The beginning...

So, the search for the perfect car seat began when it was time to return the capsule we'd hired before the Monstar was born. Not a huge issue I thought, Australia has the toughest safety standards for car seats so really you can't go too wrong buying a seat here right. We found a nice seat, good price, and well rated. Done. Well so I thought.
A few months later it was coming up to 12kgs, that's when it's time to turn your baby forward facing. Well we were lucky enough to have a convertible seat that allowed for rear-facing up to 12kgs, a lot here only allow up to 9kgs.
I was talking to a friend when she mentioned she was thinking of importing a car seat for her little one, only one month younger than my Monstar. This would let them keep him rear-facing longer. She explained to me how a child's head to body ratio is really top heavy, that, along with the fact that their little spines and neck muscles aren't fully developed can equal horrible outcomes in an accident if they are forward-facing.
That got me thinking. So I was off looking at stats, crash tests and articles and it didn't take long for me to work out I didn't want to turn my little Monstar forward-facing in another 300 grams! I started to feel really sick about having to do it, so started to look at seats from overseas. Even though it is illegal to use an imported seat here because they don't comply with Australian standards, I really felt that the benefits outweighed the risks. And so the quest began...

Here's a bit of a visual to help with the head to body ratio info...
A child’s head is 25% of their total body weight compared to an adult, which is 6%.  With the huge forces during an accident, if forward-facing, their head will be thrown forward and can lead to huge injuries, even internal decapitation.  In a nut shell, if they are rear-facing the force is spread over a larger surface avoiding their head being thrown forward and preventing the same horrible chance of injury or death.