Using a US car seat overseas

Old Aug 1, 2007, 11:59 am
  #1  
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Using a US car seat overseas

We are tentatively planning a trip to the UK in October that will include baby themicah. We'd like to rent a car to visit various friends and family and hope to our own Graco Snugride rather than using an infant seat from the rental company.

Is there any problem with using our car seat in the UK? Seat belts should be more or less the same, so I don't think that'll be a problem. But what about regulatory issues? Has anyone ever heard of someone getting in trouble for using a non-UK-approved infant seat? Anything else I'm not thinking about?
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Old Aug 1, 2007, 3:32 pm
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No direct experience but I'm fairly sure that as long as your seat/carrier carries US DOT approval for use in a motor vehicle, that approval will be honored in the UK.

http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/index.htm
Though the site only addresses car seats sold in the UK must meet one of the available standards.

You could try emailing UK DOT:
[email protected].
Due to the large number of emails we are receiving in response to the change in child car seat legislation it is currently taking up to two weeks to respond to all enquiries. We are sorry for the inconvenience that this causes
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Old Aug 1, 2007, 4:45 pm
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I'll write them and see. Thanks for the link.
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Old Aug 2, 2007, 3:10 pm
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I already got a response! I wish US government agencies gave a clear and timely answer to questions like this:

Thanks for this but child seats/boosters used in the UK must comply with the type-approval standard required by our regulations.

That standard is UN ECE Regulation 44.03 (or later versions eh 44.04). If your US infant seat complies, the label will have an "E" (in a circle) and R44.03 and the weight range of child (in kilograms) for which it is designed. The US standard is not the same as the R44.03 standard.

It may be that your infant seat does comply - you may need to check with the manufacturer.

If it does not, then you will need to arrange to use one while you are here. Hire car operators can provide them provided you give them adequate notice. Some make a charge. It may be sensible/economic if you arrange with friends to borrow or buy one for your visit. Boosters in particular can be purchased relatively cheaply (compared to some of the hire car company charges that we have seen in the past - things may be different now). If a child seat/booster is to be borrowed/purchased, then it will be needed as soon as you use a car in the UK (eg from the airport if you are met by a friend).

Our rules are set out on-line at http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/ca...ldcarseats.htm . Scroll down to Frequently Asked Question 4 which explains the weight ranges of child seats/boosters (you must have one for the weight of your child) and the UN ECE R44.03 type-approval standard.

Hope this is helpful.


Tim XXXXX
Road User Safety Division
Dept for Transport
LONDON SW1P 4DR
020 7944 XXXX
2/8/07
I checked our Snugride and don't see anything on it indicating compliance with UN or UK regulations. Now the question is whether this is really an issue (will the rental car company try to enforce it?) or whether I should not worry about it and just trust that the seat is as safe for themicah jr. in the UK as it is in the US. Seems silly that Graco wouldn't just make it comply with international standards, but maybe the standards are different enough to actually be incompatible?
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Old Aug 3, 2007, 1:53 am
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After multiple trips with kids in tow to the UK we've found that we prefer to bring our own seats and strap them in. Why? The kids know the seats, we know that we bought quality safe seats, we know how to strap the seats in, and we know how to routinely check them to make sure everything is snug and tight. We've also found that seats rented from the car rental companies vary from Britax seats (yeah!) to weird contraptions made by a train spotter and his 10 left thumbs while drunk and sleeping amongst the sheep. Plus, rental companies won't install the seats - which brings us back to the ease of putting your own seats into a new car versus borrowed ones. We've also found out that some EuropeCar stations rent out Toyotas with the LATCH system so it's easy to stick the seats in. Also, most Hertz cars come with some sort of seat system, so we've stuck with Hertz the last few years. We've fortunately never been stopped by the car seat police, so I can't answer on the legality of our seats. I figure if they're good enough for US regs, the FAA, and us, then we should be okay. If not, we'll pretend we don't speak English. One last note, don't forget the cars there are much smaller than in the states, so don't expect to fit a big baby seat and mom and spare luggage in the back seat unless you're renting a people mover.
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Old Aug 3, 2007, 8:54 am
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Originally Posted by themicah
I already got a response! I wish US government agencies gave a clear and timely answer to questions like this:



I checked our Snugride and don't see anything on it indicating compliance with UN or UK regulations. Now the question is whether this is really an issue (will the rental car company try to enforce it?) or whether I should not worry about it and just trust that the seat is as safe for themicah jr. in the UK as it is in the US. Seems silly that Graco wouldn't just make it comply with international standards, but maybe the standards are different enough to actually be incompatible?
^ If anything, those Brits are rather prompt

