Even though most parents understand the need for using a car seat in their younger children, many children are still unnecessarily injured in car accidents. Among the factors that contribute to these preventable injuries are car seats used incorrectly or not used at all, children being placed in the wrong type of car seat, and moving children out of a car seat or booster and into regular seat belts at too early an age.
Car Safety Safety Tips:
- Tip #1 Quick safety seat checkup
- Tip #2 Where should your child ride?
- Tip #3 How to protect your new baby in the car
- Tip #4 What safety seat to use for a big baby or toddler?
- Tip #5 How should preschool and school children ride safely?
- Tip #6 Is your safety seat secure in the car?
- Tip #7 Harness straps
- Tip #8 What are safety seat recalls?
- Tip #9 Air bag safety
- Tip #10 Play it safe
- Tip #11 Kids on the move
- Tip #12 School bus stops
- Tip #13 Handrails & drawstrings
- Tip #14 Beyond the front yard
Car Seat Safety Tips:
- All kids under 13 years of age should sit in the back seat, using an age-appropriate restraint.
- Infants and toddlers should ride in a rear-facing car seat (infant-only rear facing car seat or rear-facing convertible car seat) until they are two years old or until they have reached the weight and height limits of their car seat. Although this means that some larger infants and toddlers might have to graduate to a rear-facing convertible car seat, there are several models of infant only seats with higher, 30 to 35 pound weight limits that should get you to the next car seat safety milestone.
- Once they are two years old (or, regardless of age, have outgrown their rear-facing car seat) toddlers should sit in a forward-facing car seat with harness straps as long as possible and until they reach the weight and height limits of their car seat. Keep in mind that many convertible car seats and combination car seats have forward-facing weight limits of 65 to 80 pounds when used with harness straps.
- Kids can next move to a belt-positioning booster seat when they reach the weight and height harness strap limits of their forward-facing car seat.
- The move to regular seat belts should not occur until kids are "old enough and large enough" for the seat belts to protect them properly, which usually isn't until they are 4 feet 9 inches tall (57 inches) and are between 8 and 12 years old.
- Your child will not be ready to use regular seat belts until the shoulder strap fits across his shoulder and not his neck, and the lap belt fits across his hips and not his stomach.
- Be sure to read the car seat manufacture's instructions and your car owner's manual to be sure that you are installing and using the car seat correctly.
Car Seat Safety Internet Resources:
- Safety: more safety tips from your Pediatrics Guide
- Family Shopping Guide to Car Seats: AAP guide to buying a car seat, with a comparison chart of features and prices of car seats from different manufacturers
- Car Seats for Children with Special Needs: Finding the right car seat and using it correctly seems difficult enough for most people, but your child may need a specially made car seat if he has certain medical conditions.
Sources:
American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement. Child Passenger Safety. Pediatrics 2011;127:788-793.
