Rear facing past weight limit

Hi lovely ladies

I am trying to convince DH why we need to spend the $$ for a seat with a high RF limit (Radian etc etc). He's totally onboard with Extended rear facing but is asking why you can't just keep a child in a convertible seat with a lower rear facing limit even once they reach the recommended weight limit (ie. keeping a child rear facing past 12kg in a seat that was only designed to RF to 12kg, if they were still under the height limits). Of course I think this is dangerous and have told him that you need to use it in accordance with manufacturers instructions - but he wants to know exactly why it isn't safe to do this. Is it that seats are only tested to a certain limit - and beyond that is an unknown, so not recommended, or is it that they test seats to higher RF limits and they're found not to be safe?

Gosh that's a bit of a jumble, I hope one of you ladies who's knowledgeable about ERF will be able to help!

Not sure either but you could always ask the people at Baby on the Move or Plunket for an explanation I am sure they will have the info.

A. It's illegal. You can't use a carseat in a way that is contrary to the manufacturer's instructions.
b. It has not passed crash testing at that weight limit which means your child may be unprotected at the time they really need to be.

My guess (completely uninformed - purely surmising ) is that they do test above the limits they put on it and make a call (an informed one, unlike mine!) that safety is compromised at x point. I highly doubt they sit around over a coffee and do a poll about what weight limit to put on it.

High, did you have an evenflo? The instructions on their seats are confusingly written. But you can rearface until 15kg but MUST rearface until 9kg.

Yes I did. Have since returned it. Had a few other issues with the seat too plus Evenflo has US standards and apparently you are better off buying a seat with Aussie/NZ standards as they are 'higher'. But each to their own ay!

I'm not suggesting I would actually contradict manufacturers instructions and keep her in a car seat past the weight limit (being a bit anal about these things)...i'm (and DH) are just interested in WHY the weight limits are what they are......I have no interest in her being a 'crash test dummy'.

Or if they have been tested past that, they have FAILED.

Not hard really, why not just follow the manufacturers instructions and accept that the rules are there for a reason.

??

If the car seat is made in Aussie it might only be acceptable to 13kg because that is what the standards in aussie are. So doesn't always mean it is dangerous as such beyond weight limit, just hasn't been tested (or has been tested by manufacturer but standards don't exist for those tests and they can't use the weight limits).

In saying that, I can't imagine that a child of 12.1kg would be in peril if the car crashed as there is bound to be some kind of buffer between safe and unsafe.

ALWAYS follow the instructions and weight limits for car seats. They have been tested for the weight limits for a crash. If the child is heavier than what is the limit of your car seat then the car seat could possibly not perform how it is meant too in a high/low impact car crash.