Background It is well documented that child restraint systems (CRS) offers a high level of protection for child occupants in the event of road traffic crashes. However, the crash protection effectiveness of CRS may be compromised by inappropriate and incorrect use, and sub-optimal CRS practices appear to be a widespread and long-standing problem worldwide, even in high-income countries where child restraint laws have been in place for a long time. There are few previous studies that have conducted to assess optimal CRS practices in China.

Objective This field inspection study aims to evaluate the status of appropriate and correct CRS use in Shenzhen, China.

Methods A population-representative field inspection study was carried out during November 2023 and January 2014 in the randomly selected sub-sample who participated in the cross-sectional questionnaire survey in government-designed community health service centres and kindergartens in Shenzhen and used the CRS frequently. An initial observation was conducted to collect data including vehicle brand, model, type, occupied seating positions within the vehicle, followed by a detailed restraint examination where the quality of CRS use was directly observed to identify any errors in installation and use of CRS.

Results This filed inspection study is still currently underway. According to our proposal, a total of 1260 participants from 60 community health service centres and 30 kindergartens will be observed directly. The findings will be presented when the study is fully completed to provide up-to-date information on the status of appropriate and correct use of CRS in Shenzhen.

Conclusions The overall optimal CRS practices was low (or high) in Shenzhen. Our findings may shed light on updating the local legislation to provide detailed guidelines for age-appropriate use and have implications for multifaceted intervention programmes to improve the appropriate and correct CRS use for better child passenger safety in Shenzhen.