NEWS – Children Will Never Need To Travel Unsafely In A Car Again

NEWS – From December Children Will Never Need To Travel Unsafely In A Car Again!

When it comes to child safety, parents and caregivers instinctively do their upmost to protect their children and ensure that they are never in high risk situations. So why is it, according to research*, that 33% of parents across Europe have taken a child out in a car without a suitable car seat in place?

Children’s car seats are historically bulky, impractical and tedious to mount let alone heavy and hard to move. With no easy alternative, parents to 1 out of every 3 children admits to travelling illegally without a car seat on unexpected or overcrowded car journeys, putting convenience over safety and risking lives.

In the UK it is a legal requirement to have a child car seat or booster seat for any child travelling in a car under the age of 12 and most parents have booster seats available in their own car for each of their children. But what about the 30% of journeys that children take that include cab rides, transport on holidays, outings with grandparents or school friends and those unexpected trips when there is a need to take an additional child in a car? In these situations, an appropriate car seat is not always available. This means parents have to plan in advance on how to deal with these situations usually resulting in either the loss of spontaneity or, in an alarming one in three journeys, in the child using the adult seat belt with no booster seat at all. In a collision this is potentially fatal.

Parents can now breathe a huge sigh of relief as there is finally a solution to this problem. In December we will see the highly anticipated launch of mifold here in the UK, the most advanced, compact and portable booster seat in the world and the first significant innovation in the booster seat market since their invention more than half a century ago. mifold is more than 10x smaller than a regular booster seat and is just as safe, meaning parents will now have a safe solution for all those journeys where a car seat is not available for their child.

mifold’s team of top designers, engineers and industry experts have together revolutionised the way that a traditional booster seat works. Regular booster seats lift a child to be in the position of an adult, whereas mifold does the exact opposite by holding the seatbelt down. It’s that simple! With 3 belt guides, mifold adjusts the lap belt and shoulder strap to fit the child and accurately holds the seat belt on the hip bones and shoulder, offering the correct amount of restraint in case of impact. Taking less than 30 seconds to fit per child, mifold is safe, foldable and portable enabling parents and caregivers to use it in situations that current car seats on the market today are unable to accommodate.

Smaller than an iPad, mifold is so compact you can store it almost anywhere: glove compartment, door pocket, seat back or in a child’s school bag. This means that each of your children can have one with them at all times ensuring that they always have a safe way to travel on those unexpected journeys. It is also possible to keep several mifolds tucked away in your car, not only for your own children, but for any additional passengers that you might need to collect. You can even fit 3-in-a-row across the back seats of the smallest of cars. And for those 8-12 year olds who refuse to sit on a booster seat, mifold’s understated, slick and streamline design will be a huge hit, it is so discreet it will save the big kids from feeling ‘babyish’.

mifold is suitable for children from the age of 4 all the way up to 12 years.** And with approval according to the European regulation R44.4, mifold meets the highest legal standards for child restraint systems, so parents can rest assured that their child will never have to travel without a car restraint again.

mifold will be available in the UK from John Lewis for £49.95 from the beginning of December 2016. Read more about how it works here.

Click here to view further facts and information about UK car seat regulations

*Source: Research Now, March 2015

** UK law requires that all children must use the correct child seat until they are 12 years old or 135 cm in height (which ever comes first).  mifold is a Group 2/3 seat and can be used by children from the weight of 15kg which is approximately the age of 4 years old.

This is a press release.