Why Are Strollers So Expensive? Safety, Materials, and Design
Why are strollers so expensive? We asked ourselves that the first time we seriously compared models. They may look simple, but once you look at the safety rules, materials, testing, and comfort features, the price gap starts to make more sense.
Strollers are expensive because you are paying for safety standards, engineering, materials, comfort, and durability all at once. Better suspension, wheels, fabrics, bassinets, and testing add cost quickly, especially on premium models.
If you are trying to decide whether the extra money is actually worth it, read Are expensive strollers worth it?. If you want real price bands first, see How much does a stroller cost?.
What Hazards Are There?
To learn about the hazards, we looked at tests from two test companies, namely a stroller certification test from Intertek and a stroller certification test from TUV Rheinland. Both of them offer tests to fulfill EN 1888, a European standard for strollers. The tests include:
- Materials
- Construction and standing safety
- Slide lock
- Fixing brake
- Locking device
- Carrying handles
- Removable or rotating seat
- Stability and durability of locking mechanisms
- Restraint system and
- Wheel stability
- Ability to deal with irregular surfaces
- Dynamic stability
- Durability of labels
- Plastic packaging and product information
We also found a document document for a European stroller safety standard that outlines some hazards:
- Chemical hazards
- Thermal hazards
- Mechanical hazards
- Entrapment hazards
- Hazards from moving parts
- Entanglement hazards
- Suffocation hazards
- Hazardous edges and protrusions
- Parking and braking devices
- Stability
- Structural integrity
- Durability of marking
To sum up, we have come a long way from when a skilled handyperson could just start to build strollers and sell locally. Today you find scientists playing around with all kinds of details related to strollers, see for instance “Innovative And Ergonomic Design of Baby Stroller for Children’s 6 Months - 3 Years Old” and “Safety Stroller” if you want to get a glimpse of what’s involved in stroller design. A little warning though, it gets very technical!
Aren’t All Strollers I Can Buy Safe?
The purpose of standards and regulations is to make life easier for you as a consumer. If the manufacturer says the stroller meets your local standard, that is reassuring. But designers and manufacturers are still human, so it is worth staying alert. Even respected premium brands like Bugaboo can make mistakes, as shown when they had to recall carry handles after reports of a white button popping out. We would rather buy from a well-known brand that takes safety seriously and responds properly when something goes wrong. Bugaboo is a good example of that. If you are worried about safety, contact the manufacturer directly. They often have a strong incentive to reassure parents and can be more helpful than you might expect.
An example of a stroller that appears unsafe is Sonarin Baby Stroller (product id: FBA15DMBJ0LPU000165 / X001AKEGQL). The Office for Product Safety and Standards in UK noticed that the restraint system did not work correctly. Indeed, also on Amazon (we’re not entirely sure if it is the same model, though), you quickly find a complaint about the seat belt in a review.
Are All Strollers Equally Safe?
As we understand it, the standard sets the baseline. If a stroller is certified to EN 1888 or the equivalent in your market, that is the starting point. But our experience is that safety can still vary in practice. Strollers are used by tired humans, and humans make mistakes. A stroller that is stable, predictable, and easy to handle can therefore give you a bit of a safety margin even when daily life is messy.
We also found that with a newborn it was noticeably easier to go out with a stroller that had large, softer wheels, such as Bugaboo Donkey, because it stayed more stable and was less likely to stop abruptly when it hit something like a pavement gap.
Ergonomics and Comfort
We definitely noticed differences among strollers regarding ergonomics and comfort. Some strollers do come with a nicer mattress. Or perhaps a more extreme example is strollers with proper bassinets instead of just seats you can recline and put a newborn in (per manufacturer’s instructions). We’re big proponents of using a proper bassinet for newborns.
Some strollers also offer noticeably better ventilation. They create proper airflow through the bassinet or seat shell, and some even use mattresses or fabrics with dedicated air channels. Those details are easy to underestimate until you use the stroller in warmer weather.
Final Thoughts
This was quite a technical article. But that’s because strollers are expensive precisely because things get very technical. Standards regarding safety are set high, and that’s good for us as consumers; if we see that a stroller has been certified to our local standard, we can feel reassured. Learning about the complexities involved in proper stroller design and manufacturing made us a bit more attentive and helped us get a feeling of what to look for. Hopefully, it has the same effect on you.