THE IMPORTANCE OF CAR SEAT SAFETY

When considering a car seat for your child, choose one based on your child’s age and size.

Car seats can be rear- or forward-facing, but children younger than one year should always ride in a rear-facing car seat. In fact, you should keep your child in a rear-facing car seat for as long as you can. That’s because a rear-facing car seat is designed to move with your child, helping to protect your child’s neck and spinal cord if you’re involved in a crash.

Follow the guidelines for the height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer. Once your child reaches the top of those limits (usually around age 4), your child is ready to use a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether.

Just like a rear-facing car seat, keep your child in a forward-facing car seat until they reach the top height or weight limit allowed by the car seat’s manufacturer. Once they outgrow the forward-facing car seat, your child is ready to use a booster seat. (The booster seat still needs to be in the car’s back seat.)

Not all vehicles are ideal for a car seat. Keep in mind that it might be difficult to install a car seat in a pickup truck or a 2-door vehicle. It can also be tricky to install a car seat in vehicles with small rear seats, deep bucket seats, split bench seats or forward-anchored belts.

You don’t want to have to struggle installing a car seat or struggle getting your child in and out of a car seat, so make sure you purchase a seat that you can install correctly and use correctly.

For guidelines on finding the right car seat for your child, as well as an online tool that lets you compare car seats, visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) web site today!

While it might be tempting to purchase a used car seat at a garage sale or flea market, you won’t have any way of knowing if the seat has been involved in a car accident. You also won’t know if the seat has been recalled, has missing parts or has damage that you can’t see.

Star Community Health patients who need assistance with car seat affordability can request an appointment with one of our social workers.

You should always place a car seat in the back seat. That’s because air bags in the front seat are made to protect an adult-sized person wearing a seat belt. Air bags deploy at high speeds and can severely injure or kill children in the front seat, even if your car is involved in a slow-moving accident.

Also, never install a car seat in a vehicle that has only one row of seats, like you might find in certain types of pickup trucks, unless you can turn off the airbag.

Another important reminder: Children should sit in the back seat even after they’ve outgrown car and booster seats—at least through age 12.

It’s critical that you read and follow the car seat instruction manual as well as the car seat installation section in your vehicle’s owner’s manual. Every seat and vehicle are different.

Note that all car seats need to be installed using the lower anchors on the car seat or using the seat belt.

If you use a seat belt to install your car seat, make sure to follow the instructions in your vehicle’s owner’s manual so that you lock the seat belt.

You must secure the car seat tightly so that the seat doesn’t move side-to-side or front-to-back more than an inch if you pull on the seat belt. If you’re using a forward-facing seat with a tether strap, make sure to connect the strap to the tether anchor and then tighten it.

If you’re using a rear-facing seat, make sure you install the car seat at the correct angle, using the car seat’s built-in angle indicator or adjuster.

Once you’ve installed the seat correctly, you’ll need to ensure the car seat straps fit properly around your child.

• For rear-facing seats: Place the car seat harness straps through the slots that are at or below your child’s shoulders. The straps should lie flat and not be twisted.
• For forward-facing seats: Place the car seat harness straps through the slots that are at or above your child’s shoulders. The straps should lie flat and not be twisted.

Then buckle the harness and chest clip and tighten them. The harness is snug when you can’t pinch extra material at your child’s shoulder. Also, make sure the chest clip is at armpit level.

Need help installing your car seat or want to make sure that you’ve installed it correctly? The NHTSA can help you find a certified technician near you who will inspect your car seat (usually free of charge).

Changing seasons and colder temperatures call for bundling up babies and children to keep them warm. However, those bulky outer layers of clothes, including winter coats and snowsuits as well as blankets, can prevent harness straps from snugly securing your little one.

To keep your child warm and safety buckled in:

• Dress your child in thin layers: Opt for a base layer of tights, leggings, a long-sleeved bodysuit or long underwear. Follow that layer with pants and a sweater or thermal-knit shirt, and a thin fleece jacket on top.
• Add a blanket or coat over the straps: Once your child is buckled up, you can place a blanket over the top of the harness straps. You could also put your child’s winter coat on backwards, over the buckled harness straps.

Another helpful hint: If you’re using an infant car seat, keep the carrier portion of the seat in your house when you’re not using it. Doing so will keep the seat at room temperature, which in turn will help keep your child warmer in the car.