Maxi Cosi Car Seats in Australia

[snowqueen]

Hi

I have recently bought a Maxi Cosi car seat and was thinking of taking it on holiday with me to Cairns next week to save me the hassle of renting one. I have since been reading lots of conflicting information on various web sites and wondered if anyone could help me.

If I was to take my Maxi Cosi car seat to Australia and secured it with a seat belt like we do in cabs here, would this be classed as illegal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[beatrix]

Hi snowqueen,

Don't quote me on this but I don't think the Maxi Cosi car seats have been approved in Oz yet.

Check out: http://www.gtp.com.au/kidsafeqld/inewsf ... 7250.1.pdf

Kidsafe is an organisation that tells you all about child safety (car seats, in the home etc).

I think the reason why they haven't yet been approved in Aust and NZ is because they don't have a top anchor strap.

Last time we rented a car in Cairns we just paid a little extra and got a carseat (Safe n Sound brand) for our toddler daughter which they installed in the backseat for us. The hire car company also had capsules available for babies under 6 mths.

Hope that helps. Enjoy your holiday!

[mizza]

Beatrix is right, dont bother taking your Maxi Cosi to Australia, you wont be able to use it. We also hired a "Safe and Sound"seat which the rental company installed for us, it cost approx $10 a day from memory.

[jmp]

Hi,

I agree that I don't think they are legal in Aus.

However, we did take ours back to aus and used it as we do here for about a 2 week trip. My bub was still too young for a car seat. The question is, who enforces the use of the capsule whilst driving??? The police? Do they fine you? This I don't know.

What I do know is that all my Aus friends were very jealous they could not have this system for their bubs!

[mules]

hi,

i went back to australia for a month and used the maxi cosi with seatbelt the whole time i was there, never once questioned. friends and family thought it felt a safer system then some of the baby capsules they had in australia and wanted to buy one.

there is alot of debate as to why maxi cosi is not approved in australia. australia has some of the highest car seat standards in the world and there is a push to get maxi cosi approved. apparently part of the problem is that for car seat manufacturers australia is simply not a viable market to sell their seats as the size of the market is small, and hence the return on investment minimal given the huge costs to get seats australian standard approved.

all that said, i don't think you'll have an issue using the maxi cosi, but you may feel that since cars in aust all provide anchor points (as opposed to alot of cars in singapore) that an installed safe and sound car seat from a rental car may be the better option.

[snowqueen]

I've just come back from my two weeks holiday in Oz and took a gamble and took my Maxi Coxi and Quinny. I used it every day with no problems what so ever. I did get allot of comments and admiring glances on my Quinny Buzz/Maxi Cosi combo as I don't think they have anything like it.

[aussiemeg]

Hi guys

It is not that it is illegal it is just that you won't be insured if you are using a seat that is not australian approved and that would cover medical too