Child-safety car seats fail to meet standards
By Yang Jian |
00:00 UTC+8 October 13, 2012
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MANY child-safety seats available in the local market, especially those being sold online at cheap prices, failed to meet national quality standards and cannot actually protect children during car accidents, officials of the industry association for child products told a seminar in Shanghai yesterday.
Inspectors have found copycat products of famous brands being made in family workshops, while some illegal manufacturers are simply selling bags that can be hung on the back seat, claiming them to be safety seats for children, according to Shi Xiaoguang, president of the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association.
"Apart from the seats, some low-cost family cars also have no reliable space to install and stabilize the safety seats, which can cause babies to be thrown out along with the seats during accidents," he warned.
Prices of child-safety seats range greatly - from less than 100 yuan (US$15.96) to more than 1,000 yuan, and most of the cheap products failed to reach a national quality requirement during tests carried out in July, said Liang Mei, secretary general of the association.
The country has no law on the use of special safety seats for children. They are, however, required by law in more than 40 countries.
In many developed countries, more than 90 percent of parents use safety seats for their children, which has greatly reduced child-passenger fatalities and injuries.
But the figure is only less than one percent in China, according to the association.
Shanghai is to mandate the installation of child-safety seat in cars to ensure children's safety as medical experts and legal professionals prepare a draft legislation, which may be passed in two or three years.
However, a sudden legislation on safety seats might make fake and low-quality products even more rampant in the market amid surging demand, Shi cautioned.
In Brazil, for instance, the number of manufacturers jumped to 36 from only six after safety seat installation in cars was made mandatory and the quality dropped as a large amount of fake products hit the market, he said.
China so far has about 30 reliable child-safety seat manufacturers who yesterday signed a joint letter of commitment in Shanghai, promising to ensure the quality of their products.
More than 18,500 children under 14 years of age die in traffic accidents on Chinese mainland every year and some 75 percent are private car passengers.
Inspectors have found copycat products of famous brands being made in family workshops, while some illegal manufacturers are simply selling bags that can be hung on the back seat, claiming them to be safety seats for children, according to Shi Xiaoguang, president of the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association.
"Apart from the seats, some low-cost family cars also have no reliable space to install and stabilize the safety seats, which can cause babies to be thrown out along with the seats during accidents," he warned.
Prices of child-safety seats range greatly - from less than 100 yuan (US$15.96) to more than 1,000 yuan, and most of the cheap products failed to reach a national quality requirement during tests carried out in July, said Liang Mei, secretary general of the association.
The country has no law on the use of special safety seats for children. They are, however, required by law in more than 40 countries.
In many developed countries, more than 90 percent of parents use safety seats for their children, which has greatly reduced child-passenger fatalities and injuries.
But the figure is only less than one percent in China, according to the association.
Shanghai is to mandate the installation of child-safety seat in cars to ensure children's safety as medical experts and legal professionals prepare a draft legislation, which may be passed in two or three years.
However, a sudden legislation on safety seats might make fake and low-quality products even more rampant in the market amid surging demand, Shi cautioned.
In Brazil, for instance, the number of manufacturers jumped to 36 from only six after safety seat installation in cars was made mandatory and the quality dropped as a large amount of fake products hit the market, he said.
China so far has about 30 reliable child-safety seat manufacturers who yesterday signed a joint letter of commitment in Shanghai, promising to ensure the quality of their products.
More than 18,500 children under 14 years of age die in traffic accidents on Chinese mainland every year and some 75 percent are private car passengers.
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