Stories about Families and Children

CAR SEAT SAFETY FOR KIDS
Take This 60-Second Safety Check

The National SAFE KIDS Campaign recommends that whenever possible, children ages 12 and under ride in the back seat of a vehicle. And the safest position for a safety seat, if it can be properly secured, is the center of the back seat.

* A child should ride in a rear-facing seat until at least one year and 20 pounds, and a rear-facing safety seat should never be placed in a vehicle seat equipped with an air bag.

* At one year and 20 pounds, a child can ride in a forward-facing seat equipped with internal harnesses.

* When a child reaches the height and weight limit of his forward-facing seat as prescribed by the manufacturer) he should ride in a belt-positioning booster seat, to be used in combination with an adult lap and shoulder belt.

* A child is ready for an adult safety belt with no booster when he can sit against the back of the seat and bend his knees over the ege, the lap belt makes good contact low over his hips, and the shoulder belt makes good contact across his chest and collarbone.

Almost 200 of the 604 children under age five killed as occupants in motor vehicles in 1997 were in safety seats, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Based on a multitude of recent surveys, child-safety experts believe it's likely that the majority of those seats were improperly installed. NHTSA also estimates that in 1997, as many as 30,500 infants and children were injured while riding in safety seats.

While it should be easy to install a car safety seat correctly, often it's not. there are more than 100 models of safety seats, more than 300 models of passenger vehicles and a wide range of safety-belt systems. Rarely will one seat fit every vehicle, and some seats won't fit into some vehicles at all. Safety organizations generally discourage the use of seats purchased at resale shops or yard sales, since the device could have a sustained structural damage in the past. Additionally, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association advises against using any seat more than six years old.