Peg Perego car seat is 0% Don't Buy after shocking crash test fail
Which? is warning parents against using the Peg Perego Viaggio Twist car seat + Twist Base after it experienced a shocking failure during our tough frontal impact crash test.
During the test, when the seat was set up in a rear-facing configuration, the support leg on the car seat base crumpled, and the momentum of the crash hurled the car seat forward. This caused the car seat to come loose from the Isofix base and fly through the test vehicle.
When the seat was set up in a forward-facing configuration, the support leg broke again and, while the seat remained attached to the base, it still flew up into the air. This would mean the seat (and your child's head) could hit the ceiling of the car with force.
Find out more details below or go straight to the Peg Perego Viaggio Twist + Twist Base review for the full test results.
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Watch: see what happened in our crash tests
The Peg Perego Viaggio Twist has passed the regulatory tests required by UN Regulation R129 to be sold as suitable for babies and children measuring 61cm to 105cm, which is from six months to four years old.
This includes a frontal-impact crash test at 32mph, a rear impact at 18mph, a roll-over simulation test and a side impact test at 15mph.
However, our frontal and side-impact crash tests are designed to be tougher than the legal minimum requirements, subjecting the seat to higher speeds of 40mph and 30mph respectively, as we feel it more accurately reflects what might happen in a real-life collision.
The Viaggio Twist car seat is approved for use as an extended rear-facing seat from 61-105cm, or you can turn the seat on the rotating base to be forward-facing once your child is 76cm tall, which is around 15 months old.
The failures occurred when tested with a 15kg Q3 crash test dummy, which is designed to represent a three-year-old child.
What should you do if you own this car seat?
If you own the Viaggio Twist seat or Twist Base, you should stop using them immediately. The Twist seat cannot be used with any other Isofix base, so is therefore not safe for use at all.
If you own the Twist Base but are using it with either the Primo Viaggio Lounge or Primo Viaggio SLK infant carrier car seats, you should also stop using it with these seats. We think you should install these car seats using the vehicle three-point seatbelt until you can get a safe replacement Isofix base.
Go to our car seats hub to see more than 200 baby and child car seat reviews and browse all of our free expert car seat safety advice
Can you return the car seat and get a refund?
There is no automatic right of return for consumers to get a refund on this car seat because it meets the minimum legal requirements of the R129 regulation that it claims to be approval to.
A refund would only be provided if it failed any of the legal requirements for R129.
What does Peg Perego say?
We informed Peg Perego of the outcome of our crash tests, and it told us it’s investigating the issue before taking further action. In the meantime, the distribution of these car seats has been put on hold.
A spokesperson said: 'Peg Perego has always been in the forefront on child safety. Everyday we look for continuous improvement and innovation in performance, without any compromises in terms of safety.
'Our Viaggio Twist recently passed all R129 homologation tests and therefore we are confident that our product guarantees safety for consumers.
'Peg Perego is investigating why the product performed in such a way under the more stringent conditions [of this test].'
Consumers with questions about the Viaggio Twist + Base Twist are advised to contact Peg Perego’s customer service on 01484 910015 or email [email protected].
Peg Perego said the Viaggio Twist is only recently launched, and it’s likely that it’s not been sold too widely across Europe or the UK.
UPDATE 13/05/2024: Since publishing our review and news story, Peg Perego has informed us that it has carried out further testing at ADAC (a German car club and car seat testing house), applying the same severe crash test procedures that Which? uses. It can confirm that the Viaggio Twist needs to be modified to avoid the issues uncovered by our testing, but that it has already found a solution and will be able to provide this new and improved car seat to customers in a very short time.
It has also carried out tests using the Viaggio Twist Base with the Primo Viaggio SLK and Primo Viaggio Lounge infant carriers and identified no issues.
However, as we did not test this combination ourselves, we cannot confirm these results and continue to recommend that you do not rely on this product for transporting children.
How we test child car seats
Which? has been testing car seats since 1967. We started testing with the European Test Consortium, consisting of the Worldwide Association of Consumer Organisations (ICRT) and European car clubs, in 2003. Our car seat tests and results are highly respected by consumers and car seat manufacturers alike.
The tests are based on assessments by Euro NCAP. This is the organisation that carries out crash testing on cars to show how well they protect occupants in severe accidents.
Our crash tests are severe, but our experts think they more accurately reflect what happens in real crashes compared to the legal minimum requirements.
Each car seat we test endures:
- A front crash, equivalent to a head-on collision at around 40mph
- A side crash, equivalent to two cars crashing into each other at 30mph.
It's why we see issues with car seats that have passed car seat regulation testing. We also look at the ease of installation and how comfortable and supportive the seat is.
Find out more about how we test baby and child car seats and calculate our star ratings and scores
