Would your child’s car seat pass the test?
FEB 25 - 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. - Free Car Seat check up at Marlin Men’s Civic Association Building, located at 1104 HWY 6 Bypass North. Bring your child and know weight and height. Call Rosondra Hartsfield, AgriLife Extension Agent, at 254-883-1413 for more information on the event.
Parents often ask car seat experts what is the safest seat for their child. Truth be told, it is not the brand of seat they purchase, but making sure it is being used correctly that is what will save their child’s life. Car seats are very protective and effective in preventing injuries and death, but they must be used correctly in order to provide this protection. Unfortunately, most parents are not using their car seats correctly, with misuse reported from 70 to 99 percent depending on which study is used.
Children are at greater risk than adults in a vehicle crash. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death for children 14 and under. Safety belts and car seats are the single most effective tool in reducing these deaths and injuries.
Here is a list of the most common mistakes we see with car seats and how they can be avoided. Checking the list and making sure your child’s car seat is being used correctly can very likely prevent a needless tragedy.
1. Selection Errors:
Most children leave the hospital in a rear-facing only infant seat, although some leave in a rear-facing convertible seat. The rearfacing convertible seat is usually the next step after the infant seat. Children should remain rear-facing until they reach the maximum height or weight limit for the rearfacing convertible seat. Most convertible seats go to at least 40 pounds rear-facing, while there are some that go to 45 and 50 pounds rear-facing. At 40 to 50 pounds, it could accommodate an average 3-to-4-year-old.
Children should ride in a forward-facing harnessed seat until they reach the height or weight limit for the seat. The average forwardfacing seat goes to at least 40 pounds in the harness, with many available that go to 50, 65, 70 or even 85 pounds.
When the limit of the forward-facing seat has been reached, caregivers can consider a booster seat if the child is at least 4 years old, 40 pounds, and mature enough to stay correctly seated and buckled for the entire trip.
Booster seats should be used until the child correctly fits the seat belt. This is usually sometime between 8 and 12 years old. Although the law in Texas states that children at age 8 can legally ride in a seat belt, for most children at this age the lap and shoulder belt does not fit correctly. The lap belt riding over the child’s abdomen and soft tissue and organs can cause serious or fatal injuries in a crash. The shoulder belt needs to fit correctly across the middle of the shoulder and flat across the chest. It should not rub against the child’s neck, causing them to put it behind their shoulder and leaving them with no upper body protection.
Seat belts can be used when the child can sit up straight, bend their knees at the edge of the vehicle bench, touch the floor, and have a good fit of the lap belt over the upper thighs and the shoulder belt across the middle of the shoulder and flat against the chest.
2. Direction Errors:
Most parents are turning their child forward-facing too soon. Parents are understandably anxious to see their child forward-facing so that they can better interact with them.
However, research shows that rear-facing is the safest way for a small child to travel. Rear-facing helps to align the child’s head, neck and spine and spreads the crash forces over the child’s body rather than concentrating them in any one area.
When a child’s legs are against the back of the vehicle seat it is often misinterpreted as a sign that the child is too big to be rear-facing. It is important to know that children’s joints are still forming and remain very flexible and they are not uncomfortable with their legs against the back of the seat.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping a child rear-facing until they reach the maximum weight or height limit for the rear-facing convertible.
3. Harnessing Errors:
Many children are riding with harness systems that are loose and not at the correct position in relation to the child’s shoulders. Rear-facing seats should have the harness at or below the child’s shoulders, while forward-facing seats need...