A MANUFACTURER of baby car seats has issued an urgent product recall.

After recent testing, the car seat manufacturer Recaro found that a particular batch of its Recaro fix base, used on the Optia child seat and the Privia infant carrier, did not meet certain safety criteria.

Even though the product fulfills the UN ECE-R44/04 approval standard, Recaro is offering parents, with this particular fix base, a free replacement.

Experts at Recaro Child Safety put the fix bases through rigorous testing, which they said was at a higher level than for the UN approval standard.

Results found that on the Optia car seat, the hooks connecting the Recaro fix base and the car seat became deformed.

The deformation, due to the material of the hooks in this one particular batch, could cause the seat and the base to separate from each other, if carrying a lot of weight.

The affected batch is those with the serial numbers ER01000000, up to and including ER01017825. No other Recaro fix bases are affected.

What to do if you have one

The company is offering a free fix base replacement to parents who have one of these products from the specific batch.

If your fix base matches with the serial numbers above, Recaro Child Safety will exchange the products.

Although tests were conducted on the Optia car seat, the company is also saying that, to be on the safe side, it recommends replacing the fix base if it’s used with the Privia car seat, as well as the Optia.

On the Recaro Child Safety website, you can enter your serial number to see if your product is affected, and register to be a part of the replacement programme.

To find out the serial number of your product, simply look on the underside of the Recaro fix base and see the number on the sticker.

The company has also created a hotline for any enquiries at 0800 083 0128.