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Car Seat Safety Check: 8 Common Mistakes You Must Avoid
Take this article take this article and walk out to your driveway now to find out whether your child's car seat is as safe as it should be. You'll be shocked at what you're doing wrong.
The scary truth is that four out of five safety seats are used incorrectly, with an average of three mistakes per seat, reports the Washington, D.C.-based National Safe Kids Campaign. And mistakes can be deadly. Consider these chilling statistics: In 2001, nearly 500 children under age 5 were killed in car crashes, and more than 200 of those kids were in car seats designed to save their lives. And as many as 31,700 kids were injured--in car seats. Luckily, there's something you can do to make your child safer: Find out whether you're making any of the mistakes detailed in this article--and fix them today. And make sure to tear out our free car-seat installation guide to keep in your glove compartment for easy reference.
Seat too loose in the carTest your seat: With both hands, grasp the car seat at the base, near where the vehicle's safety belt passes through the seat. You shouldn't be able to move the safety seat more than one inch to the left or right, or forward. If you can, it's not tight enough. This is the number-one mistake parents make, according to car-seat inspectors.
The danger: In a collision, a child in a loose seat could crash into the back of the front seat and seriously injure her face or head.
Fast fix: Place your knee in the seat, and put all your weight into it (use your arm for an infant seat), tightening the seat belt as much as possible. Then lock the seat belt--a step that many parents miss. If you have a pre-1996 car, it may not have adequate belt-locking capabilities and you'll need to use a locking clip, says Joseph Colella, Safe Kids' child-passenger-safety training and technical manager. Most safety seats come with one.
Don't forget to engage your car's seat belt lock. Shoulder-belt locks work differently than lap-belt locks do, so check your car manual for instructions. The mechanism shown here is standard on many lap belts.
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Mistake #2
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in Sweden it's the law to keep children rearfacing until they are 65 lbs or 4 years old. i think this should be the law everywhere in the world. i know people who are EMTs and they will keep their children rearfacing as long as possible because of the deaths they have seen in children who are forward facing, and how the rearfacing children who have been saved because they were rear facing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U
8/17/2010 05:20:57 PM Report AbuseYou should not use Bundle Me or put anything else between your child and his car seat. This includes coats.
5/27/2010 11:58:10 AM Report AbuseI am a Registered Nurse with a Masters' degree. My children are grown & in their 30's; I wish I knew then what I just learned now. I accessed your site as a resource for a class I am teaching for new baby care attendants. It was informative and very practical as a teaching resource. I have often brought certified trainers in to health fairs to test actual car seats for appropriate installation, but this time the lesson is for a classroom. Your guide was a phenomenal asset!
4/18/2010 09:40:07 PM Report AbuseMistake #7 Not using a booster seat. There are car seats that have higher harness weights. Keep your child in a car seat that has a 5 point harness for as long as possible. I have one in a Graco Nautilus harness to 65 pounds and one in the Britax Regent harness to 80 pounds. Always use the top tether. Also they are finding that children under 14 should not ride in the front.
2/8/2010 08:17:58 PM Report AbuseThis needs to be changed. A child should remain rear facing for as long as possible. It is much safer for a 2 year old to be rear facing in an accident. The car seat takes the impact. I was told by a child passenger tech to keep my children rear facing to the weight of the car seat which at the time was 30 pounds. They now have car seats that have a rear facing weight limit of 40 pounds. Also my son always takes his coat off so I keep a blanket in the car for him.
2/8/2010 08:09:39 PM Report AbuseI feel that this article is very important and very informative. I have a friend who has turned her 9 month child facing formward in her car seat too early. Her reasoning behind it is that her daughter legs are too long to face backwards. Thankfully nothing has occured to injury her child(Thank God) but I repeatly express my concern about her decision. I will show her this article and hopefully get her to change her decision.
2/6/2010 04:49:47 PM Report AbuseSorry the last sentence should read "parallel" to level ground.
1/5/2010 10:10:16 AM Report AbuseAs I was reading this article on car seats, I noticed that when your child is forward facing, the shoulder straps should be in the top slots. I went to my Britax Marathon User Guide and it read differently. It says to adjust the straps as needed and always have them in the slot below the child's shoulders parrell to level ground. So which is right? K.Lodge
1/5/2010 10:08:46 AM Report AbuseThank you for including this information about car seats. The only thing we are doing wrong is putting coats on our kids. When we have to take them out in the winter it is just to cold not to have them in coats. Sometimes we get temperatures in the single digits. We try not to buy them big heavy ones, so we assumed we were right.
12/9/2009 03:53:26 PM Report AbuseI am terrified for my niece.. her mother regularly make every mistake on this list, as well as putting them in the seat in heavy winter coats. She was turned around prior to being 1 year old and my SIL told me to mind my own business. She just had another baby, so you better believe if she does the same thing to this kid I'm calling the cops if she's forward facing before a year. anybody know what the penalty is if a parent is caught?
12/1/2009 10:07:28 AM Report Abuse"Bundle Me's" work great in am infant car seat, they keep your child nice and warm without the bulk of a coat that can leave the seat belt loose!
11/3/2009 11:32:02 AM Report AbuseAlso about the retainer clip, if it is placed near the abdomen in the event of a crash it can seriously injure your child.
10/17/2009 12:16:35 AM Report AbuseAlso people tend to think they have to turn their child around at a year and 20lbs. That is the law that they have to be left facing the rear until then but they are much safer to be rear facing as long as possible. Your seat will give you a lb limit.
10/17/2009 12:15:17 AM Report AbuseI am a Child Passenger safety technician and to add to that you are not to have a child's coat on in the seat either.
10/17/2009 12:12:58 AM Report Abuse