Exploring the sale of second hand child restraints and booster seats in Victoria

RACV has a strong commitment to providing accurate and useful information to parents and carers regarding child restraint and booster seat safety. The use of second hand child restraints is generally not recommended because the restraint may have been in crash, be damaged, missing parts, or be too old to provide the best protection in the event of a crash. However purchasing a new restraint may not be a realistic option for all families. The current project aimed to examine the age and range of second hand child restraint and booster seats available in Victoria, and to also investigate their compliance with standards and regulations. A range of online, second hand specialist retailers, resource recovery centres, and markets were explored. Where available, the source, location, brand, model, price, year of manufacture and whether the current standard was met was noted. From these sale platforms, the details of 164 second hand restraints were obtained. Most results were acquired from online sellers (114 restraints) and of these, 14 (12%) were unsuitable for sale. Of the 50 restraints examined in stores, 20 (40%) were unsuitable for sale. Most restraints appeared to meet the current standard however restraints considered unsuitable for sale were found to be worn, damaged, too old or were identified as illegal overseas models. The issue of substandard restraints for sale could potentially be addressed by communicating to parents and vendors about the risks and precautions to take when selling and purchasing second hand child restraints.