You’ve packed the boot, checked the tyres, and loaded the snacks for the long road trip ahead. But if your child is wearing a bulky jacket under their car seat harness, or if you haven't done the "pinch test", they might not be as safe as you think.
As road safety experts warn, small, everyday fitting mistakes are placing young passengers at risk this holiday season.
Most parents understand that babies and young children need to be properly restrained, but choosing the right seat and using it correctly are two different things. A seat can be correctly installed and still not be providing the protection it should if the harness is incorrectly positioned or too loose.
The need for care is underlined by South Africa’s road-safety figures.
According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s latest State of Road Safety Report, there were 11,485 road fatalities in South Africa during 2025. Children aged between zero and 14 accounted for 8.9% of those deaths, which is roughly 1,000 children.
The figures include children killed in a range of road incidents, including as pedestrians and passengers, so they cannot be directly attributed to child-restraint use but they do illustrate the wider road-safety risks facing children.
For those travelling by car, one of the precautions is making sure the child restraint is appropriate for the child and correctly fitted.
Choosing the right seat
Eugene Herbert, CEO of MasterDrive, says parents should choose a car seat according to the child's age, weight and height, rather than its appearance or price.
For infants, he recommends keeping them in a rear-facing seat for as long as possible, within the weight and height limits specified by the manufacturer.
“Use rear-facing seats for infants up to two years old. Use it for as long as the seat’s weight and height limits allow, which can often extend well past two years,” says Herbert.
Once a child has outgrown the rear-facing seat, the next step is a forward-facing seat fitted with a five-point harness. This should continue to be used until the child reaches the maximum weight or height specified for that particular seat.
After that, a booster seat can be used until the child is around 10 to 12 years old or reaches approximately 1.5m in height.
It is important that these stages should be determined by the child's size and the manufacturer's limits rather than their age.
Getting the harness right
Once the correct seat has been selected, its installation and the way the child is strapped in also become important.
For an infant in a rear-facing seat, the recline angle needs to be correct. Infant seats should be reclined sufficiently to support a newborn's head and airway, using the angle marked on the seat by the manufacturer.
The harness straps should sit at or just below the infant's shoulders when the seat is rear-facing. Where the seat has a chest clip, this should sit level with the child's armpits.
The harness should also be snug.
A useful check is the pinch test. Once the harness has been tightened, parents should try to pinch the harness webbing at the child's shoulder. If they can pinch a fold of material between their fingers, the harness is too loose.
“A harness that looks tight can still be too loose if it sits too high or too low on the shoulders,” says Herbert.
“Parents assume the seat is doing its job once the buckle clicks, when the fit still needs checking every single time.”
This is easy to overlook when children are wearing different clothes as the seasons change.
Bulky jackets and thick blankets should also not be placed underneath the harness. They can compress during a collision and create additional space between the child and the straps.
Instead, remove the bulky outer clothing before fastening the harness and place a blanket or additional layer over the secured harness if necessary.
Don’t rush the next stage
One of the other mistakes Herbert says is moving children into the next type of seat too soon.
A child who has reached a particular age has not necessarily outgrown a rear-facing seat. The manufacturer's height and weight limits are the more useful guide.
The same applies when moving from a five-point harness to a booster seat.
Parents should also avoid reusing a child seat if they do not know its history.
“A second-hand seat also carries risk if its history is unknown. Heat and time weaken plastic and webbing.”
Check it before every trip
Installing a car seat correctly should not be a once-off exercise.
Children grow, their clothing changes and harnesses need to be adjusted as they get bigger.
Herbert recommends checking the harness before every trip and, where possible, having the installation checked by a trained professional.
The same principle applies to holiday journeys as it does to a five-minute trip to the shops. A child restraint is only useful if it is appropriate for the child, correctly installed and correctly used.
With South Africa recording more than 11 000 road deaths in 2025, the school holiday road trip is a reminder that road safety is not only about checking tyres, servicing the car or taking regular breaks.
For families travelling with young children, the few minutes spent checking that the smallest passenger in the car is properly secured before the journey begins is vital.
“A car seat only protects a child when it is chosen and used correctly on every trip,” says Herbert.
willem.vdputte@nationalmg.co.za