Upcoming Car Seat Clinic

****It was wonderful to meet those of you who joined us!  Due to unplanned circumstances, we had to end our clinic at 3pm this afternoon, we did post this here on the blog (as well as on our FB page) as soon as we were aware.  We are truly  sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone.  Please email us by clicking on the link provided in this blog post to set up an appointment with us if we missed you!*****



A Car Seat Clinic will be held this Saturday, May 12/12 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

We will meet on the north side of Polo Park, up on the second floor parking lot (near the movie theaters). 

We will be available for drop in checks between 1 & 3 PM, if you are unable to make it during that time, please send us an email ASAP with a time you'd like us to accommodate (only on May 12/12).

Please contact us BY CLICKING HERE,  as there are only two of us that will be present, we would like to have a rough idea as to how to distribute our time.

Please make sure to bring both the manual for your vehicle and for your carseat/booster seat, if at all possible.



We look forward to seeing you there!

Recall : Britax B-Safe infant car seats

PLEASE CLICK HERETo be taken to the Transport Canada site for recall information on the Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat.

Possible issues with infant seats and accessory bases.

Are you wondering what to do.....

If you come across someone selling a non complaint car seat?  As much as used websites are trying to get a handle on the amount of non complaint car and booster seats that are being sold, there is such a high volume unfortunately, that many are slipping past watchful eyes. 

Click Here to view the current regulations

If you see come across a situation and would do your part to help stop the sale (lending or giving away as well) of non complaint seats, please CLICK HERE, fill out the required information and send it in (there are a few options to do this).  This link will take you to Health Canada's Incident Report.  We know many of you are probably rolling your eyes and wondering why this is such a "big deal", but it is.  Bottom line, selling (lending or giving away) non complaint seats is illegal.

We really appreciate any and all help. 

Please also remember that if YOU are the original owner of the seat, and if it is safe to use (no accidents, damage etc) and is not expired, it is perfectly safe and legal for YOU to use.

New Booster Seat Legislation!

One can only imagine how happy this makes us here at ECS Canada!

Under new legislation proposed by the province, protective booster seats would be required for children who have outgrown car seats but are too small to safely use seatbelts, Healthy Living, Seniors and Consumer Affairs Minister Jim Rondeau and Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton announced today (April 30 2012).

Currently in the province of Manitoba, there is no booster seat legislation.  The law states that a child must ride in an approved car seat until they are a MINIMUM of 50 pounds (23 kg) and 5 years old.  This is simply just not good enough.  Reality is, there is more childhood obesity these days, kids are heavier, younger in life.  Aside from being terribly unhealthy, it also provides the opportunity to prematurely have a child in a regular seat belt. 

Mandatory booster seat use will soon be required for those children who have outgrown a forward facing car seat, but who are not yet big enough to safely use a regular vehicle seat belt on it's own. 

The new legislation and the regulations will require children to ride in an approved booster seat until they are a minimum of four feet & nine inches (145 centimetres) tall, 80 pounds (36 kilograms), or nine years old.

The purpose of a booster seat is to keep the seat belt in the correct place over your child's body. You must use the seat belt to hold the booster seat and child in place.  Booster seats have proven to save lives and reduce injury. 

When will this really happen?
The new legislation will come into force later this year. This leaves only Alberta, Saskatchewan and the three northern territories without booster seat legislation.  Please remember though, it's never too soon to keep our kids safe!

Low (or no back) booster seat

High Back Booster Seat

Recall on Diono Seats

Certain Diono Monterey Booster seats may have an error on the National Safety Mark label.

PLEASE CLICK HERE
To see if yours might be one of the ones on the list, and how to go about resolving the problem.

If ever you find any Canadian recalls, please let us know so we can do our part in helping to inform our blog readers!

A few warm weather tips

Now that the warm weather is here (or approaching, depending where you live), lets talk a bit about warm weather tips to help protect our precious cargo!

Cars can become very hot inside, and car seats can become even hotter.  Buckles can easily (and have) cause burns on our kids delicate skin.  Whenever you're not in the car, please cover your car seats metal buckles with a towel or receiving blanket, to keep the heat and sunlight off of it.  We can only imagine how much a burn from a hot buckle must hurt! 
To keep sunlight out of our kid's faces and bodies, if you're tempted to purchase a sun shade to stick on your window, the cling on type are preferred.  We realize people like the convenience of the roll down shades, they don't impede your vision out of that particular window, but in a crash they can become a projectile.  Plus, they often don't stay put at the bottom, so the shade is just dangling anyway, which is not safe nor is it effective. 
The last tip in this short post, is that especially rear facing, kids will heat up quickly.  Forward facing kids might get the relief of air conditioning or an open window, but rear facing, there is next to no air movement.  We've found if the air conditioning is pointed up at the roof of the vehicle, and turned up, it helps to get some of that cool air way in the back seat.  People have also put ice packs in their car seat a bit before they plan on leaving, to cool the seat down before putting their child in it.  And again, after market products such as little clip on fans and such are simply not safe to use. 

Remember your hats and sunscreen as well, baby skin burns much quicker than we think! 

What do you do to keep yourself and your kids cool in the hot weather when travelling?  Any tips or ideas?  Please share, we'd love to hear them!

Proper use of a child restraint probably saved this childs life.

We came across this article this morning, it has a tragic ending for the two adults involved, but this shows that taking the extra time to properly and safely use your child restraint, can save lives. 
Our hearts go out to everyone involved.  And our most sincere condolences. 

Toddler survives SUV crash that kills two men

 

The Canadian Press

Posted: Apr 10, 2012 9:51 AM PT 

 

A toddler has survived a SUV crash south of Powell River, B.C., that killed two men who were thrown from the vehicle as it rolled into a ditch.
Powell River RCMP say two men died shortly after 6 p.m. Monday night when their SUV veered out of control on a forest service road and rolled in a ditch, about 170 kilometres north of Vancouver.
The passenger was pinned under the vehicle and died instantly, while police say the driver was tossed about six metres away and died before he could be rushed to hospital.
The two-year-old boy was not hurt because he was properly buckled into a car seat in the back of the SUV, said police.
A collision analyst from Vancouver Island arrived at the scene on Tuesday to try to determine why the vehicle skidded out of control on the gravel road. No names have been released.