Is this car seat even legal?

[OnMyJourney]

My mum has a couple of grandchildren she spoke to me about getting the a car seat for her car because she has two grandchildren one being my daughter and my sisters daughter they're both similar ages and she sometimes has the girls and takes them out so she thought instead of us always having to lug heavy car seats around to put them in her car she would just get a car seat for hers which we thought great sounds amazing makes life easier, I sent her a couple of really good branded 360 spin type car seats which can rear face and so on. She said she'd have a look and a few days later she said she ordered one so I didn't need to bring mine down so I was like great, I took my 6 month old daughter down to her car and the car seat looked like the picture attached! Like oh my how is that even legal? It's not rear facing, it has no support no padding nothing! She then got offended when I said I'll go get my car seat she's not sitting in that! Like whattt? Someone help me out here surely that isn't legal??

Take your dm and that contraption to Halfords. For a professional opinion if she won't trust yours...

It won't meet the required safety standards that's for sure. Even the photos are worrying, that baby has a v thick padded coat on and in the event of an actual collision/crash will not be kept safely strapped in place.

It’s not a mat for a child’s car seat. It’s a mat for an actual car seat. That website is essentially another Shein / Temu so they sell all sorts of nonsense.

Well what did you actually say to her? Have you explained why it's obviously not ok... or legal? And what did she say back?

So I guess whether the OP’s mum used rear facing seats for her kids comes down to the OPs age. I also have a baby, I’m 10-15 years older than you and my parents are 20 years older than your parents. Clearly things changed massively between the 80s and late 90s. I would imagine if OPs mum thinks the car seat is safe she is probably older and didn’t use rear facing seats herself or she would be more aware.

As the BBC article linked above and the photos of children in it demonstrate it is a ‘car seat’.

If it were simply a car seat mat it wouldn’t need straps as they would be part of the actual seat.

It's a matter of to go inside a car seat.

It is not a car seat.

There is no way I would have a 6 month old in that "seat". But car seats are baffling to older generations. As pp said many cars didn't have seat belts in the back. As I baby I was just put on the back seat in a Moses basket (no restraints or seat belts or anything). When I was at primary school car pools often comprised of packing as many kids into the car as you could - on laps, standing etc etc. It was a different world.

It is an actual car seat. The sellers (there are many as it's generic mass produced, untested, unregulated Chinese junk) dance around calling it that, as it's illegal almost everywhere.
Not sure it's any better if it's was just a mat either, with straps? How would that possibly be safe? How would you even use it?

My MiL was a bit like this - not buying cheap crap, but first she tried getting DH's (born 1984) old seat out from the attic, then when we vetoed that, she acquired several second hand seats from Freecycle, which all seemed to be of different ages, states of repair, had no instructions or guarantee they hadn't been in an accident...

Fortunately, when I sent her a link to a car seat safety guide, and both SiL and I said none of our children would go in those seats, she relented and bought a proper one. We offered to pay, saying we'd far rather buy something we trusted than rely on Freecycle strangers, but in the end I think she paid herself.

I had a similar conversation with my MIL a couple of weeks ago. We went to Halfords to look at their offerings (MIL has DD once a week so didn't want anything ridiculously expensive) came away with a Halfords impala seat. Exclusively rear facing for £54. MIL is adamant DD won't be comfortable rear facing until she's 4 but at that price, even if it lasts til she's 3 and then she goes into the £50 next size up Halfords car seat we saw, I'll be happy with that!

Car safety changed a lot. I have a baby too and her grandparents are in their 60s, so just ten years difference to you, and there were no car seats/booster seats in the same way in my childhood.

Here's a link if it's helpful, it's gone up to £60 but still miles better than the £280 spin seat we saw!

Things have changed immeasurably. I am late 50's. When I was a kid, I sat in the back seats of MGB's, on the shelf, no seatbelt, with the roof down. We drove to Italy in a succession of Fords, with me lying across the back seats, on a towel, to stop you sticking to the red hot vinyl seats. My kids, born in late 90's, early 2000's just had a bog standard rear facing baby seat/rocker, which was just strapped in using the cr belts. We moved quickly through the stages, to then high back front facing boosters at about one, and then just booster cushions at about four. None of these wrap around cocooning, rear facing, swivelling jobs you have now. Just think.hoe cars have changed too. Much safer, air bags, impact bars, bigger, stronger cabins. It really is very, very, different now.

