Car Seat Plus Test

In its brevity: The PLUS test is a task for car seats crash test. In particular, the impact test measures the forces generated in the neck and neck area of the child in the event of a frontal collision.

The PLUS test is a completely voluntary test. However, the PLUS test is an important merit for many car seat manufacturers that import car seats to the Nordic countries, as many consumers follow the results of the Plus test specifically when choosing a car seat. The result is of great importance in the Nordic countries. Only car seats are selected to be tested for the Plus test - no seatbelts or seatbelt seats. Face-to-go seats have not passed the PLUS test.

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What makes the PLUS test special?

• Collision test to measure child safety
• Both rear-facing and face-going car seats are being tested, but only rear-facing seats have so far passed the test
• The test will only be reported if the car seat passes the test. List of abandoned car seats is not known
• Car seats are not given a rating, so there is no need to interpret anything special about the results - it is either passed or there is no information
• The test is carried out by an independent testing laboratory, which is also used to measure the requirements of the EU R129 car seat standard

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How is the PLUS test performed?

The PLUS test measures forces specifically on the neck and neck area. In the Plus test, a frontal collision situation is tested at a speed of 56.5 km/h.
The test is carried out at a higher speed than, for example, the EU's R129 regulations require, as well as with a braking distance of 100mm shorter, resulting in greater impact forces. Collision forces are measured in Newtons so that the magnitude of the impact force can be measured in numbers and thus simply infer acceptable car seats. In this case, it is not the person or other subjective organization that determines the results, but a numerical limit.
No grades are given on the plus test. You can either pass it or you can't. The consumer does not need to interpret the study results any more.

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Who will take the test?

The PLUS testing laboratory is located in Sweden and the test is carried out by the independent Swedish Road and Traffic Research Institute, or VTI. This testing laboratory also tests car seats according to the EU R129 safety seat standard, so the framework is in line with it. The R129 safety standard replaces the outdated R44 safety standard. If the car seat does not meet the requirements of the R129 car seat standard, it will not be available for sale in Europe.
You can read more about the European R44 and R129 car seat standards here.
The R129 approved car seats have undergone extensive tests and meet stringent requirements, but the PLUS test provides additional security.

VTI's testing is thorough. They are testing a car seat that has already passed regularly and do also surprise tests (that is, testing the product without the manufacturer knowing).
Read more about the VTI testing lab here (in English).

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We got to follow Tests of the BeSafe Stretch Car Seat Plus. See the performance and result here.‍Order the BeSafe Stretch car seat here.

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