28 March 2025
We understand the importance of keeping your youngest passengers safe on the road. That's why we've partnered with child passenger safety advocates SitTight to provide the latest information on children's car seats – from correct installation, to car seat laws and everything in between – helping to keep New Zealand kids safe.
Is your child’s car seat installed securely? One of the main jobs a car seat has to do is reduce the movement of a child in a crash as safely as possible.
To make sure a child restraint is secure, hold it next to where it’s connected to the vehicle (by the vehicle seat belt or Isofix connectors) and pull it side to side. If it moves more than 2.5cm, it’s not securely installed.
There are people trained as Child Restraint Technicians who are qualified to advise on and install child restraints. The CRT workforce throughout New Zealand is made up of individuals and organisations who can offer support, answer your questions, reassure you with knowledge and install your child restraint for you if necessary.
Contact your local Child Restraint Technician to ensure your car seats are installed securely.
New Zealand car seat law can seem complicated, but it’s quite simple:
Any child in New Zealand, up until their 7th birthday, must be in an appropriate child restraint.
When a child is 7 years old (between their 7th and 8th birthdays), they must be in an appropriate child restraint if there is one available in the vehicle.
Once a child has reached 8 years old, they are no longer required by law to use a child restraint.
While the law deals in ages, most 7 and 8 year-olds are not tall enough for a vehicle seat belt to properly fit them, and this is when “best practice” comes into play. Keep a child in a car seat, i.e. a booster, until they are 148cm tall. This is the height at which a vehicle seat belt should safely fit across a child’s shoulder and hips as intended.
Watch this video of Danielle Beh from SitTight, explaining more about the law and best practice for using car seats:
For more information on legislation, you can read Section 7 of the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 which governs how children in New Zealand are transported in vehicles.
Both statistics and common sense tell us that frontal crashes are one of the most common types of collision. Therefore, seating a child in the back keeps them away from this point of danger and reduces their risk of injury. Frontal airbags also add a significant risk to children travelling in the front seat.
A rear-facing car seat offers vital support to a child’s head, neck and spine. Frontal crashes are one of the most common types of crash and the force driven through the vehicle is immense. Everything in the vehicle moves at great force towards the front – including a child in a car seat.
When a child travels in a rear-facing seat, in a frontal crash they are immediately forced into the back of their child restraint. Their entire body, from head to toe, is supported by their car seat's back. This support means that when their body is absorbing the initial, most intense force from the crash, their head, neck and spine stay safely in alignment.
It is best practice to keep a child rear-facing until they have outgrown the rear-facing limits of their child restraint, or as close to age 4 as possible.
When we see a child sitting in a rear-facing seat with their legs bent, as adults, we consider what that would feel like for us. It may well be uncomfortable for an adult to sit in that position for a while, but children are not small adults. Their bone structure is different, and they are far more flexible than we are. This means they will not feel the same effects as an adult would when sitting in that position.
Some children rear-face until they are 5 or 6 years old. At this age, they can communicate if they are uncomfortable or not, and this is very rarely the case. It’s best practice to keep children rear-facing until they have outgrown the rear-facing limits of their child restraint.
Your child’s harness must fit against them snugly. Think “snug like a hug”!
The pinch test
It’s simple to check if your child’s harness is secure enough by doing the “pinch test”. At your child’s shoulder, try to pinch the harness in an up and down movement (not side to side). If you can pinch any harness between your fingers, the harness is too loose.
When harnessing a child into their seat follow these key pointers:
A reasonable assumption made by parents is that their child will be able to use their car seat from the entry requirements until they reach the maximum weight and/or height. However, there are additional limits to be aware of, and often children reach these other limits well before they reach either the seat’s weight or height limit.
The other factors to consider are:
Harness height
Where does the harness sit on your child’s shoulders? And how does this compare with the car seat’s rules? Check your instruction manual to confirm what is allowed – can the harness be “even with”, “above” or “below” your child’s shoulders?
Head height
Check how your child’s head lines up with the shell or headrest of the seat. The general rules are:
Rear-facing – ensure your child’s head is at least 2.5cm lower than the top of the seat shell.
Forward-facing – check that your child’s ears do not come above the top of the seat.
Again, it is essential to check your car seat’s manual to confirm these particular measurements as they may differ slightly between seats.
As these two measurements – the head and harness heights – are often reached well before a child reaches the weight or height limits of a seat, it is important to be aware of these.
Bulky clothing like winter jackets, puffy onesies and big woollen knits are items that are full of air. No matter how tight you pull a harness, you cannot get it as snug as it needs to be. Crash forces that can easily crumple steel on the vehicle can also easily push the air out of clothing. This creates excess slack under a child’s harness and increases the chance of them sliding out in a car crash.
It is therefore recommended to:
Layer with warm, thin layers (e.g. cotton and a thin fleece layer, two merino layers, or a cotton/merino layer).
Accessorise with a hat, mittens and socks.
Once the child is harnessed into their car seat, then place a blanket OVER the top of their harness to keep them warm.
Your child is likely to be in a booster seat for at least as long, if not longer, than they will be in a harnessed seat, so making the right choice is vital.
A booster seat is designed to position the adult-sized seat belt in the correct locations over a child’s body. Boosters work by positioning the lap portion of the vehicle seat belt low on the child’s hips, contacting both the hips and thighs. Boosters also align the shoulder portion of the vehicle seat belt on the child’s shoulder, ideally placing the seat belt flat and snug across the collarbone. These are the areas that have strong bones and can withstand more force than other, softer areas of a child’s body.
New Zealand law states that a child must use a child restraint until they are 7 years old, but this is not the magic age at which a child is tall enough to safely fit a vehicle seat belt. Vehicle belts are designed to fit a person safely when they are around 148cm tall or taller. So a child should continue to use a booster seat until they reach this height, regardless of their age. This means your child may still use a booster seat at 10-12 years old. This is safest and what we consider best practice.
If a child who is not tall enough sits on a vehicle seat without a booster, the belt will cross their neck and abdomen. These areas are soft with no bone structure so injuries caused by a seat belt forced against these areas of a child’s body can be severe and the effects long-lasting.
There are two types of booster seats available in New Zealand. A booster seat with a full back, and a half booster, which is just the seat portion.
Full back boosters are the safer option to begin with as they do a better job positioning the seat belt on smaller children than half boosters, and they also offer torso and head protection.
A half booster should only be used once a child has outgrown a booster seat with a back on it. At this stage, the child may still be too short to fit the vehicle belt safely and will still need to be “boosted” up for it to sit in the correct position on their body. This is the only purpose of a half booster and, as it provides no other protection to the child, this is the only stage at which it should be used.
The five-step test
Are you wondering if your child is ready to travel without a booster seat? There is a simple five-step test you can do to help you make this decision.
If your child is not able to sit like this, then it is safest for them to continue to travel in a booster seat. This will position the seat belt in a safe place on their shoulder and hips, and they can continue to travel safely.
Two chances to win! Simply fill in the entry form below and you'll go into the draw.
Competitions closes 11:59pm 11 May 2025. T&Cs apply.
