Winter weather may also mean your car is freezing cold and keeping a coat on seems like the sensible solution to avoid getting a chill. However, new research has revealed children are not safe if they keep their coat on and could be at risk of serious injury.
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The research shows children could even be vaulted out of a car seat and left with devastating injuries if parents do not remove a coat before entering a car.
Crash tests have shown leaving a coat on will only tighten the straps around the coat and not the individual in the seat.
In the clip, a young crash test dummy is seen flying out of the harness at violent speeds upon impact.
This is caused because the harness compresses around the winter coat and offers little protection to an individual’s body.
A young child may also remove their coat during the journey and in this situation car straps will not hold a person secure.
The straps will still be fitted as if the coat was still on the child and needs to be readjusted to ensure they are back to a safe standard.
Failure to tighten the straps can cause devastating consequences in the event of a car crash or sudden deceleration of the vehicle.
The crash test dummy was even seen hurtling out of the car seat in an accident speed of just 30mph which could leave a human child with catastrophic injuries.
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Margaret Bolt, an expert from the Good Egg Safety company said: “Without adjusting the harness and doing the buckle back up, you can see how much movement there is in those straps and how much slack there in fact still is.
“Now if they wear a winter coat in a car seat and the car is involved in a crash, all the padding in the coat will be compressed and effectively this is how loose the straps are and the child could be ejected for the seat.”
Parents can avoid a dramatic incident by making sure the harness is right around a child before setting off on a journey.
Road users are also encouraged to take a coat off a child before setting off and placing a blanket over them instead to keep them warm.
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This will ensure the straps are fitted as safely as possible and that a child is properly secured in a car seat.
Experts have warned the issue could affect adults as well as children and urge motorists to only wear indoor clothes when inside a vehicle.
Nick Lloyd, safety manager at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said wearing a coat reduced safety and was not recommended.
He said: “If a child is wearing thick jacket or bodysuit the harness cannot be firmly fastened around the child meaning that it will not fit in the right place and importantly will not be close enough to the child’s body.
“In an accident, the harness will need to compress the jacket before it can restrain the child.
“This reduces the safety of the seat considerably and therefore it is not recommended that thick jackets or bodysuits are worn.”
The Good Egg Car Safety group also warns placing a coat on a baby or child could cause them to overheat as the car warms up.
They also suggest coats or jackets should not completely cover the harness either as this could delay removing a child from a car in an emergency situation.
Car seats can be a danger to some younger children and RoSPA recommended travel is kept to a minimum.
They claim research by Swindon’s Great Western Hospital shows babies under four weeks old should not use car seats for more than 30 minutes.
Sitting in a car seat for longer than this can lead to breathing problems and parents should check with the hospital to confirm whether it is safe for a newborn infant to use a seat.
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