ISOFIX

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Isofix anchor points under a removable cover

ISOFIX (known as LATCH [ "Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren" ] in the United States) is the ISO 13216 standard from the International Organisation for Standardisation, covering anchoring system for Group 1 child safety seats. It defines standard attachment points to be manufactured into cars, enabling compliant child safety seats to be quickly and safely secured. ISOFIX is an alternative to securing the seat with seat belts. Seats are secured with a single attachment at the top (top tether) and two attachments at the base of each side of the seat. The full set of anchor points for this system were required in new cars in the United States starting in September 2002.

In the UK and Europe the system is known as ISOFIX and covers both Group 0/0+ and Group 1 child safety seats. There are also two versions - "Universal" and "Semi-universal". The main difference being, Universal uses a top tether strap while Semi-Universal uses a "foot-prop".

For Group 2/3 seats there is a system called ISOFIT which anchors the seat to the vehicle so it cannot slide around when not in use. In the case of ISOFIT, the child is held into the seat using the vehicle's existing seat belt system, not the safety seat's straps.