Child Restraints
Booster Seats & Booster Cushions
Each year many thousands of children are injured or killed in the EU due to vehicle accidents. The updated UK Department of Transport (DoT) regulations (September 2006) concerning booster seats has sparked further interest and debate about vehicle child safety. The DoT estimates that implementation of these regulations could prevent over 2,000 child deaths or injuries each year in the UK.
The regulations state that children up to 135cms in height must use the appropriate child restraint when travelling in any car, van or goods vehicle - there are very few exceptions. RoSPA state that with booster seats:
- the belt should be worn as tight as possible with no slack
- the lap belt should go over the pelvic region (from hip-bone to hip-bone), not the stomach
- the diagonal strap should rest over the shoulder, not the neck
I was that impressed that I purchased another for my daughter who also uses a booster seat. With the CG Lock in place they are secured securely in their boosters seats and do not move around. More importantly the booster seats themselves do not move or tilt as they sometimes do going around roundabouts. I would recommend this device to parents with small
children.Paul I (Staffs) Porsche 996 C4S
Evidence is mounting from customers on just how much more secure their booster seat (or booster cushion) is when the CG-Lock is used. When a loose seatbelt is securing a child in a booster seat (as can occur when the child is moving about), the child seat can slide, tip, or rock even during normal cornering and braking. This movement poses proven risk to the child.
We are proud to announce that the innovative CG-Lock® has received
The National Parenting Center’s Seal of Approval
In granting the Seal of Approval, The National Parenting Center said:
"The CG Lock is a unique car safety device for parents with kids sitting in booster seats. The unique lock stabilizes your child’s car booster seat by preventing some of the most typical issues that plague boosters such as tipping, rocking and bouncing. Our testers told us that they felt an increase in their personal feeling of safety, while noticing an improvement in their children’s comfort. When you fasten your seat belt, you want it to fit snugly and impart a feeling that it will do its job in case of an accident. CG-Lock did just that. Recommended Age: 3 to 8."
Group 3: for children weighing 22 - 36 kgs (48 - 79 lbs) roughly from 6 - 11 years.
They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front.
Booster seats and booster cushions do not have an integral harness to hold the child in place. The adule seat belt goes around the child and the seat. So it is important that the seat belt is correctly adjusted. The basic points to note are:
- the belt should be worn as tight as possible
- the lap belt should go over the pelvic region, not the stomach
- the diagonal strap should rest over the shoulder, not the neck
Watch the video below to see what happens to a child in a booster seat when the driver takes evasive action (swerves)…
The CG harness has worked extremely well. My daughter, Gemma, is 10 years old and uses a standard Booster seat in the back of our VW Touran. Before fitting the CG Lock she would always complain of ‘falling over’ when going around roundabouts and sharp corners. Since using the CG-Lock she is able to stay completely upright when going around roundabouts, sharp corners etc and she says she feels much ’safer’ in the booster seat.Amanda Abbott June 2007
“I feel much safer and more comfortable when in Mummy’s car since the CG-Lock was added.” Lucinda, 8 yr old booster cushion user in Mummy’s car.
I have 3 children and am a busy Mum! The booster seats go in and out of the back of my car a lot and although I fitted the booster seats and seatbelt as firmly as I could, I had noticed that with the usual back seat ‘fidgeting’ the lap belt loosens off and my children were far from secure. I now use a CG-Lock and have full peace of mind that when the children are in my car, they are much more secure. They also feel more comfortable as the booster seat stays still.Johanna Dodd Mercedes 230 Estate Driver and Mum
For infant car seats, RoSPA recommends: “Push the child seat towards the back of the vehicle seat, then press your body weight down into the child safety seat, and pull the excess belt webbing.of a lap/shoulder belt away from the buckle, taking out as much slack as possible. Activate the locking mechanism.”
Statistics show that four out of five child safety seats are used incorrectly. This is because it is ergonomically difficult to do. Few cars have seatbelts that can lock the lap belt as recommended. We believe the CG-Lock may be a solution to this problem. The CG-Lock is currently being tested for use to help tether child seats too after customer feedback and testing indicated how easy the CG-Lock is in getting the correct tightness of the childseat… usually not possible when having to pre-tension the seatbelt and then push down on the childseat to click it in place.
The Trademark SeatSnug® will be used for this application. An easy retrofit to the vehicle’s seatbelt for use for car child restraints, providing the requisite belt tightening and locking function in a more convenient form. With the SeatSnug®, adequate tightening — and releasing — is easier and faster than with other methods.
In addition, when SeatSnug® is installed on rear passenger vehicle seatbelts, it can also be used when the booster seat is removed from the car (for better posture for adults using the seatbelt in the normal manner).
The thing that impressed me the most was the added security for my 3.5yr old girl. The seat that she uses is an Isofix unit that fixes directly to the chassis of the vehicle. This is all great, but this also relies on the original lap belt from the car for restraint. The CG Lock maintains a firm hold of the lap part of the belt which gives me great peace of mind. By locking the unit permanently to a pre-checked tension, I’m guaranteed to always get the seat belt tension right every time. Thanks, great item!Christopher Doe Leon Cupra R 225
Please check this page for future updates. If you have an questions, feel free to contact us.
Customer Feedback
"The CG-Lock worked exactly as I hoped. I have 2 car seats (not booster seats) that were impossible to secure properly because my car is not equipped with the LATCH [ISOFIX] anchoring system and the factory belts are not ideally located to secure the car seat. Using the CG-Lock is the only way I have been able to hold enough tension in the lap portion of the belt properly and consistently secure the [child] car seats."
WL, Maryland, USA. 2000 BMW 323Ci with Britax Boulevard Child Seats
Testing Video
Related Press Releases
