Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance said the ratings help remove a lot of the confusion for parents when they need to buy a car seat.

“With so many child car seats on the market it is crucial parents and carers have easy access to the latest safety ratings and testing information so they can make the right choices for their children,” Mr Constance said.

“We’ve made improvements to the testing procedures and scoring protocols, including introducing a side-impact test with intruding door, new advanced crash test dummies and a new test rig featuring current popular vehicles.”

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole is encouraging every parent and carer to do their research before buying a child restraint.

“Children are our most vulnerable road users and when it comes to road safety they are completely reliant on their parents and carers to keep them safe,” Mr Toole said.

“A big part of child car seat protection is installation. If a seat is not used correctly, the risk of serious injuries in a crash is seven times higher than if the seat was correctly fitted.”

Four new seats have been tested through the Child Restraint Evaluation Program (CREP), and they all complied with the Australian Safety Standard.

The Safe-N-Sound Compaq and Nuna Rava both scored 3.9 out of five stars for protection, Mother’s Choice Tribe AP scored 3.8 stars, and the Infa Secure Emerge Go received 3.2 stars. Only one of the four seats scored over 3.5 stars in the ease of use category.

The safety ratings are a result of independent crash tests carried out by a partnership between Transport for NSW, Transport Accident Commission (Victoria), Department of Transport (Victoria), Kidsafe and RACQ.

Information on ratings and authorised restraint fitting stations: www.childcarseats.com.au