Parents warned over children wearing puffer jackets in car seats

Before strapping your child into their car seat this winter, check whether they're wearing bulky clothing. Photo / 123rf

As temperatures drop around the country this winter, you’re probably rugged up in your warmest gear when heading out to work or school.

But if your child is wearing a puffer jacket on the school run, it’s important to take note of the danger it could pose during car journeys.

Kidsafe chief executive Holly Fitzgerald told 9News that a child wearing a puffer jacket in a car seat could be at greater risk during a car accident.

A puffer jacket is a go-to winter clothing item for many Kiwi kids - but it can pose a danger when worn in a car seat. Photo / 123rf

Even if the car were travelling slowly, the air in a puffer jacket would compress during a collision, meaning the car seat’s harness would slacken.

“In the event of a sudden stop, the child may be flung out, or ejected from the child car restraint,” she explained.

A safety test showed that a child wearing a puffer vest or jacket in a car seat could experience serious injuries in an accident. If the child’s restraint is buckled in over their jacket, the belt may seem secure but is actually loose.

“We don’t want any air pockets or padding between the harness traps and the child’s body,” Fitzgerald said.

A Kidsafe demonstration showed a strapped-in child’s puffer jacket was removed, the restraint loosened considerably.

“You can see here how loose her harnesses are, now that we’ve removed her puffy jacket,” Kidsafe’s Antonetta Bartley said.

If your child is cold in the car, try turning up the heat and tucking their jacket over their knees instead. Alternatively, you can put your child’s jacket on backwards to keep their arms warm once they’re strapped in – but only if they’re in a forward-facing car seat.

A Mountain Buggy car seat advertisement drew criticism last year because the child was depicted strapped into the seat with his jacket on.

Last year, pram company Mountain Buggy apologised over an ad featuring a child in one of its car seats wearing a blue jacket, as reported by the NZ Herald.

The ad, which might have appeared harmless at first, prompted complaints from parents pointing out that children should not be strapped into car seats wearing bulky clothing such as coats or puffer jackets.

Mountain Buggy apologised on social media, explaining that the photo had been sent in by a “beautiful family” rather than taken using a model.

Campbell Gower, chief executive of Phil & Teds and Mountain Buggy, told the Herald that putting children wearing thick clothing in the seats “compromises the integrity of the safety systems underlying that seat”.

“Obviously if you’ve got a very thick coat which has a lot of padding or whatever in it, then it might make the seatbelt feel tighter than it really is.”

Gower said the company’s car seats were tested with a load of 10,000 newtons – the equivalent of “having a one-tonne weight hanging off it”.

He added that “best practice” was to remove bulky layers of winter clothing from children before buckling them in.

Whānau Āwhina Plunket principal clinical adviser Karen Magrath told the Herald it was “really important” to remove jackets.

“In a car crash, a puffer jacket or any bulky clothing immediately compresses from the force, leaving extra unsafe space between the harness and the child. A child is then not held firmly and securely in the best position in their seat to protect them from injury.”