Plunket will can car seat service for newborns thanks to dropping numbers

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A decline in the number of parents hiring car seats from Plunket for their newborns has prompted the child welfare charity to start phasing out the service.

Plunket will phase out the rental and retail service over the next 12 to 18 months, chief executive Andrea McLeod told Radio New Zealand.

"The number of Plunket car seat sites has declined from 283 at its peak in the 1980s, to 72 today.

"Despite efforts to make the service sustainable, sites across the country have been closing as they can no longer afford to operate. The majority of these sites only operate part time, a few hours a day, several times a week," she said.

"The decline indicates families' needs have changed."

The car seat and capsule hire was started in 1981.

Surveys at the time suggested just 20 per cent of children were buckled in, RNZ reported.

That number has now jumped to 93 per cent.

Ms McLeod said Plunket focus on preventable injuries among children, such as slips, falls, burns and cuts.