A preliminary evaluation of child restraints and anchorage systems for an Australian car.

This study examined the performance of three rear-facing and two forward-facing child restraints (CRS) with three anchorage systems: standard seatbelt, LATCH (flexible) and ISOFIX (rigid). Frontal (64 km/h) and side impact (15 km/h) HyGe sled tests were conducted using a sedan buck. Overall, the preliminary findings suggested superior performance of rigid over seatbelt and flexible anchorages, particularly in side impacts. The results also suggest a need for design improvement for CRS with flexible anchorages to increase stability in side impacts. The findings have important implications for the proposed introduction of changes to Australian Standards for CRS to permit both flexible and rigid systems to coexist with conventional seatbelt anchorage systems.