When looking for a car seat there are many different features to look for, one of the most important being of course the safety which is why checking the certifications of the car sat you are interested in is something to look out for.
Many car seats are tested to the European standard (R44 or R129 I-Size), Sweden has been known for their strict car seat testing. The Swedish plus test was founded in 2009 to encourage manufacturers of child car seat to develop safer seats, the main creator for this test was Tommy Pettersson, head of the VTI Shock Laboratory in Linköping, Sweden.
Axkid have done studies on real life accidents where children suffered serve injuries in their neck and head. Which is why new lower stress-limits in neck-forces were introduced as an important safety criterion.
The plus test guarantees that your child is not exposed to excessive forces on the neck that can threaten their life during a collision, a child cannot withstand a cervical effort greater than 130kg and the test force is measured establishing a maximum allowed limit of 122kg.
What are the main factors of passing the plus test?
- Higher speed during the test, 56kph compared to the 50kph speed used for European standards, ECE R44 and UN-ECE R129, also known as I Size.
- Very short breaking distance, which makes the impact on the car seat much more violent because of the shorter breaking distance, the greater the deceleration and, therefore the more intense the forces received the impact.
- To make the plus test even more difficult to pass, not only is a higher speed used and shorter breaking distance used, it also specifically measures the forces in crash test dummy’s neck sensors.
The Swedish plus test is not compulsory, which means it is up to the manufacturer to decide weather they want to design their car seat that is plus tested or not. Axkid currently have 4 child car seats that have passed the Swedish plus test, these are, Minikid, Move, Modukid and Rekid models. Axkid is the first and only child seat manufacturer which no longer make forward facing car seats (excluding the high-back booster stage).
If you are interested in Axkid Swedish plus test shop here.