There are changes coming to the laws around car seats for children, and this will mean that backless booster seats or booster cushions will be banned for use for younger children.
Under present regulations booster cushions can be used for children weighing as little as 15kg, that can be from around 3 years of age, but from December of this year they will be restricted to use by children taller than 125cm and weighing more than 22kg.
This is seen as a big step forward by safety campaigners, many of whom want to ban the use of booster cushions altogether as they have been proven to be much less effective that high-backed booster seats.
To confuse matters slightly, the new regulations regarding minimum height and weight requirements for booster cushions will only apply to new products on the market, and parents will still be able to continue using the cushions for younger children if they are bought before December 2016. Exactly how this will be policed is uncertain, as how someone will know when a seat has been purchased will be difficult to determine.
Backless booster seats or booster cushions will not be banned completely, though safety campaigners still urge parents to choose high-baked boosters because they offer much more protection in an accident, especially those with side-impact protection.
You can find the current regulations on car seats here along with independent advice on which style to choose.
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