Carseat and Automobile Safety

[MrsPinecone]

Car-Safety.Org Vehicle and Carseat Safety Information

This site has great information, including forums that discuss everything you would ever want to know about carseat selection and installation for the the safety of your munchkins!

[couponmomto2]

Another great site is the car seat and more forum on Delphi forms. The basic membership for Delphi is free. They are a lot of car seat tech who are very knowledgeable. They even have a page at the beginning of the forum that can help you fine a tech in your area.

[MrsPinecone]

Child Restraint Laws

List of laws by state.

[lovemygirls]

My aunt works for the California Highway Patrol. If you want them to install or check to make sure your car seat is installed correctly they will do that for you. I know at her office no appointement is needed and it is free. We need to make sure our little ones are safe.

[MrsPinecone]

Most towns have inspection stations, either at the police station, fire department or health department. A quick phone call should help figure out where in your town to go!

[enginerd]

Just remember, just because the law says your child doesn't have to be in a safety/booster seat, doesn't mean it is the safest thing to do. For example, in my state they just changed the law so that a child has to be in a booster seat until they are 8. But for maximum protecion, it is recommended that a child be in a booster until they are 4'9". My almost 10 year old is just now reaching that height. There is only one other child in his grade of 60 students that has been in a booster seat since they turned 8.

[MrsPinecone]

And just because you can LEGALLY turn your child forward facing at 1 year AND 20 lbs, doesn't mean it is the safest thing to do.

We just turned DS car seat at 21 months because he outgrew the rear facing height limit (less than 1" between the top of his head and the shell of the car seat). I wanted to keep him RF until the weight limit, too, but it was not to be.

[Mama Bird]

I discovered the website mentioned in the OP awhile ago, and it was from reading there that convinced me to keep my DS rear-facing. This may sound really stupid, but I didn't even think about the fact that we COULD keep him rear-facing. All you hear is how at 1 year and 20 lbs you can turn them around. I actually saw recently for the very first time in one of my parenting magazines (Parents, maybe?) where they had a blurb about keeping your child rear-facing until the limit of your carseat. DS is now 26 months and still rear-facing (will be for awhile...he's a little on the short side), and every once in a while I get some strange comments about it. Oh well... Better safe than sorry!

Another thing I learned from there was about LATCH... Whatever seat you decide to put your child's carseat in - be sure to check your car's manual to see if that seat has the LATCH anchors or not. I thought I was pretty savvy about carseats (keeping my son RF and all) until I figured out that we had my son LATCHed into a seat but the anchors were for a different seat. Oh my word!! A huge no-no. I was so grateful we hadn't been in a wreak or anything! I guess I should have checked out one of those inspections stations.

[darlenesmommy]

I love this site. My daughter is 20 mos and is still rear facing. I will be taking a class in Nov to become a tech and I cant wait. Also make sure the person who is going to install your seat is good. If it does not look right then get it done by a differant person. We took our infant seat to the chp here (to a tech) he installed it talked to me about the seat. Told me that I could not use latch in the middle seat (which I sould per Graco and Ford) he told me they were both wrong, He used the seat belt and I told him that my Safe seat had a built in lock off so he did not need to lock the seat belt and he told me that was not true and locked the seat belt. My car seat looked like it was going to flip he told me it was fine and not to worry about it. The day before I was induced my infant seat fliped I called the fire depot that day the guy who installs seats their told me to come right down and said I was right on everything and that the other tech did not seem to keep updated on car seats and cars. So if you dont feel right about the install get it checked by someone else.

[MrsPinecone]

Keep your toddler in a rear-facing car seat until age 2 (not 1) -- O’Keefe 30 (4): 12 -- AAP News


The American Academy of Pediatrics has changed the rear-facing recommendation from 1 to 2.

Keep your toddler in a rear-facing car seat until age 2 (not 1)

Lori O’Keefe
Correspondent


New research indicates that toddlers are more than five times safer riding rear-facing in a car safety seat up to their second birthday. Following are some safety tips for car seat use:

All infants should ride rear-facing in either an infant car seat or convertible seat.

If an infant car seat is used, the infant should be switched to a rear-facing convertible car seat once the maximum height (when the infant’s head is within 1 inch of the top of the seat) and weight (usually 22 pounds to 32 pounds) have been reached for that infant seat as suggested by the car seat manufacturer.

Toddlers should remain rear-facing in a convertible car seat until they have reached the maximum height and weight recommended for the model, or at least the age of 2.
To see if your car seat is installed properly and to find a certified passenger safety technician in your area, visit www.seatcheck.org or www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm. You also can call 866-SEATCHECK (866-732-8243) or 888-327-4236.