Child's Car Seat Safety Basics

Editor's note: Read more car seat safety tips in the second part of this article.

It makes me crazy to see children riding unsafely in a car. And I've seen it too many times in the past few weeks--even in some cars that are traveling away from my own kids' school.

And my older son hates that I still have him in a booster seat. But you know what? He's not tall enough yet to graduate out of it. And neither are many of his friends--who are riding around without booster seats.

So, I've been thinking: It's probably worthwhile reviewing the basics of car safety for children.

First, some terminology

A car seat or infant safety seat (also known as a child safety seat, a child restraint system, or a restraint car seat) is specifically designed to hold an infant or small child securely in place inside a car and protect them from harm. The safety seat is often attached to the automobile's seat by means of the car's own seat belts. The safety seat has some sort of built-in locking mechanism that folds over and across the baby and holds the child securely in place.

A booster seat, on the other hand, is a simpler contraption, often just a plastic box, that an older child sits on so that he or she can sit up higher in a car. Often the booster seat is not secured to the car's seat; the car's seat belt instead goes across the child's lap and holds the child securely. Some car seats can convert to booster seats once the child meets the manufacturer’s size and weight specifications. No child, however, should be in a booster seat before the age of 4 years.

Infants and toddlers

• Children this age should be rear facing until they are age two or until they reach the weight/height limits listed by the car seat's manufacturer. (These size limits vary among car seats; read the information that comes with your car seat.)
• It's okay for their feet to touch the back of the vehicle's seat when they're facing to the rear. Their knees bend.
• Children two years or older, or children who have exceeded the height/weight limits for their infant car seats, should be placed in a forward-facing car seat and secured with its five-point harness until they reach the height/weight limits set by their seat's manufacturer.
• Infant-only seats are great for young infants but at some point, you will typically have to switch to a convertible seat, which allows for higher height/weight limits.
• In the winter, try to avoid dressing small kids in thick clothing--heavy clothes can make it difficult for you to get the child buckled into the harness. Better to get the baby secured first and then, if you're worried about the baby being chilly, drape a blanket over both the baby and car seat.
• NO child riding inside a car should ever be sitting free and unharnessed, or sitting in the front seat, or riding on someone's lap.

Young children over two years of age

• As mentioned above, use a forward-facing car safety seat with a 5-point harness until the child exceeds the weight/height limits set by the seat's manufacturer.
• Experts recommend that children be secured with the harness until they are at least 4 years of age. The harnesses for many seats, however, will fit children up to 40 to 80 pounds (which apply to many kids beyond age 4).

School-aged children

This also applies to those who have exceeded the manufacturer's height/weight limits for a child safety seat and harness:

• These kids should sit upon a belt-positioning booster seat until they get big enough to where they can sit directly upon the car's own seats itself. And these children must be held securely in place by the vehicle's own seat belts.

Those school-aged children who have outgrown their booster seats

• Generally, a child should be at least 4 feet 9 inches tall, AND between the ages of 8 and 12 years, before he or she can graduate out of a booster seat, be allowed to sit upon the car's regular seats, and use the adult seat belts.
• These kids, just like adults, should always use a lap belt and a shoulder belt.
• Make sure these "graduates" do not start sliding their shoulder strap down their arm or behind their back. Such behaviors could be signalling that the strap is chaffing a child's neck or throat--and such chaffing might very well indicate that the child is still not tall enough to legally be using regular seat belts.
• NO child under age 13 years should be riding in the front seat.

How do you know if the car's regular (adult) seats and seat belts are fitting your child properly?

• If your child is less than 57 inches tall, they probably aren't.
• Make sure that the shoulder belt goes across the child's shoulder and mid-chest, not across the neck or throat.
• See that the lap belt lies tightly across and over the upper thighs, and not across the tummy.
• Check this: When your child is sitting fully upright, with his or her back pressed against the back of the car's seat, can the knees still bend comfortably and can the lower legs hang easily over the edge of the seat? If a child has to scrunch down in the seat, or sit uncomfortably in any way, to get the legs over the seat's edge, then he or she is not tall enough to sit without a booster seat.

Stay tuned: In part 2 of this blog, I will discuss purchasing and installing car seats, as well as some other safety tips.