This child car seat has passed the regulatory tests required by UN-Regulation 129/03 to be sold as an i-Size toddler car seat for children measuring 61cm to 105cm tall, which is six months to four years old. But in our own tests, which are conducted at higher speeds and involve greater forces than the standard requires, this seat scored poorly during the frontal-impact crash tests.

When testing with the car seat set up in the forward-facing configuration, the support leg on the Twist Isofix base broke and caused the seat to remain attached but fly upwards, which could result in the top of the car seat and a child’s head hitting the car roof.

When testing with the car seat set up in a rear-facing configuration, the support leg on the Twist base broke again. This resulted in additional forces that caused the seat to detach from the Isofix base and fly through the test vehicle. 

For this reason the test score is automatically downgraded to 0% and the seat gets our Don't Buy warning. A good result in any of our other tests can't compensate for this poor result.

We informed Peg Perego of the outcome of our tests, and it told us it’s investigating the issue before taking further action. We informed Peg Perego of the outcome of our tests, and it told us it’s investigating the issue before taking further action. It 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... [the Which?]... test.'

In the meantime, the distribution of car seats has been put on hold. Consumers with questions about the Viaggio Twist + Base Twist are advised to contact Peg Perego’s customer service on 01484 910015 or email uk.customerservice@pegperego.com.

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. The Base Twist is also compatible with other models of Peg Perego car seat.

UPDATE 13/05/2024: Since publishing our review, 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.

Further reading:

How we test child car seats