Safety
above all
When it comes to protecting children on the road, Axkid has built its reputation around a single, unwavering principle: safety above all. Nursery Today had the pleasure to catch up with Jayne Caul, Managing Director of Axkid UK, to discuss how the brand maintains its steadfast commitment to innovation and safety, and how it’s addressing the knowledge gap around extended rear-facing travel in the UK. Axkid is known for championing extended rear-facing car seats. How does your brand continue to align with and exceed UK and EU safety legislation such as R129/i-Size, while maintaining your core philosophy? At Axkid, we pride ourselves on innovation and pushing the safety boundaries. Through our core commitment to ‘safety above all’, we aim to provide the very best protection and comfort for young adventurers, and peace of mind to parents around the world. All our products are tested to R129 regulation as a minimum. Our seats undergo further testing with ADAC, Plus Test, real-life testing and Axkid in-house testing. An example of the extra testing Axkid conducts, was through recent crash tests carried out with BMW, showing our commitment to going beyond the safety standards.
We have “ such a diverse
product range available for our retail partners, giving them the tools to create a bespoke portfolio Given the lower awareness in the UK compared to Scandinavia about the tailored to their benefits of extended rear-facing travel, customer’s how does Axkid educate retailers to needs. assist parents on its safety advantages and legal requirements? Axkid published a child safety report in March 2025 reviewing car seat usage and behaviours in the UK, which highlights that much more needs to be done. Despite being up to five times safer in a frontal collision, our survey of 1000 parents in the UK and 1000 in Sweden found that just 22% of UK children aged two to four-yearsold remain in rear-facing car seats, putting them at increased risk of life-threatening injury in the event of a crash, compared to 83% in Sweden. Axkid is leading the way conducting such reports to understand the market. We recently held a car safety conference for retailers and press to educate key ambassadors in the industry, but in addition our team is constantly on the road training retailers and working with key stakeholders to communicate the safety benefits of rear-facing for as long as possible.
”
Your seats regularly perform well in independent crash tests like ADAC and Plus Test. How do these ratings influence your design process, and how do you use them to build consumer confidence in a competitive market? We are proud that our R&D is in-house which allows us to fully control the design process. When designing new products and improving our existing ranges, we take on board not only all the independent crash test requirements, but also customer feedback on their requirements and our own in-house testing. We own our manufacturing which allows us to control the raw materials and quality in our products. Our products are crash tested using software and this is integral to the design and development process. Real-life testing is further conducted to ensure maximum safety is achieved. We over-test with weighted dummies and larger dummies to ensure the ultimate protection is achieved in crash-tests and real-world situations. Can you walk us through the key safety technologies and features that differentiate Axkid seats, such as ASIP (Axkid Side Impact Protection) or the self-tightening tether system from others on the market? Axkid car seats benefit from many unique features, designed to ensure maximum safety, ease of use and comfort. All aspects have been carefully designed and developed to ensure a quick and smooth installation for parents, adjustable legroom for comfort and versatility, and extra safety features such as ASIP, self-tightening tether straps, SafeLock belt clamps, and ISOFIX to 23kg and 125cm. Each car seat we develop has unique trademarked technology which is designed with a particular age and stage of child in mind. As the market shifts toward conveniencedriven features like 360° rotation and ISOFIX, how does Axkid balance innovation with your rear-facing safety principles? As I mentioned previously, we constantly listen and take on board the needs of modern parents, and so we too offer products with ISOFIX and rotation such as the Axkid Spinkid. Axkid promotes rear-facing travel for as long as possible
and at least to 4 years old, so we do offer a range of seats for all children from birth, all which are designed with safety and convenience in mind. Many parents struggle to understand when and how to transition between different car seat stages. How does Axkid simplify this journey, especially for those unfamiliar with rear-facing past age 4? We have various avenues we use in order to help educate parents. The Axkid website offers informative content to help them understand the stages of car seat travel but also the benefits of rear-facing and challenging the frequently asked questions that rearward-facing travel brings such as “what about space for my child’s legs”. All this content and more is published on our social media channels. We also work with parenting press and influencers to talk to parents and different stages in their journey to communicate car seat safety, when to transition, and the benefits of rear-facing travel. For customers who have purchased our car seats, we provide extensive guides and labels on our products, so they are always aware of how to use the product correctly as their child grows to maximise safety. Our customer service team is on hand to answer any queries our customers may have. What are the biggest misconceptions UK parents have about extended rear-facing travel, and what initiatives, whether through retail partners, online campaigns, or demonstrations does Axkid use to challenge these perceptions? Parents are primarily concerned regarding legroom of the child, but Axkid car seats offer extendable legroom that can be adjusted as the child grows. Parents also worry about not being able to see their child, but simply introducing a headrest mirror challenges this in a much safer way. There is a misconception that children won’t be able to see out of the window but they actually have a better view, as they can see out of the back and side window as the seats sit higher up in the car. Through our social media channels, educational videos, retailer training, influencer ambassadors and consumer media activity, we work hard to challenge these misconceptions and give consumers the facts, so that they can make an informed choice that is right for their child. nursery today
Feature Car Seats.indd 7
35
13/06/2025 12:00