Up-to-date testing protocols for car safety seat certification should be implemented, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, a child safety group and industry representatives said yesterday.
Last year, 1,395 Taiwanese children died in car crashes, up 34 percent from child fatalities in 2020, Jing Chuang Child Safety Foundation executive director Hsu Ya-jen (許雅荏) told a news conference in Taipei, citing a government-run Web site at roadsafety.tw/.
The annual number of children killed in car crashes has increased for four consecutive years, she said, adding that car seat safety was a key factor in preventing deaths and serious injuries.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Taiwan uses the outdated ECE R44 regulations for car seat safety, which had been phased out in the EU since the bloc introduced the ECE R124 regulations in 2013, she said.
The old standard stipulated that the design of children’s safety seats should focus on the intended user’s age and weight instead of size, and it lacked tests for side collisions, while testing products on crash dummies capable of simulating only injuries to the head and sternum, Hsu said.
The ECE R124 regulations are based on body size to reflect actual safety needs, test safety in different types of collisions and use dummies also capable of simulating injuries to the neck and abdomen, she said.
Production of ECE R44-compliant seats have ceased altogether, meaning Taiwan would soon run out of import sources should the nation fail to amend its safety standards, she said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs should update car seat safety standards and reduce dependency on third parties by establishing a domestic testing capability, DPP Legislator Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴) said.
The nation might require separate testing protocols better anticipating local conditions, she said.
Taiwan Toy and Children’s Articles Manufacturers Association deputy chairman Kuo Shih-chieh (郭時杰) said a failure to update safety standards would disrupt the industry’s ability to import or export products.
Regulators should introduce domestic legal standards equivalent to ECE R124 and upgrade safety test labs to protect children and the competitiveness of the industry, he said.
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