I remember seeing a bit about those on the TV ages ago, I'm amazed they're still available. Where did she get it? I'm assuming Wish or Temu or similar?

Do you not know anyone getting rid of one you can just give to her?
I know there's issues around second hand but realistically, most people's kids have just outgrown them rather than them having retrieved them from a car accident.

I probably wouldn't but on eBay but would from the selling pages for my local area where the person is usually a friend of a friend.

Just provide it and then there's less issue.

I wonder if the kind you pictured are like you'd take on holiday or in a taxi where it might be better than nothing (but wouldn't count on it) or at least that's the loop hole they are sold under

Even my 80 year old mum said that was crazy and we didn't have compulsory car seats when we were kids and her grandchildren were kids.

I was born in the 70s, seat belts in the back were made law in 1968 but older cars wouldn’t of had them. Car safety has changed massively since I was young.

seat belts in the back were made law in 1968 Not in the UK - it wasn't even a requirement to wear one in the front until 1983. It was a requirement for front seatbelts to be fitted from 1968 and for rear seatbelts to be fitted from 1986, but it wasn't compulsory to wear a rear seatbelt until 1991.

We had a car reg in 1986 that didn’t have rear seatbelts. Pretty bog standard car too but must have been one of the last not to. Not disagreeing with you but was trying to support your post against the whole 1968 argument.

Edited to add clarity!

Jimmy Savile was the face of seatbelt safety in the 80s, with his 'clunk click every trip' campaign.

When the law came in in 1983, my dad stuck a newspaper advert with Savile on it to the dashboard as a reminder 😦

He later retro-fitted rear child harnesses for my sister and me but they were not sprung in any way so were terribly uncomfortable, we were basically pinned in place unable to move at all - I can see now that that was a better alternative to being flung out of the window but at the time it didn't feel like it.

I know your mum said she wanted to buy one but honestly, I'd have a chat with your sister and go halves on one you're both happy with. Just buy it , take it round and fit it.
I've had situations like this and I just say that I'm anxious and would just rather have the one I'm happy with and I know I'm probably over the top etc but it's for peace of mind etc. Lay it on thick. My mum is definitely one for getting freebies that are never quite right so I just take the hit. I'd reassure her that her heart is in the right place etc but it's your issue but hers (complete lie but hey, no use upsetting her).

I remember reading that in China a lot of people believe that having a baby on their lap is safer than a car seat and it’s a big issue. I would imagine these are made in china as a sort of ‘in between’ option. They should not be available to buy in the UK and are certainly not safe/legal.

Not necessarily, depends how old they are.

When I was born (late 70s) no one had to wear a seatbelt. That only became law for drivers in 1983 I think?

However, my parents bought a seat (approved by my DB & SIL) for my DN as they know the law and wanted her to be safe.

It's not legal to use that product in the UK (or most countries) and for good reason - they don't provide any protection in an accident at all, they aren't crash tested and the straps etc aren't designed to withstand crash forces. Perhaps nice for playing with dolls or something - never ever to transport a living being.

They are produced and sold in countries which have lax car seat laws e.g. not specifying any safety standard which needs to be adhered to. In Russia the name they give them translates to "non-frame car seats". Unfortunately, because of cheap shipping we're now seeing them for sale on our online platforms. Sometimes the sellers blatantly lie and claim that it does meet proper safety standards which they absolutely don't. I see that someone has already shared the BBC article which has footage of a crash test. It's shocking to see.

A proper car seat will have a solid frame made out of hard plastic, sometimes metal. And of course the appropriate safety standard label. She can't use this, if you want to be nice, you could make it about not wanting her to get fined. It's a £300 fine for not having children in a proper car seat. Obviously the actual loss of a child would be far, far greater!

For a six month old the cheapest car seat I'd buy would be Cozy n Safe Fitzroy, it's £65 and does rear facing up to 13kg then forward facing. However I'd caution that it can be a bit unclear how to fit it, when I bought one for a relative they did initially fit it incorrectly because the seatbelt catches underneath and it feels as though it is tight when it's not.

There is a newer R129-certified version for £89 which can rear face up to 105cm instead. The newer safety standard emphasises easier fitting, so in theory maybe it would be less prone to errors. Or Graco Extend R129 is £90, also allows RF to 105cm, and is also the newer safety standard.

None of these are going to compare to a £14 child seat in price, but there's a reason for that!

You could post an "innocent" query with this image to your local police road safety team's social media :) I bet they would give you a good answer.