If your child is accompanying you on a drive, your utmost priority is to ensure his/her safety. As a parent or guardian, it is your responsibility to keep an eye on your child because even slight carelessness like leaving children alone in the car can lead to dire circumstances. Although the very purpose of a child car seat is to protect your child, their safety is contingent upon whether you use the child seat correctly or not. Here, we take a look at everything you need to know about a child car seat.
After an amendment on July 1, 2017, UAE Traffic Law has set a limit that children less than 10 years old (and under 145 centimetres) would not be allowed to sit in the front seat. Moreover, the law has also made it mandatory to use a child car seat for children up to 4 years. Whoever contravenes these child car seat laws in UAE shall be punishable with a fine for seating a child without a car seat, which amounts to AED 400 and four black points.
Age and Weight Limits For Each Seat Type
When it comes to child seats, there is no one-size-fits-all seat. Instead, there are various types of seats with each type designed for different age and weight range.
- Rear-facing car seat: Less than 9 kg and from birth until four years
- Front-facing seat: 9 kg to 15 kg and from five to eight years
- Booster seat: 15 kg to 25 kg and from eight to twelve years
Types of Child Seats
Understanding the right age to use a different seat or to stop using the child seat is crucial for your child’s safety.
Many parents are often indecisive about when they should push their child to the next stage. Sometimes they are unaware of safety precautions for kids in cars and the age limit for a child to sit in the front seat of a car and thus end up unnecessarily taking them to the next stage sooner than they should.
The three most common types of child seats and their respective age ranges are as follows:
Rear-facing Seat
As its name implies, rear-facing seats are designed in a manner that your child will face rearwards. As it is one of the most effective ways to keep your child safe, it is recommended to keep him or her rear-facing until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer.
Once your child reaches the height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer for the rear-facing seat, your child is ready to travel in a forward-facing car seat with a harness.
Forward-facing Seat
As the child gets older, switch from a rear-facing seat to a forward-facing seat. Although children would face frontwards like other adult passengers, forward-facing child seats significantly reduce a child’s vulnerability to injury in case of any unfortunate incident. After your child relinquishes the rear-facing car seat, he/she can turn to the forward-facing seat with a harness and tether.
Keep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether until he or she outgrows the age and weight limit for the forward-facing seat.
Booster Seat
After your child’s height and weight exceed the required limit for a forward-facing car seat with a harness, he/she can switch to a booster seat in the back seat. Until your child is tall enough to properly fit into a seat belt, keep your child in a booster seat. Your child should move past the booster seat only if the seat belt fits comfortably across his/her shoulders, thighs and stomach.
Buying Child Seats In UAE
Child car seats are available for consumers to buy at automobile accessories shops. For those based in the United Arab Emirates, dubizzle has been a go-to platform to buy used cars in UAE or other car accessories. Thanks to its large collection of automobile accessories, you can find a wide range of child car seats for sale ranging from brand new to used.
What factors to consider when buying a child seat?
There are a number of things that you should keep in mind when buying a child seat. Here are some of the aspects that you need to consider:
- Ensure that the seat you are buying is designed for the weight and height class of your kid
- Ensure that the child car seat offers full body protection to your child including his/her arms, thighs, head and stomach
- Ensure that the seats have been crash tested so that they can protect your child in case of any untoward incident
FAQs
When can a child face forward in a car seat?
UAE’s traffic law requires children to be at least 4 years old or weigh between 9 to 18 kilograms before they can face forward in a car seat.
What is the penalty for not wearing a child car seat in UAE?
Per UAE’s traffic law and regulations, parents or guardians can face a fine of AED 400 and four black points if they are caught driving without using a child seat for their child.
If you find this information helpful and want to keep up with all the latest information in the automotive industry, stay tuned to UAE’s top auto blog.
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