Securing Your Child in a Motorhome

Exploring New Zealand with a young child can be an unforgettable experience — especially if your mode of transport is a motorhome hire with the wonder of the open road ahead.

But travelling with a young kid is a completely different experience to adventuring when you were young, free and independent. It requires more planning, particularly planning around keeping your youngster safe — and safety while travelling means a child restraint.

In this article, we discuss New Zealand’s child restraint laws, the child restraint options available to you, how to install Wilderness motorhome child restraints and on-the-road safety tips.

We also chat with Wilderness Motorhomes’ Adventure Support Team Leader, Iris Berentzen — to get her expert advice on how to safely secure your child in a motorhome.

Travelling with children presents unique joys and challenges — but the rewards of shared family experiences are immeasurable.

Safety in a motorhome becomes even more paramount when you think about its dual nature as both your vehicle and your living space. It's therefore essential that your youngest passengers are secure and comfortable during their New Zealand adventure.

An overview of New Zealand's child restraint laws

Seat belt safety is taken seriously in New Zealand — and that includes the safety of child passengers.

New Zealand law has specific regulations in place that are designed to protect children from birth up to seven years of age. Once over seven, until the age of 12, the law outlines recommendations for appropriate restraint.

These laws also apply when travelling with children in a motorhome or campervan hire.

Child restraint laws for under seven year olds

All kids under seven years of age must be correctly secured in an approved child restraint that’s suitable for their weight and size.

Child restraints for seven to eight year olds

Between the ages of seven and eight, secure your kid in an approved child restraint if one’s available in your motorhome rental. If there isn’t one available, you must utilise any safety belt or child restraint.

Child restraints for eight to 12 year olds

If you have children between the ages of eight and 12, you’re required to ensure they use either a:

• Child restraint — if there’s one available in your campervan
• Safety belt in the back seat — when a child restraint isn’t at hand.

Challenges of fitting a child restraint in a motorhome

Child restraints are specifically designed to be installed in cars. Car seats are mainly structured for safe travel — whereas motorhome seats are often softer for greater comfort when the drive ends and it comes time to relax.

Motorhome seats can also come in various shapes and sizes which makes fitting a child restraint correctly a little tricky.

At Wilderness, we aim to mitigate this issue by:

• Only having the safest child restraints available for you and your family
• Applying strict guidelines for installing each type of child restraint in our motorhomes
• Fully training our team on how to safely fit and install our child restraints in each of our motorhome models.
  
  

Types of child restraints for little travellers

Different child restraints are designed for different stages of your kid’s growth. You’ll move from a rear facing seat when your child is an infant to a forward facing seat, and onto booster seats until the motorhome’s seat belt fits safely and securely.

The transition between these types of restraints depends on your child's height and weight rather than his or her age. Ideally, you’ll want to use a motorhome hire operator that will help you choose the best restraint for your young one — and show you how to install and use it.

At Wilderness, we use Britax child restraints which are some of the safest child seats on the market.

See our range of child restraints to keep your young one safe on the road.

The benefits of using Britax child restraints

Wilderness chose Britax child restraints for their well-established reputation for quality and comfort — and because they're uniquely suited to addressing the inherent challenge of safely securing child restraints to motorhome seats.

All our Britax convertible child restraints (that can be used rear or front facing) feature the company’s award-winning ClickTight system.

A self-tensioning system, ClickTight helps take the guesswork out of installing child restraints. It simplifies the process of securely installing your child’s restraint by using the motorhome’s seat belt — rather than relying on lower anchor points.

Other benefits of Britax child restraints include:

• Deep side walls and a head restraint with energy-absorbing foam — designed to keep your child secure by lowering the centre of gravity and reducing the restraint’s forward movement
  
  
• Minimising the common problem of incorrect installation — by making the process easier and more intuitive.

Find out what safety, design and consumer awards Britax child restraints have won over the past decade.

How to install child restraints in a motorhome

Securing your child restraint correctly is just as vital as choosing the right one. At Wilderness, we recommend taking the following steps to ensure your child’s restraint is installed correctly for a secure and safe trip.

Preparing the space to install your child restraint

First, get the living room area ready for the child restraint.

1. Move your front passenger seat as far forward as possible
2. Release the dining table catch and move the table forward
3. Slide off the two headrests on the rear passenger seats
4. Pull out the seat belts so you can take off the seat backer
5. Remove the side cushion — if you’re setting up the child restraint by the side window or you need to install two child restraint seats
6. Place a blanket over the seats — to help protect the seat covers.

See our video demonstrating how to prepare your motorhome for installing a child restraint.

Child safety tips when on the road in your motorhome

You’ll want to keep the inside of your campervan rental safe and secure for your young ones while enjoying New Zealand’s incredible scenery. Keep safety top of mind with these useful tips.

• If you hire any Wilderness motorhome aside from The Suite, you’ll be able to lower the front drop down bed while the child restraints remain installed
  
  
• Follow the child restraint instruction manual step by step
  
  
• Avoid installing the child restraint in the front passenger seat — as an accident will trigger the front airbags
  
  
• If you only need one child restraint, place it next to the window so that you or another parent can more easily sit next to your kid
  
  
• Use the shake test to ensure your child restraint is fitted as tightly as possible — so it doesn’t move forwards or sideways
  
  
• Always check that your child is correctly buckled in their restraints before putting your motorhome in motion
  
  
• Once your kid is securely fastened in their restraint, do the pinch test by pinching the fabric of the harness straps to see if it’s snug or too loose
  
  
• Confirm any loose items are placed in storage spaces before driving off — to avoid them becoming projectiles should you need to stop suddenly
  
  
• If you want to remove the child restraint during overnight stays, store it in your motorhome’s garage
  
  
• Should any liquid accidents happen, the child restraint will need washing — but the material can be removed and vinegar works well at removing smells
  
  
• Ensure that your kid is never left alone in the child restraint — even during short breaks, like to take photos or check out native wildlife.

Check out our top ten tips for campervan travel with a baby in New Zealand.