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Car Seat Safety Suggestions

Employing a car seat is the number one step in helping to assure the security of your kids in your car. But just having a car seat is not adequate in itself: the car seat needs to be used, and it has to be used correctly. Here are steps to follow to help ensure that your kids will be as secure as possible in their car seats.

- Always be certain to read and understand the manufacturer's recommendations on how to use the car seat properly. Incorrect car seat usage is the single-biggest cause of car seat failure. In addition, completely read the owner's manual for your vehicle concerning the usage of car seats. Nearly all owner's manuals have specific recommendations for car seat usage and these recommendations must always be given the utmost consideration.

- To optimize the security of your children, always install the car seat in the rear set of your vehicle, never in the front seat. Ideally, you should install the car set in the middle of the rear seat so that there is maximum security against intrusion during side-impact collisions.

- If your car seat can only be placed in the front seat (in the case where there is no back seat), only use it if there is no front seat passenger airbag or if the airbag can be turned off. And then make sure that the airbag is indeed disabled. Never place a car seat in the front seat of a car if the passenger-side airbag is enabled.

- Keep your toddler/infant in a rear-facing car seat for as long as possible so long as they meet the weight and size restrictions for the car seat in that configuration. It is safer for your child to be facing to the rear.

- When you strap your child in their car seat, be certain that the harness fits snugly and always use the chest strap. The chest strap should go across the chest per the manufacturer's instructions. If this strap is too low, your child may not be secure in the event of an accident. If the chest strap is too high, it may crush your child's neck in the event of an accident.

- As soon as your child gets to big or heavy for their car seat, they should use a booster seat until such time as the seat belt fits them correctly. Usually this is until they are about 4' 9" tall or 80 pounds. Check your vehicle owner's guide for the specifics on your car. When it does fit properly, the shoulder belt should fit over the shoulders, not the neck, and the lap belt should fit across the hips, not on the belly.

- Once you believe you have your car seat correctly installed, have it examined by a certified car seat technician. This can be done in minutes at no charge. Check http://www.seatcheck.org/ to discover the nearest seat check location to you.

- Stay away from used car seats unless you know the history and age of the car seat. Do not buy car seats older than five years old, or car seats that have been in an accident. Make sure that used car seats have all of their labels with the manufacturing information, manufacturing date, and model number. In addition, make sure that the instructions are available; never buy a car seat without the instruction manual.

- If your car comes with the LATCH system for car seats, be sure to buy LATCH-compatible car seats. Using the LATCH system makes for easier installation, leading to increased security and reduced chance of installation problems. Despite this, the installation should still be looked at by a certified car seat technician.

- Look at the web site for the manufacturer of your vehicle. Many times, automobile manufacturer's website will list, on a per-model basis, the car seats that they recommend for use in their vehicles.

Article Source: http://www.articlemetropolis.com

Marsha is a stay-at-home mom with 3 kids and she's had plenty of chances to use lots of car seats. You can look for her car seat reviews at carseat-reviews.com.

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