Safety

Sande Kids™ Waterproof Car Seat Liner in use in a Britax and InfaSecure forward-facing car seats

 

As parents we know how revolting our kid’s car seats can become – and quickly! 

We wanted to create an easy to use, easy to clean and easy to store liner for the car seat or pram when you have a sandy, damp or sticky child to get home. 

As a busy Mum of four kids, all of which are in car seats, I wanted an easy solution to protect the bulk of the car seat fabric to save having to uninstall and wash multiple covers when we got home from the beach. It just so happens our design fits perfectly in most prams and strollers as well – hooray for multiple uses!

Australian Standards

As car seat safety is so important, we spent a long time researching and designing our Sande Kids™ Waterproof Car Seat and Pram Liner to ensure we were putting a safe product out into the market place.

The Sande Kids™ Waterproof Car Seat and Pram Liner has been designed to meet voluntary Australian Standard; AS 8005:2020 Accessories for child restraints for use in motor vehicles.

AS/NZS 1754:2013 Child restraint systems for use in motor vehicles was also consulted during the design and development process.

Our Liner has been voluntarily crash tested in accordance with AS 8005:2020, AS/NZS 1754:2013 and AS/NZS 3629.1:2013 (Methods of testing child restraints - Dynamic testing). Test results below.

As required by AS 8005:2020 in regards to materials and performance, the following was considered;

  • Toxicity
  • Flammability of materials
  • Bite resistance

Our Liner is made from high quality Food Grade Silicone which is naturally non-toxic, non-flammable and bite resistant.

Our Liner is soft and comfortable for little people. As it's non-toxic, it is gentle against young skin. It is non-flammable so no toxic flame retardants which are often applied to car seat fabrics were used.

Design

Our Liner has been designed so that is does not interfere with a car seats 6-point harness system. It is easy to place in the seat without needing to make any adjustment to the car seat or harness. A non-slip grip on the base and reinforced backing of the Liner stops slipping, bunching or crumpling when in use. This Liner is thin, approximately 1mm thick and no thicker than some children’s clothing. It offers a waterproof barrier without adding bulk to the car seat which is a concern when it comes to firmly securing the car seat harness. In a crash, bulky materials may compress which means the harness is not secured as firmly as it may appear.

By using this Liner you’ll save yourself time removing and washing car seat covers. It also offers peace of mind if you don’t feel comfortable taking out professionally installed car seats.

The Sande Kids™ Waterproof Car Seat and Pram Liner is easy to clean, just shake off sand and crumbs and rinse with water, or a quick wipe with a baby wipe also works. Then just roll, secure with the button and store next to the car seat base.

 

Crash Testing

Crash Testing (or Dynamic Testing) was carried out by a world recognised NATA accredited testing facility in Melbourne on 4 August 2021.

The Crash Testing demonstrates that our Liner does not lessen the protection and performance offered by a child’s car seat. As our liner is a universal fit for most forward-facing harnessed car seats (6 months – 4 years), we weren’t able to test our liner in all car seats on the market. Instead, we tested our Liner in one popular make and model of car seat.

We chose the Britax Graphene Convertible Car Seat as it’s sold widely in Australia and also has a good CREP rating for safety. The CREP (Child Restraint Evaluation Program) independently tests car seats above and beyond minimum standards. The dummy known as TNO P3 used in the seat was the equivalent of a 3-year-old child.

Two identical car seats were used. For a baseline test, the car seat was attached via iso-fix in forward-facing mode to a dynamic sled. The P3 dummy was secured and frontal-impact was tested. The second seat was then attached to the sled in the same way, our liner fitted and the P3 dummy secured in and again frontal-impact was tested. The test showed there was no significant difference between the two tests.

In both cases “the dummy was retained by the restraint during impact” and “the Liner did not interfere with the normal performance of the car seat”. The following images show the baseline test versus the test with Liner.

Waterproof car seat liner crash tested for safety