Intrigued by this post on Minti's Q&A, I did a little further research online. It would seem that it has been recognised by child experts and governments that larger booster seats are needed for above average height and weight children for a few years now.
The well documented incidence of obese children is also cause for concern and as you can see by these articles, while the issue is not new; there is little evidence to show change in the industry to date.
Australian Children Too Fat For Booster Seats - Courier Mail, March 15 2008 (Australia)
Kids Getting Too Fat To Fit In Car Seats - Sunday Star - Times, Wellington, April 9 2006 (New Zealand)
American Children Getting Too Fat For Car Safety Seats - Medical News Today, April 3 2006 (USA)
How many parents are affected by this dilemna? Why didn't the Australian Government forsee the error that would occur and address it prior to changing the laws? The least they could do is provide clear additional rules and guidelines for parents of children who do not fit safe booster seats.
I certainly hope they plan to be accountable and put some pressure on manufacturers to come up with higher weight rated booster seats and parents of obese children to get them down to healthy weights.
However that would still leave parents with perfectly healthy children who are above average height and weight confused and worried about what is best for their children. The seats are meant to be used by children up to the age of 7yrs old, the age weight percentile for boys in this age group is 18 - 32kg with an average of around 23kg, so they were always going to fall short.
Links to further reading on this topic:
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