additional suggestions are presented to increase the acceptance of the systems by the children as well as the parents.