Earlier this month, our ten-year-old reached an important milestone: they became tall enough not to need a car seat.
As I write this in March 2026, children need to use a car seat until they’re 135cm (4 feet and 5 inches) tall, or until they turn 12, whichever happens soonest. Obviously our ten-year-old isn’t twelve yet, so this means they’ve reached 135cm tall. They therefore no longer need to be strapped into a child car seat, and can sit in the front of the car for the first time.
Three different car seats
Since they were born at the end of 2015, we’ve had three different car seats. The first was a baby carrier type, which clipped into a base fitted to the car using Isofix. All three of our cars have had Isofix anchors built-in. We could also clip the car seat onto a pram frame, so transferring a sleeping baby from the car to a pram was possible without waking them up.
The second came when they were around 18 months old. This was a forward facing car seat that rotated, so we could easily get them in and out. Like the baby carrier, this came with a harness rather than using the seatbelt, but it remained in the car rather than being removable.
By the time they’d reached the age of four, it was time for another, larger car seat. This one was a more, front-facing seat that didn’t rotate, and didn’t include a harness. Instead, we strapped our ten-year-old in with a standard seatbelt that went across the car seat. Back when I was that age, I had a simple booster seat which had no back, but those aren’t sold any more. Instead, this one had a back and extra head protection against side impacts.
Now, there’s no need for any additional protection at all. Which is handy as it meant one less thing to pack whilst we were in London and our ten-year-old was with my parents. They can also take advantage of the heated seats in our Nissan Leaf.
What to do with old car seats
When it comes to what to do with old car seats, the advice is mainly to take them to your local authority recycling centre. You shouldn’t buy or receive a child car seat that’s second hand, unless you absolutely trust the person selling it to you about its age and condition. If it was in a car that has been in an accident, then there’s a risk that the car seat may have been damaged, and so it may not offer as much protection in another accident. It’s a shame, because car seats are expensive, and they’re not the easiest things to recycle either.
That being said, you can buy all-through car seats (sponsored link) that should serve most children from birth to age 12 (or 135cm). Had these been available back in 2015, we would have saved quite a bit of money, although I wonder how adaptable they are for older kids.