Infant seats, booster seats, and safety belts are all restraint options to consider when traveling with children in a car. Sounds like a reasonable, even relatively simple step to take when safeguarding your child. However, it is these very options that can lead to severe injury in a motor vehicle crash if your child is not in a proper restraint system. Children are of varying sizes, weight and height. Directly correlating a restraint system that adapts to these variations can be the difference between surviving a motor vehicle crash or facing the alternative; serious injury and even death.
Equally challenging is correctly using the child restraint system that you have chosen. With the wide variety of child restraint systems available, mistakes with installation and use has become a prevailing problem. Following are some “do’s and don’ts” designed to help you identify and correct some common mistakes made when installing and securing your child in a restraint system.
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Always read and follow manufactures use and installation instructions.
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Failure to follow manufactures instructions for proper use and instillation can lead to serious injury.
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Restrain children in the back seat away from air bag deployment.
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Don’t place infant/children in front seat. Children 12 years and younger are safest in the back seat. Front seat passengers are directly in line with air bag deployment
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Use rear-facing infant seats from birth to 1 year or at least 20 pounds. Use in rear-facing position.
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Never place a rear-facing infant seat in forward position; this will greatly compromise safety.
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Make all the right connections. Follow manufactures instructions for safety path and seat harness use. All the connections should be snug and straight. All clips fastened.
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Failure to follow manufactures instructions regarding belt and harness use will make the seat ineffective. Don’t leave harness clips unfastened, loose, or twisted.
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Place the infant seat at the proper angle. Most are at a 45-degree angle. Again, follow the manufactures recommendation.
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Placing a rear-facing infant seat to upright can cause child’s head to drop forward and cut off airway.
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Use a blanket over the top of the safety harness.
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Don’t bundle the infant in blankets or use thick coats before placing in restraint. This will compromise harness positioning and safety.
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Use forward-facing safety seats for children greater than 1 year or 20 pounds. Children should remain in this seat from 1-4 years and up to 40 pounds.
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Don’t compromise on size. Change safety seats as the child’s size dictates.
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Use belt-position booster seats for the child who has outgrown the child safety seat. This is for children from 4-8 years old, who weight greater than 40 pounds.
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Don’t go from child safety seat to the vehicles safety belt system alone. Children 4 years of age or at 40 pounds are not safe in a safety belt system alone.
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Belt-position booster seats are used with the lap/shoulder belt combination.
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Never use a lap belt only with a belt-positioning booster. The child in a lap belt only is at serious risk for abdominal, spinal, and other injuries.
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Use vehicle safety belt system correctly. Children in safety belt systems must use the lap/shoulder restraint system. Child must maintain good posture with knees bent at edge of the seat. Shoulder belt should fit snugly across the chest, and the lap belt snug and low over upper thighs.
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Never allow children to use the lap belt alone. Running the shoulder belt behind the child or under their arm will compromise the child’s safety in a motor vehicle crash. Allowing the lap belt to ride on the child’s abdomen can cause serious injury in a crash.
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Buckling up for safety is now the law in most states. A child should never be unrestrained in any situation. Remember to always use the correct child restraint system and to use it correctly. A child who learns to buckle up for safety will one day be an adult who wears a seat belt.
