Family Travel to Thailand: Car Seat Tips and Experiences? Help Please!!

[JetSetSafetyMama]

I'm hoping for some advice from the Mumsnet hive mind! We’re planning a trip to Thailand in January 2026 with our little girl, who will be nearly 3 by then. She’s always been in a rear-facing car seat and I’m a bit of a stickler for car safety-probably a bit over-cautious, but I just can’t relax otherwise!

When we’ve travelled in Europe, I’ve always taken our own car seat and fitted it with the seat belt, but she’s just outgrown it and, honestly, it wasn’t the most travel-friendly option anyway.

So, I’m on the lookout for a car seat that’s safe but also easy to lug through airports and ferries. I know rear-facing isn’t going to be possible anymore, and Isofix is out of the question, but I’d love recommendations for something that’s secure, lightweight, and practical for travel.

Has anyone travelled around Thailand with a toddler recently? I know the local approach can be a bit more relaxed (I’ve heard “just have them on your knee” more times than I can count!), but that’s a no-go for me-I’d be too anxious to enjoy the holiday.

Our route is Bangkok > Koh Samui (flight), Koh Samui > Koh Lanta (ferry), Koh Lanta > Phuket (ferry). My main worry is the bits to and from airports and ferry ports, plus any excursions. I’m hoping to book minivans rather than risk the back of a pickup!

Would really appreciate any tips on:

• Car seat models that have worked for you in similar situations
• Any practical advice for keeping little ones safe on Thai roads

Thanks so much in advance! I want to make sure we’re all safe but still have a fab adventure.🛫❤

I’ve recently travelled with my 3 yr in Sri Lanka. Most minivans have lap belts, making taking a car seat pointless. A car seat was provided at my request, but I’m not sure that it actually offered protection as despite the 5 point harness it could only be secured with a lap belt.

I would be surprised if Thailand was significantly different.

Hmm I did think this, I travelled in Thailand in 2018 but I didn't have a child to worry about and didn't really pay attention to what seatbelt there was, if any. I suppose it will limit us just to cars but even still I'd rather have something than nothing🙈

I have recently returned from Thailand and can confirm the minivans only have lap belts.

Thailand has a very, very different attitude to children and vehicles. Toddlers ride to nursery on their parents scooter without a helmet.
But I have suggested alternative - get the Grab App then book a private car transfer where you will be in a car with standard seat belts. Grab is the South East Asia version of Uber.

Nachfolger HyFive WORLD - This can be secured with a lapbelt. Does anyone have any experience of this car seat? How Safe is it?

I was going to suggest HyFive Nachfolger World. I've not used it but have seen it in person and it's a lot more solid than you'd think. The only thing I am not really clear about is what the official line is on fitting it - I thought it was either using top tether or bracing on the dashboard (though I am sure IRL in these parts of the world, you'll encounter scenarios where your "better than nothing" option is to brace it against the front seat) but then I did find some blog posts and one video suggesting it is approved to use with a lap belt alone.

The bracing (if it is necessary/advised) is the part which would concern me; ideally, you would buy from a retailer who can demonstrate this for you but I don't know if that is an option. There are no other current seats on the market which brace any more, so the knowledge on how to do it is disappearing. The seats which used to brace were Britax Two Way Elite and Diono Radian 5, so you'll find some info by searching "two way elite" (with quotes) and bracing or brace or fitting or for images, or looking at the various youtube videos about how to fit the two way elite.

You might want to see if you can get hold of some US or NZ certified CPSTs - the FB group CSFTL EU & UK tended to be good for car seat info including areas like Asia and ME where the car seat laws are much more lax or recent and use is less widespread. I don't know if there are now groups specifically for Asia but in English, there might be. I find in general, CPSTs are more versed in fitting car seats in unusual situations or less than ideal set ups and tend to be comfortable advising on the "least worst" option whereas the UK based car seat groups are all very centred on an ideal best possible case scenario which may not be a realistic option.

I have also found carseat.se helpful again in advising around "least worst" options.

If you do end up at any point with a questionable locally sourced FF seat - if the seat has a lap belt fitting on a sticker somewhere on it, ie it has been tested to some standard somewhere with a lap belt fitting, then it is highly likely to be better than nothing. I will never forget an argument on a car seat forum back in 2009 or similar where people were utterly roasting each other over FF or RF (this was a mostly US site) and a poster came on and said her mother worked as a traffic cop in a country where they had no car seat laws and even seatbelt use was lax, and in her experience it didn't matter if it was a FF/RF/cheap/branded/old/new seat. The children in car seats survived crashes and the children who weren't, didn't. There is also an old study from 1980 which looks at the question of "do car seats work?" and the answer was yes (despite these being 1970s car seats and often wrongly installed). So although I would never advocate to put a young child in a forward facing, old, basic, lap belt only car seat if you are in the UK and have better options - sometimes you don't, and the car seat you have access to is better than nothing. Don't get lost in that.

