Child Safety Seats: Traveling with Kids in Turkey & Syria

Traveling with young children by car in Turkey and Syria requires knowing not just what equipment you need, but what the law requires, how to install it correctly, and what to do if your equipment does not fit the rental vehicle properly. Getting this right before you arrive saves significant stress at the rental desk.

Legal Requirements in Turkey

Turkish law requires child restraints for all children up to 135 cm in height or 36 kg in weight. Children under three years old must be in a dedicated child safety seat with a harness. Specifically:

• Children under 13 kg: must be in a rear-facing infant carrier
• Children 9–18 kg: forward-facing child seat with a 5-point harness
• Children 15–36 kg: high-back booster or combination seat
• Children under 135 cm height: booster seat

Using a child in an adult seatbelt only — without a booster or child seat — is a traffic violation and can result in fines at police checkpoints. Turkish traffic police do conduct spot checks.

Legal Requirements in Syria

Syrian law requires child seats for children under a specified age and height, similar to Turkish requirements. Our recommendation: apply the same standard you would in Turkey regardless of which country you are driving in, both for legal compliance and for your children's safety.

Types of Seats: Which Does Your Child Need?

Infant carriers (Group 0+, 0–13 kg): Rear-facing only, typically used from birth to approximately 12–15 months. These are secured by the seatbelt. Never install a rear-facing seat in a front seat with an active airbag.

Forward-facing seats with harness (Group 1, 9–18 kg): Can be fitted forward-facing once the child exceeds the rear-facing weight limit of the specific seat. Current safety guidance recommends keeping children rear-facing as long as the seat allows.

Combination seats (Groups 1-2-3, 9–36 kg): These grow with the child, converting from a harnessed seat to a high-back booster and sometimes to a backless booster — a practical choice for a single seat used across several years.

High-back boosters (Groups 2-3, 15–36 kg): These position the seatbelt correctly across the child's body and provide side impact protection. Appropriate from approximately 4 years onward depending on child size.

ISOFIX: What It Is and Why It Matters

ISOFIX is a rigid anchoring system built into the car's seatbelt anchor points that allows certain child seats to click directly into the car without using the seatbelt for installation. Advantages: the seat cannot be incorrectly installed (it either clicks in or it doesn't), it cannot move forward in a collision as far as a belt-installed seat can, and it eliminates human error in installation.

All Auris fleet vehicles assigned for family rentals have accessible, functional ISOFIX anchor points. We verify this before assigning a family vehicle because in some older cars, ISOFIX points exist on paper but are physically blocked by seat upholstery.

Auris Child Seat Rental

We provide ISOFIX-compatible child seats in all three weight groups. Seats are cleaned after each use, physically inspected for any damage (a cracked shell or frayed harness webbing means the seat is retired), and replaced on a defined cycle regardless of apparent condition.

Critical booking advice: Reserve your child seat at the time of booking, not at collection. During July and August — peak family travel season — our child seat availability is fully booked well in advance. A walk-in request on a summer Saturday morning may result in unavailability, which is a situation we genuinely want to avoid for families.

If You Are Bringing Your Own Seat

Many families prefer to travel with their own child seat for familiarity and consistency. This is entirely compatible with an Auris rental. At handover, we check that your seat fits the vehicle and that the ISOFIX connection is correctly engaged. If you have any uncertainty about installation, ask us — we would rather spend ten minutes checking than have you drive away with a seat that is not properly secured.