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I have an Australian child seat, and I would like to know if it's legal to use in the US.

From what I can tell, there is a US standard for child restraints, but I can't seem to find whether it is required for child restraints to conform to it. All I can see is that children under certain ages are required to be in an appropriate type of child restraint.

Is it legal to use the Australian child seat in the US?

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  • What matters the most is that the child-seat is securable to the seat in your US car. The Isofix standard is international (known as "LATCH" in the US) so provided it secures correctly you should be fine.
    – Dai
    Aug 25, 2018 at 19:02
  • @Dai Australian child seat standards are rather idiosyncratic and until recently did not even allowed ISOFIX attachments.
    – lambshaanxy
    Jan 20, 2019 at 7:07

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The laws in the US are state specific; some states require 'federally approved', others require 'according to technical standards'. So it depends on where you are going.

You can check for each state for example under this link: https://saferide4kids.com/car-seat-laws-by-state/

Note that realistically nobody will stop you and investigate your child seat's approval marks. At the end this is between you and your consciousness about your child's security.

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    Thanks for that - it's the first link I've been able to find that actually shows the specific laws. (And in this instance, California, car seats have to meet the federal standard).
    – RodeoClown
    Aug 25, 2018 at 21:29
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    In case you're wondering, the primary effect of the laws is to control which makes of child seat can be sold in each state, and a secondary effect is to give automobile insurance companies an excuse not to pay claims (e.g. if you were actually in an accident, God forbid, and your child was injured, they might try to argue that the seat did not meet the standards).
    – zwol
    Aug 25, 2018 at 21:42

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