Urgent warning over 'killer car seats' on sale on eBay, Shein and other retailers

Illegal car seats are still being sold online one decade after they were first identified as failing to meet safety standards, a watchdog has warned today.

Which? found the seats on sale on marketplaces including eBay, Little Dreams, ManoMano, Shein and Wish, 10 years after it first discovered them in 2014.

The consumer group said the seats were pulled from sale at the time, but it had found more than a dozen new examples of them online, while police had also warned that they found similar products in vehicles at car seat checking events.

Which? said it was concerned that families struggling with the cost of living could be tempted by the cheap but dangerous seats, whose prices range from £12.50 to just under £40 - far below the standard price starting from around £80. Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards have previously dubbed the products "killer car seats".

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Safety defects of the seats include a thin base and a failure to have one central point of release for the harness - a fundamental flaw as since car seats must raise a child's height to position the seat belt correctly across their lap, and multiple buckles can make it difficult to rescue a child in the event of a crash.

The seats also lack side impact protection, which is needed to protect a child's head from hitting the inside of the car. The seats Which? found also lacked the distinctive orange labels that indicate which safety regulation the seats comply with.

Child car seats must have an R44 or R129 regulation label to be sold legally in the UK. While eBay's product listings described the items as car seats, the full descriptions warned against using them in cars.

One listing read: "Note: it is best not to use it on high-speed cars. We recommend that it be used in non-motorised products such as electric vehicles, two-wheelers, and electric vehicles. Because it is not a child safety seat that complies with traffic."

Which? describes it as 'appalling'

Sue Davies, Which? head of consumer protection policy, said: "It is appalling that these deadly car seats are reappearing on online marketplaces more than a decade after Which? first exposed them, but it is not surprising.

"This is just one in a long list of dangerous products that Which? has identified and have been taken down only for them to later reappear for sale.

"Children's lives will be at risk, with less affluent households most likely to be affected, until online marketplaces are forced to take responsibility for the listing of these cheap but deadly car seats.

"The Product Regulation and Metrology Act is a welcome start for strengthening product safety laws, but secondary regulations are needed to impose clear legal responsibilities on online marketplaces, with tough enforcement for those that fall short."

Warwickshire Police has hit out at the find

PC Rachael Wonfor from Warwickshire Police said: "As a recently accredited child car seat check officer, I was shocked to find at a checking event I hosted in Rugby, a high number of fitting errors and inappropriate seats for children's sizes.

"However, I was not prepared for the frightening contraptions fitted in one vehicle I checked. They were a harness type system intended to replace a child car seat to save space. The parent was of the understanding that these were perfectly legal as they could purchase them online.

"Ultimately, these harnesses were not only illegal but would offer a child no protection in the event of a crash. I was able to educate this parent and ensure their children travelled safely by advising them of this dangerous product.

"This leaves me wondering: how many other versions of this product are being sold and used daily with precious children's lives relying on them?"

eBay says 'consumer safety is top priority'

An eBay spokeswoman said: "Consumer safety is a top priority for eBay. We work diligently to prevent prohibited listings through seller compliance audits, block filter algorithms for unsafe items, and AI supported monitoring by in-house specialists, who work closely with regulators and Trading Standards. We swiftly removed these listings and notified buyers, and we continue to strengthen our preventative measures."

Shein said: "Shein takes product safety very seriously and is committed to offering safe and reliable products to its customers. In this case, the product had been mislabelled by the third-party seller.

"Upon being notified, Shein immediately removed it from the site. Shein vendors are required to comply with Shein's code of conduct and stringent safety standards and must also abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the markets where we operate. Shein has taken action against the seller of the product according to the penalties set out in our guidelines."

Little Dreams told Which? it would review the product in question, remove the listing from its website, and "conduct a thorough internal investigation to understand how this occurred."

Wish.com and ManoMano did not respond to the Press Association's requests for comment. The Mirror has also approached these companies.