What to Know About Child Safety Seats

The leading cause of preventable deaths and injuries to US children are road injuries. Luckily, car seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71%, but only if they’re used correctly--there’s a lot more to using them than just making sure they fit in your back seat. Read on to learn how to find the right car seat for your child and how to use it correctly.

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Three Kinds of Car Seats

·         Rear-Facing Car Seat

·         Forward-Facing Car Seat

·         Booster Seat

Rear-Facing Car Seat

Rear-facing seats have harnesses to secure your child, and are designed to protect babies in case of a crash. They’re specifically constructed to protect an infant’s delicate neck and spine. Some rear-facing seats are specially made for newborns and small infants, but children tend to outgrow these seats by eight or nine months. At that point, you should find a larger, rear-facing seat that will fit your child comfortably.

Children should remain in rear-facing seats until around the age of 2, and sometimes longer depending on their height and weight.

Forward-Facing Car Seat

In a forward-facing seat, children are elevated and secured with a harness. Although your children can graduate from this sort of restraint system to a booster seat as young as four year’s old, (depending on their weight and height), it’s recommended that you keep them in a car seat until at least age seven.

As with all car seats, be sure to check the manufacturer’s recommended height and weight to see what’s safest for your child.

Booster Seat

A booster seat (depending on whether it has back of neck support) is primarily designed to lift a child up so that their seat belt fits correctly. Booster seats that have back and neck support are especially useful if the backseat of your car doesn’t have headrests.

Other Helpful Information

·         Children, regardless of whether they’re in a car seat, are safest in the back seat. Don’t let them sit up front until they’re at least 13 years old.

·         Once you’ve installed your car seat, try to move it around. If it slides more than an inch in any direction, you need to adjust it.

·         If your child is buckled into their seat, make sure their harness is taut across their chest, but not tight. A good rule of thumb is to try and pinch the strap at your child’s shoulder. You should not be able to pinch any excess webbing.

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Interested in seeing if your car seat will fit in one of our Nissan models? Be sure to stop by Sheehy Nissan of Mechanicsville today and find out in person. Because choosing the right car seat is only part of keeping your kids safe as you drive. Choosing the right car is just as important.