Development of User Friendly Child Restraint Attachment Systems

Child restraints in Australia have incorporated upper tether straps since their introduction in the mid 1970s.

A new Australian Design Rule (ADR) for child restraint anchorages in vehicles was developed to facilitate installation, interchangeability between vehicles, and reduce the likelihood of misuse. The aim was to write the new ADR to be as least design restrictive as possible while still achieving these objectives. This was achieved by:

• Tightly specifying the mating interface between the child restraint clip and the vehicle anchor bracket.
• Recommending clearance requirements around the vehicle anchorage point to allow the installation of the anchor bracket and subsequently the clip to the bracket.

Following this first stage, manufacturers will be required to install one anchor bracket to the vehicle at time of manufacture from 1994.