Try looking up the manual for your SnugRide
http://www.gracobaby.com/customerser...y.aspx?catID=1
The standards have to be similar I would imagine. And as familyflier said, good enough for US DOT, FAA/air travel and most important, the parents, well, then probably good enough for the UK.
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Old Aug 3, 2007, 1:53 pm
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....and they use hedgehogs as speed bumps.
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Old Aug 6, 2007, 5:26 pm
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EU regulations are much stricter than US ones (various sources, including Consumer Reports) so you're better off with a seat that does comply with the R 44.03/44.04 regulation than one that's only to US standards.

Car seats secured with LATCH system (bottom two anchors, not the top tether) perform much worse than the same seats secured with seat belts (various sources, including Consumer Reports). If you have an IQ high enough to follow directions to attach a car seat using seat belts (and apparently many people don't, hence the existence of LATCH), you should only use seat belts and can lighten your seat by simply cutting off the separate LATCH anchors/strap.
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Old Aug 7, 2007, 10:20 pm
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Actually, the belts are NOT the same. I know this b/c my UK family have had difficulty installing UK infant seats in American cars, as our rear seatbelts are generally not long enough. That shouldn't be a problem for you using a US seat in a UK car, however.

When installed without an ISOFIX base, UK infant seats use the shoulder portion of the belt as a sort of top tether. When you install the seat rear-facing, the shoulder portion of the belt wraps around the back of the seat shell behind baby's head, and the seat has a channel for that belt to route into. (Therein lies the problem with the belt length, you see.) Here's the only photo I could find to demonstrate: http://www.babysleepcentre.co.uk/ima...ear_facing.jpg

Now, that said, I can tell you that we have used our US seats in UK and Eire hire cars many times, installing them according to the mfr. instructions, and have never been called down about it, except to be told by the rental agent that carseats should never be installed in the center of the rear seat. (I've been told that the reason for that recommendation has to do with the general lack of intersections as opposed to roundabouts; a difference in the more likely impact point.)
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Old Aug 9, 2007, 8:37 pm
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Living abroad...

We used our snugride when my dad rented a car in Ireland and it worked perfectly.

Other than that, the snugride was in taxis in 17 countries and not once did we have a problem.

Keep asking ?
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Old Oct 8, 2007, 11:59 am
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We just got back from our trip. We used our US Snugride in three different UK vehicles (two belonging to family members, one a rental) without incident.

I think in the future I'll stick with bringing along our US Snugride even in countries where it's not approved, under the theory that babymicah is safer in a clean seat with which we are familiar than in a rented or borrowed seat.
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Old Oct 8, 2007, 4:11 pm
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Originally Posted by themicah
We just got back from our trip. We used our US Snugride in three different UK vehicles (two belonging to family members, one a rental) without incident.

I think in the future I'll stick with bringing along our US Snugride even in countries where it's not approved, under the theory that babymicah is safer in a clean seat with which we are familiar than in a rented or borrowed seat.
^ yeah, there is that bit of peace of mind.

Welcome back!

Out of curiosity, did you use just the seat or did you take the base as well?
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Old Oct 9, 2007, 9:27 am
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Originally Posted by jonesing
Out of curiosity, did you use just the seat or did you take the base as well?
We just took the seat. We rarely use the base since we don't own a car (we live in Manhattan where our Bugaboo is our primary family vehicle) and are always plopping the seat in and out of various taxis, rental cars and family members' cars.

This trip was no different, given that the only car the seat was in-and-out of more than once in a row was the rental car, and that was only for two days of the trip.
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Old Oct 9, 2007, 9:42 am
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Originally Posted by hillrider
Car seats secured with LATCH system (bottom two anchors, not the top tether) perform much worse than the same seats secured with seat belts (various sources, including Consumer Reports). If you have an IQ high enough to follow directions to attach a car seat using seat belts (and apparently many people don't, hence the existence of LATCH), you should only use seat belts and can lighten your seat by simply cutting off the separate LATCH anchors/strap.
It depends entirely on the car and the seat. We have two Britax, one for each car. In my car, it fits very tightly and securely using the seatbelts. But in my wife's car it is horribly loose and ill-fitting when installed with the seat belts. We always have our car seats inspected by the local county sherriff's office. Their professional opinion is that it is better to use LATCH if it makes the seat fit more securely.
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