Bringing lie flat car seats to Australia
Improving road safety and participation of medically vulnerable children
Project overview
Aim: To pilot a new model for the supply, safe and legal use of lie flat car seats in Victoria.
Partners: MACA is delivering this joint project in collaboration with the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, and product supplier Medifab, with funding from the Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC) Community Road Safety Grants Program.
Britax and NeuRA Transurban Road Safety Centre provided in kind crash testing support. Hive Legal provided in kind legal advice.
Years: 2019- 2023 (foundational work); 2023-2024 (TAC funded project).
The challenge
Unlike many other countries, Australia does not have access to lie flat child restraints – which are needed by some children with conditions like SMA, sleep apnoea and respiratory challenges who are unable to be transported safely in a recline position in vehicles.
Currently, these families are not able to transport their child in their own vehicle and have no option but to use non-emergency ambulance transport for hospital appointments. This leaves families isolated and unable to participate in everyday activities and community life.
Laying the foundations
This project builds on earlier work undertaken by MACA in 2019-20, including a legislative and regulatory review, a global desktop review of lie flat car seats and hosting workshops to understand challenges.
Following this workshop, MACA purchased the two recommended products from the global desktop review for inclusion in AuSAP. The products were crash tested at the NeuRA Transurban Road Safety Centre, between 2021-2023.
MACA obtained in principle support from Jané Group in Spain (pictured) to supply the Matrix Light to Australia as a special purpose car seat.
TAC grant project
In 2023, MACA was awarded a grant through the TAC Community Road Safety Grants program to investigate a supply and support model for Victorian hospital settings.
This project includes:
- Updating the global desktop review of lie flat child restraints.
- Conducting further crash testing and investigation of lie flat child restraints.
- Co-designing a supply and support model in collaboration with the Royal Children’s Hospital and Medifab.
- Reviewing legal requirements to ensure that the supply of the Matrix Light (mainstream product from Europe) is not in breach of the Consumer Protection Notice.
- Developing Product Guides which outline essential prescribing and safe use information.
A pilot of the supply model is currently being implemented by Medifab Australia at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.
This project is supported by the Victorian Transport Accident Commission (TAC)
