A major consumer watchdog has issued a warning after illegal child car seats were found on sale to UK customers online at Amazon, eBay and AliExpress.

Which? has highlighted the issue of unsuitable car seats being available, which lack the necessary protection to meet UK standards and could put the lives of children seriously at risk if used. The fabric seats are freely available on most major online marketplaces, for as little as £8 in some places, and though they may be tempting to buy, tests done on the fabric show the seats falling apart in crash tests at just 30mph.

Though the tests were carried out in 2014 by Surrey Trading Standards and child car seat manufacturer Britax, the so-called ‘killer car seats’ are still appearing online to the UK market.

Alex Neill, managing director of Which? Home Products, said: “Parents will be horrified at the thought they could be unwittingly putting their child’s life at risk with one of these ‘killer’ car seats.

“Online marketplaces cannot continue to turn a blind eye to dangerous and illegal products being sold on their sites.

“The UK’s product safety regime is in dire need of reform.

“More needs to be done by big businesses and Government to protect consumers from dangerous products.”

All major retailers including eBay, Amazon and AliExpress have removed the seats from sale, but Which? is reminding the public to be vigilant and to only buy EU-approved child car seats, which have the clear orange label with the codes R44-03, ECE R44-04 or ECE R129 on it.

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