Two worrying new reports reveal child car seats may not be providing the

protection they should. STEPHEN LEWIS and PETER WOODMAN report.

YOUR child's car seat may not be as safe as you think.

Two reports out this week reveal not only is there a worrying lack of information about how to choose and install seats - but many of the country's best-selling safety seats would fail to prevent serious or fatal injuries.

According to a survey for Mother and Baby Magazine, as many as four out of five child seats are not properly fitted. Nine out of ten parents said they had problems fitting seats - and only six per cent received advice from retailers on how to fit their child's seat.

Half of all parents did not even know if they had bought the right car seat to fit the model of their car - while 55 per cent of parents admitted using a second-hand car seat which could be useless.

The Mother and Baby findings come as a report in Which? magazine this week revealed most of Britain's 22 best-selling child safety seats would fail to prevent serious or fatal injuries.

The Which? report rated one popular seat, sold by childwear chain Mothercare, as so poor researchers gave it an "unprecedented" mark of 0 out of a possible 100.

Which? said the head of a crash test dummy placed in the chain's Daytona seat was thrown so far forward it received an impact that would have been "likely to cause brain damage or death" in a child.

Mothercare says it has recently modified its seat, but Which? insists the new version is "substantially the same seat" and has urged parents to avoid it, along with two others which also performed poorly in the magazine's tests - the Mon Bebe Turbo Up and the Klippan Futura.

Which? editor Helen Parker stressed today the consumer magazine's investigation of car seat safety was not intended to put parents off buying a seat - it was merely intended to help parents choose the right seat for their child and their car.

The seats rated best by Which were the Concord Baboo and the Jane Matrix rearward-facing seats for children aged up to 15 or 18 months, and the Bebe Confort Iseos and Britax Renaissance forward-facing seats for children aged from nine months up to three or four years.

The Mother and Baby survey revealed that one in five parents admitted allowing their young children to travel in someone else's car - often a grandparent's - without a car seat.

A third admitted fastening a seatbelt around two small children and about the same number said they had fastened a seatbelt around themselves and a small child.

Evening Press advertising executive Terry Ruane's four-year-old daughter Samantha uses a car safety seat in the back of the family car.

Terry admitted he had never been shown how to install his seat - and said he was "shocked" at the findings of the two surveys.

When Samantha's safety seat was checked by North Yorkshire County Council area road safety officer Andrew Santon, he found the seatbelt which held the seat in place was twisted and the seat itself was not tight enough - both factors which reduced its efficiency.

"It is shocking," Terry said. "Your children are the most precious thing you've got. The last thing you want to do is see them come to any harm. It is a frightening thought."

So here, with thanks to Sheelagh Phillips, road safety assistant with North Yorkshire County Council, and Which? magazine, are our own tips for making sure you child's car seat is as safe as it can be.

- When buying, phone around to find a dealer who will show you how to fit your seat properly.

- Always try a seat in your car before buying it. Make sure it fits snugly, and that when given a good, sharp forward pull it doesn't move.

- When your child sits in the seat, the harness should be level with their shoulders - and it should be tight enough so that you can slip only a couple of fingers between the harness and your child's collar bone.

- When you fit the seat, ensure the adult seatbelts which hold it in place are not twisted

- NEVER fit a child seat where there is an airbag.

- It is your child's weight and development which determine the choice of car seat. A child should only sit in a forward-facing seat once they are able to sit up and support themselves, regardless of age. Until that point, you child is safer in a backward-facing seat.

- Never modify a seat by adding extra padding, and never modify the seat harness or buckles

- Check the seat is properly fitted before each journey (your child may have fiddled with it) and secure your child properly for every journey, no matter how short

- Make sure any diagonal seat belts rest on your child's shoulder, not their neck

- Never buy a second-hand car seat