If you are in a situation where you only have a seatbelt - put the child in their own seatbelt. If you have one seat between you, strap yourself in and hold her on your lap. Don't use one seatbelt around both of you.

Apparently car seats have been mandatory in Thailand since August 2023 but it seems the law is a bit unclear because there is a legal exception if the motorist doesn't own a seat and they "drive slowly" 🤷‍♀️ which makes me think you should proceed with the assumption that the average person will think car seats are unnecessary.

I've travelled south east asia with our toddler, we used the carry car seat until she outgrew it (we took it right to the very max!) but that wouldn't work if there was only lap belts.
We were only ever in cars/taxis with normal seatbelts.
We bought a maxicosi nomad which we used most recently, its certainly not the most secure car seat in the world, I wouldn't use it outside of travelling in these situations but it's better than nothing & I always sat next to her.
Again it needs a normal seat belt though, not a lap belt.
It folds well though and is easy to install, and easy to travel with. lightweight etc.

wow thank you so much for such a detailed response!! I’ll definitely have a look more into your suggestions.
I like the look of Nachfolger, my main concern is the fact it only fits on the front row of a plane seat because of the size. Not that I’d be using it on the plane, it’s more a concern of the size of the mini vans! I remember years ago when we went, when we were picked up for an excursion, if you’re one of the last in the van, it’s usually jam packed and you can barely move.

I’ve also looked at getting a second hand Britax Eclipse as they can be secured with a lap belt but lugging it around would be a pain and I imagine I’d have the same issue with the size.

I would not bother with the Eclipse, it's too big and most of the ones you'll get hold of will be too old now anyway. You would be better off with the Maxi Cosi Nomad as a backup, as a PP said. The Eclipse crash safety when fitted with the lap belt is not great. Definitely better than nothing as I said in the long post, but there is a reason there are no seats approved to the current regulation with lap belt only fitting (Nachfolger is different because of being RF).

If the minibus is jam packed then I am guessing more people than seatbelts anyway so would you even be able to use a child seat or would people be expecting you to keep your child on your lap?

Great thank you for your advice, the nomad was also one of my first ideas but after reading all of the different reviews started to question whether it was the right choice. I do agree though, anything is better than nothing. Also on reflection, I’m comparing my journeys to the ones I did 10 years ago when I was a backpacker and finding the cheapest possible transport etc. I’m sure I won’t have a problem making sure all of my journeys are going to be in transport with a normal seatbelt.. hopefully. The nomad is looking like it could be an option, and I will keep open mind. Thanks again x

That’s a very good point about the mini van! I was struggling to find any car seat safety pages in Thailand on fb, but I did come across many pages of transfers/taxis that offer car seats etc. As I’ve just mentioned above, I think I’m just going to look at getting a 3 point car seat and really planning my transport and travel before I go. If it means that we’re not able to do a couple of things, then so be it 🤷‍♀️ thanks for your advice!

Yeah it’s pretty different doing these trips with a kid so it’s probably not a bad idea to adjust some plans. A bit more comfort and peace of mind can make a trip much more enjoyable and I’m also a former cheap as possible budget back packer!

I took DS on a similar trip to Thailand when he was 18m. I settled on a decent FF seat (Joie Bold I think) but would probably get the maxi cos I nomad now. I decided a decent FF seat I had bought was better than nothing or whatever the Traci company would offer (most likely a booster seat).

You could try TaxiBaby - they have a youtube channel and maybe a FB page. I think they are based in Singapore which is possibly a similar sort of situation to Thailand?

Check the specs for graco seats, ours definitely was suitable with just a lap belt or 3 point to secure it as in America they were late to 3 point harnesses, meaning plenty of older cars had lap belts in the early 2000’s. Twenty years on however I don’t know if they still are duel fit

For US certified ones yes most can still be fitted with lap belts only. But you can't buy them in the UK, and the Graco seats sold in the UK don't meet the US certification, they meet the European one.

The other issue in Asia with American seats is that US cars have seatbelts which lock for child seat installation, but in Asia the seatbelts are more like European/UK style where they only lock on sharp movement, so you need to take a locking clip with you to secure the seatbelt and those are no longer distributed with US seats because the locking has been standard since the 90s. You can still buy them anywhere that sells US seats, but you can't easily buy them in the UK and the lock offs which exist for UK seats (like some of the Joie seats) aren't the same.

The head excursion tolerance for forward facing in the lap belt only fitted seats with no tether is astonishing - something like 85cm - so you need a huge amount of clearance in front of the child, which is tricky. (UK tolerance is only 50cm on the most up to date certification).