ANNUAR Effendy has three child car seats but he still worries about breaking the law next year when it becomes mandatory for all families to have them in their vehicles.

The problem is he is unsure if the child car seats meet specifications set by the government.

Second, Annuar doesn’t use them all the time because of a lack of space in his four-door family sedan.

His experience was repeated by several parents The Malaysian Insight interviewed who are either worried, confused or critical of Putrajaya’s policy which goes into effect on January 1.

Starting next year, child seats (CRS) are mandatory for all children below 135cm in height (or about the size of an average 12-year-old), according to Putrajaya’s guidelines.

But for the first six months, no fines will be issued for those yet to abide by the law.

Putrajaya is instituting this in light of the number of child fatalities in road accidents where 1,559 of them below 10 years old lost their lives between 2007 and 2017 – the equivalent of one death every 2½ days.

By law, Annuar would have to reinstall all three seats for his younger children but then, there would be no space for the three others to sit in the back.

“Right now, five of my children sit in the back when we go anywhere and my wife cradles our one-year old,” the construction site manager told The Malaysian Insight.

“If I put all three car seats in the back, which I doubt will fit, then where are my other kids supposed to sit? If they double up and sit in the car seats with their smaller siblings, I’ll probably also break the law.”

Supermarket supervisor Azman Muhammad faces the same problem because going by the law, he would need to buy more CRS as all four of his children are below 12.

“I already have two, but if I buy another two, I can’t fit them all in my car because the back seat only takes three child seats,” said the 42-year-old from Serdang.  

“So where is my fourth child going to sit? Also, can my two seats still be used?

“Because according to the government’s rules, they don’t fit the proper specifications. So how?” said Azman, growing visibly upset about the prospect of having to buy four new seats.  

The Malaysian Insight interviewed nine parents to gauge how ready the public is towards the policy and more than half felt it was not relevant for Malaysia, where families are big but low- and middle-class ones have small cars.

“In Western countries, they make it a requirement. But in those places, people only have one or two kids,” said Sheila, a parent who also sells baby and maternity products, including child car seats.

“It’s a good policy because they want children to be safe. But I think the government rushed it before doing a proper study on how it will be implemented.”

Parental responsibility

There are four categories of child seats, group 0 for those between zero and 18 months, group one (15 months and four years), group two (four and seven years) and group three (six years and above).    

Guidelines from the Malaysia Institute of Road Safety and Research (Miros) state that all categories of CRS must carry a United Nations safety certification known as ECE R44/04 or ECE R129.

Seats with these certifications will have an orange sticker with either code on the frames.

A survey by The Malaysian Insight at two baby product stores and a popular supermarket chain found that two stocked child seats with the required certification.

The five models are among 26 sold in all three locations.  

The cheapest seat with ECE44/04 certification starts at RM200, for a group one, while the most expensive is RM799. A group three costs RM399.

The cheapest CRS model which The Malaysian Insight found was RM180 although it didn’t meet Miros’ specifications as did the 21 other seats.

“Many child seats have the proper functions of a good car seat but their companies just did not get that specific certification because getting certified is expensive,” said Sheila.

Four of the nine families told The Malaysian Insight that although they accepted Putrajaya’s ruling, they can’t afford the seats.

“I haven’t thought about buying a child seat although I know about the requirement,” said factory worker Khairul Husny.  

“I’m still struggling to buy school supplies for my kids and I need to settle this first before I think about the law,” said the 33-year-old father of two from Kelantan.

“I know it’s important but I haven’t figured out how I’m going to buy it because I don’t have enough money now.”

Factory worker Ahmad Fauzi Abdullah agrees with the policy but hasn’t figured out yet how he will afford a certified seat for his two-month-old infant.

“I checked out the seat at a shop and it costs about RM500. I haven’t thought about how I will buy it yet,” said the father of four.

Naim Idris has no plans whatsoever to comply with the rule, saying that each parent should be responsible for driving safely.

“I have five kids, all of them below four. How am I going to afford five separate seats for all of them? My car can’t even fit all five,” said Naim from Terengganu.  

“This is not a relevant policy for Malaysians. What about those living in rural areas? Who are poorer and have smaller cars but lots of kids? How are they going to afford them? Car child seats should be optional.”  – December 19, 2019.