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Your child’s baby capsule or child restraint has a lot of engineering and design behind it, with revisions every couple of years — the latest at the time saw the introduction of Isofix and the G-type child restraint in September 2014. These simple safety tips and precautions may help you travel safer with your child.
🪢 Safety tip — tether strap
Australia was the first country to introduce the top tether, to stop forward motion during emergency braking or a rear-end collision. The top tether is mandatory and should always be attached to the anchor point — check your vehicle manual for the approved anchor point.
Do not wind the upper tether around the headrest — it should only ever be attached to an approved anchor point.
Seat belt installation
When using a seat belt installation, always make sure the seat belt is pushed in fully to the buckle. It can be surprisingly easy for a friend to accidentally reach behind and disconnect it, or for your child to reach around and disconnect it themselves.
🔧 Clicktight installation
Clicktight (or Smartlock) is a next-generation alternative to Isofix for installing a baby car seat. Isofix relies on the car manufacturer recessing the Isofix points correctly — many manufacturers don’t, which can lead to an unsafe Isofix installation.
Isofix installation (safety tips)
When using an Isofix installation, make sure the Isofix indicators are fully solid green. If you can see any red, press the seat down and re-tighten.
🔒 Buckle up the harness
When inserting the harness tongues, you should hear a very audible click as you insert the second tongue into the buckle. The order doesn’t matter, but that second click matters — if you haven’t heard it, one of the tongues probably isn’t fully inserted.
“If the child restraint is several years old, there may be food crumbs in the buckle — rinse it out and clean the buckle.”
🍼 Staying safe with longer rear-facing restraints
It’s a well-known fact that children travelling in rear-facing child restraints are safer — there’s no stress placed on your child’s neck, shoulders, arms and chest, and they’re pushed back into the restraint during a sudden stop. Every other aspect still needs to be secured too, like the top tether and seat belt. An example of a longer rear-facing restraint is the Infa Kompressor, which — based on the 50th percentile — helps keep a child rear-facing until 24 months.
✅ A secure harness for safety
Safety tip: in a forward-facing child restraint, one of the most important factors is how tight the harness is.
When the harness is loose, a child can slip their arms and shoulders out — and in a sudden stop, they could be thrown forward even if they haven’t slipped out.
Two tests parents can do to check harness tightness:
The pinch test: try to grab a fold in the harness. If you can pinch a fold, the harness is too loose.
The two-finger test: place two fingers under the harness at the shoulders. If they fit under and it’s still loose, re-tighten the harness.
“When your child is wearing a lot of clothes, pay closer attention to harness tightness — there’s a tendency not to tighten it enough with bulky clothing on.”
📏 Shoulder and harness height
Using the correct slot helps prevent a loose harness fit, improves shoulder strap placement, and helps stop a child slipping out of the harness altogether.
Rearward-facing: use the slot level with or slightly above your child’s shoulders. Never use a slot below their shoulders.
Forward-facing: use the closest slot to your child’s shoulders, no more than 25mm below their shoulders.
When adjusting harness height: make sure you’ve correctly re-attached the straps to the spreader/G plates on the rear of the restraint.
Some child restraints are easy-adjust and don’t need manual re-threading — examples include the Infa Secure Emerge, Maxi Cosi Euro, and Hera, along with nearly all restraints from Safe n Sound and Britax.
🌀 Twisted harness straps
Safety tip: always loosen the harness when getting your child out of the restraint, to help prevent the straps twisting.
It’s very easy for harness straps to become twisted. It might look harmless, but a twist can create a pressure point on the shoulders and cause bruising under emergency braking. A flat harness, by comparison, distributes force much more evenly in an accident.
Worth noting: cheaper seats tend to have more problems with twisting straps compared to Britax car seats.
Fixing twisted harness straps
On restraints with an easy-adjust harness, you can untwist the harness by creating a 45-degree fold in the strap and sliding the clip over the fold.
❓ Frequently asked questions
Should I ever wrap the top tether around the headrest?
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How do I know if my Isofix installation is secure?
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How can I check if the harness is tight enough?
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Which slot should I use for the harness height?
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Why do twisted harness straps matter?
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Which car seats have an easy-adjust harness?
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🛡️ ACRI accredited · 24,000+ installations since 2012
Baby Capsule Installation
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