Safety is often the first thing parents consider when choosing a car seat for their child, and for good reason—its primary role is to keep your little one protected on the road. But how can you tell where a specific model falls on the safety spectrum? In Europe, two key tests have emerged as trusted benchmarks for evaluating their a child seat’s performance: the European Consumer Test and the Swedish Plus Test.
Both tests aim to help parents make informed decisions, however, their evaluation methods differ significantly. In this blog, we’ll break down the differences between these two testing systems, giving you a clearer understanding of what they assess and how their results can guide you in choosing the best car seat for your child.
What are the official child seat regulations in Europe?
Before diving into the differences between these tests, let’s briefly touch on the legal requirements for child car seats. In Europe, all child seats must comply with UN ECE Regulation No. 129 (R129), which includes testing for front, side, and rear impacts, among other criteria. Introduced in 2013 and continuously updated, R129 has gradually replaced the older R44 regulation. (While R44-compliant seats can still be used, they can no longer be sold, as of September 2024.)
Learn more about official child seat regulations in our guide to UN-ECE and European Car Seat Laws.
Both the European Consumer Test and the Swedish Plus Test go beyond these type-approval standards, implementing stricter testing requirements. Let’s break down what these tests involve and explore their differences step by step.
What are the different European child seat tests?
European Consumer Test
The largest and most comprehensive child car seat test in Europe is conducted by a consortium of independent consumer organisations. Twice a year, ADAC (the General German Automobile Club), together with its Swiss and Austrian counterparts TCS and ÖAMTC, and Germany’s independent consumer testing organisation, Stiftung Warentest, performs rigorous evaluations of child car seats. These tests assess safety performance, ease of use, ergonomics, and the presence of harmful substances. Results are published every May and October by various national consumer organisations across Europe.
Swedish Plus Test
Often hailed “the toughest crash test in the world”, the Swedish Plus Test is conducted by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in Linköping. It serves as a voluntary supplement to the UN ECE R129 type-approval, focusing specifically on neck protection during severe frontal impacts.
What seats are tested?
European Consumer Test
To offer a comprehensive overview of available models, the European consumer organisations test child seats across all categories, from infant carriers to toddler and booster seats. All seats are purchased anonymously, ensuring manufacturers have no influence over whether their seat is tested or not. In order to be considered, seats must have entered the market at least six months before the next test. This means that if a seat you’re considering has no available results, it might not have been tested yet.
Swedish Plus Test
In the Swedish Plus Test, only rearward facing toddler seats (for children up to 125cm) are eligible for testing. It’s a voluntary test that child seat manufacturers can choose to apply (and pay) for. If a seat does not have Plus Test approval, it could be due to several reasons: the seat might not be eligible to apply (ex. if it’s convertible), the manufacturer might not have applied for the test, or the seat has failed the test.
What do the tests involve?
European Consumer Test
The performance of a child seat is evaluated in a frontal impact test at 64 km/h as well as a side impact test at 50 km/h, both of which exceed the requirements of the R129 standard. The deceleration rate in the frontal crash—how quickly the vehicle stops—is based on the Euro NCAP car tests.
The tests use real car bodies (currently a VW Polo VI) and the latest generation of Q-dummies. The seats are installed on the back seat and tested in various configurations with different dummy sizes and seating positions to simulate real-life scenarios.
In addition to the crash test results–which account for 50% of the overall score–child seats are assessed based on the following criteria:
- Usability: How easy is it to correctly install and use the seat?
- Ergonomics: Is the seat comfortable for the child?
- Pollutants: Are harmful chemicals present in the seat’s materials?
These factors are combined to determine the overall rating. By including these additional aspects, European Consumer Organisations take a holistic approach to safety, emphasising that proper installation and correct seat usage are just as crucial as crash test results in ensuring a child’s safety.
Swedish Plus Test
Eligible child seats are tested in a single high-intensity frontal impact at approximately 56 km/h—compared to 50 km/h in the R129 tests—and featuring a shorter braking distance. This harsher deceleration generates significantly greater forces on the child’s neck. Based on the results measured by sensors on the test dummy, the car seat either passes or fails the test.
The testing conditions are similar to those of R129, where a vehicle test bench is used. The tests are typically performed with one out of two Q-dummies: one representing a 3-year-old child and the other a 6-year-old child.
The aim of the test is to encourage rearward-facing travel for children up to at least four years old and to help parents identify the safest car seats within this category.
Where can I find the results?
European Consumer Tests
The results of European Consumer Tests are published every May and October by various national consumer organisations across Europe, such as Which? in the UK and Consumentenbond in the Netherlands—each presenting the findings in formats tailored to their audiences. The score presented by ADAC, for example, ranges from 0.6 (very good) to 5.5 (inadequate) and can be found on their website – results of the October 2024.
Over the last two decades, the testing procedures and criteria have been regularly updated and intensified to keep pace with the latest technological advancements. As a result, comparing the results of older child seats with newer models is not possible. This is also why some older models are retested to determine if they meet current standards.
Swedish Plus Test
Seats assessed in the Swedish Plus Test, on the other hand, can pass or fail the test. There are no rankings or ratings assigned. Only seats that successfully protect the neck will be awarded a label and are published on VTI’s website.
As you can see, the European Consumer Test and the Swedish Plus Test differ in almost every aspect (involuntary vs voluntary; tested seats; types of tests) and cannot truly be compared. What they do have in common is that they are both additional to the UN R129 type approval tests and aim to determine the safest child seat. However, their approach is quite different. Whilst the Swedish Plust Test solely focuses on neck protection in rearward facing toddler seats with a single high-intensity crash test, the European Consumer Organisations take a more comprehensive approach, testing child seats of every category and taking into account a range of potential accident scenarios.
After all, safety is not one dimensional, but multifaceted. There are numerous factors to be considered and weighed up against each other to create an all-round safe seat.
Swandoo’s point of view:
At Swandoo, we believe that safety has to be approached holistically and a variety of aspects need to be considered in order to develop a truly safe product.
Safety: Beyond crash tests
Of course, it’s important that a seat performs well in a frontal crash. But what’s the point of a stellar test performance, if the seat is not comfortable for your child? Discomfort could lead to wriggling, which may cause your child to move out of the ‘safety zone’ where they are best protected. Equally, it’s important to remember that most people using the seats aren’t engineers, child safety experts or wizards. They’re busy parents and caregivers. If the seat is overly complicated to install or use, your child might not be properly secured, which compromises the seat’s ability to protect them in an accident.
Rear-facing travel
The same is true for rear-facing travel. We strongly advocate for children travelling in rear-facing child seats for as long as possible to limit the strain on the neck–one of the most vulnerable areas in small children–during a frontal collision. Read more about why rear-facing child seats are safer here. However, one-size-fits-all solutions rarely work. Life is complex, and people’s situations are different, so we believe it’s important to offer a choice. Some families may own a small car that isn’t suitable for extended rear-facing travel; others may have children who dislike travelling rear-facing seats, making the drive not only less enjoyable but potentially less safe as well. Whatever the reason might be for the child to travel forward facing before the age of four, we believe the seat provide the best protecion in every possible situation, and not create an obstacle to parents’ everyday lives.
European child seat tests
The European Consumer Organisations have done an excellent job in establishing a universal rating system that makes it easy to understand and trust the performance of these life-saving products. Their comprehensive approach to safety aligns with ours which is why we prioritise their ratings, without undermining the importance of the Swedish Plus Test results.