No. H052/10
For release - May 13, 2010
OTTAWA — Canada’s Transport Minister John Baird today announced new regulations that make Canada’s testing standards for child car seats unprecedented and world-leading. The regulations are part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to ensure Canadian product safety standards are second to none.
“The Government of Canada has introduced stringent new testing standards to ensure children have the best protection possible while travelling on the roads,” said Baird. “Child car seats sold in Canada should first have rigorous and thorough testing completed by the manufacturer, and Canada is raising the standards with these changes.”
The regulations improve safety by:
- introducing a unique Canadian requirement to conduct child car seat tests by using a three-point lap/shoulder belt that has been commonly found in most vehicles for several years;
- aligning Canadian standards with current testing methods to maximize the safety of kids at each stage of development;
- increasing the weight limits of car seats to allow larger, heavier children to be better protected;
- requiring the use of improved child-sized dummies, adopting new performance criteria and testing a new standard seat assembly; and
- introducing simulated crash requirements for booster cushions, similar to those currently being used to test infant and child restraint systems.
The new regulations, which are part of the Motor Vehicle Restraint Systems and Booster Seats Safety Regulations, were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on October 10, 2009. After consideration of comments received, the regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on May 12, 2010. Compliance with these regulations will be optional until January 1, 2011, at which time they become mandatory for all manufacturers. Until then, the current regulations will continue to apply.
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Contacts:
James Kusie
Director, Issues Management and Parliamentary Affairs
Office of Canada’s Transport Minister
John Baird, Ottawa
613-991-0700
Media Relations
Transport Canada, Ottawa
613-993-0055
Transport Canada is online at www.tc.gc.ca. Subscribe to news releases and speeches at www.tc.gc.ca/e-news and keep up-to-date on the latest from Transport Canada.
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