'Killer' Child Car Seats Still Sold Online a Decade After First Warnings

Consumer group Which? and police have issued an urgent warning after finding more than a dozen low-cost child car seats being sold online that experts say contain fundamental safety flaws and could offer children little or no protection in a crash.

Which? said the flimsy fabric seats, priced in some listings at as little as £12.50, were spotted on well-known marketplaces including eBay, Little Dreams, ManoMano, Shein and Wish. The organisation first exposed similar products about 10 years ago, when listings were removed, but said the items have since reappeared.

Which? highlighted a range of safety defects in the seats it identified. Those include very thin seat bases that fail to raise a child to the height needed for correct lap-belt positioning, harness systems with multiple buckles rather than a single central release, and a lack of side-impact protection that leaves a child’s head exposed to collision forces. The consumer group said several listings lacked the distinctive orange labels showing compliance with ECE safety regulations — R44 or R129 — which are required for child car seats to be legally sold in the UK.

Britax, a child seat manufacturer, previously carried out crash tests on similar fabric harness products and reported that a test dummy representing a three-year-old was hurled through the windscreen during a 30mph impact when harness straps came loose. Trading standards organisations have described the earlier versions of the products as "killer" items.

Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said the reappearance of the seats on online marketplaces was "appalling" and warned that less affluent households are most likely to be affected. "Children's lives will be at risk, with less affluent households most likely to be affected, until online marketplaces are forced to take responsibility for the listing of these cheap but deadly car seats," Davies said. She welcomed the Product Regulation and Metrology Act as a step to strengthen product safety laws but said secondary regulations and stronger enforcement are needed to assign clear legal responsibilities to marketplaces.

Police officers who carry out car seat checks said they have encountered similar contraptions fitted in vehicles. PC Rachael Wonfor of Warwickshire Police, a recently accredited child car seat check officer, said she was shocked to find a high number of fitting errors and inappropriate seats at a checking event in Rugby. She described one case in which a parent had a harness-type system installed instead of a regulated child seat and had bought it online believing it to be legal. "Ultimately, these harnesses were not only illegal but would offer a child no protection in the event of a crash," she said. The parent was advised and the children were fitted with safer restraints.

Which? said it notified platforms and that eBay, Shein and Little Dreams removed the products after being alerted. Wish.com and ManoMano did not respond to requests for comment.

The consumer group also reported examples of listings that described the items as car seats while product descriptions elsewhere warned against their use in cars. Which? urged parents and carers to check for the required regulatory labels — ECE R44-03, ECE R44-04 or ECE R129 — on any seat being considered for use in the UK market. It recommended buying from retailers who can provide advice and fitting assistance, never buying second-hand seats because previous crash involvement may not be visible, and ensuring instructions are provided in clear English. Which? added that an unusually low price can be an indicator of unsafe design.

Child safety campaigners and manufacturers have long stressed that correctly fitted, regulation-compliant seats are critical to reducing the risk of serious injury and death in collisions. The reappearance of unregulated fabric harness products on major online marketplaces raises questions about the effectiveness of current marketplace oversight and enforcement of product-safety rules.

Regulatory oversight for sale of child car seats is intended to prevent unsafe products reaching consumers. Under existing UK rules, seats offered for sale should display the orange conformity label indicating compliance with the relevant ECE regulation. Which? and police bodies said tighter enforcement by online platforms, clearer legal responsibilities set out in secondary regulations tied to the Product Regulation and Metrology Act, and continued public education on recognised safety standards are necessary steps to prevent unsafe child restraints from being sold and used.

Parents and carers with concerns about a particular child seat can contact local trading standards offices, accredited car seat check officers, or consumer protection organisations for advice and assistance.