Child Seat Safety

Are you using your child car seat correctly? 5 out of 6 car seats are installed incorrectly! Wow!

I came across this video in my random web surfing and it prompted me to review our car seat usage. (Don't you love the old fashioned car seats in that video? Scary). After watching the video I referred back to our owners manual for the seat & found a few items we needed to adjust which I did immediately. I challenge each of you to take some time this week to review your car seat usage even if you have been using it awhile & think you are doing it right (we thought we were). If you do not have your manual, you can either call the manufacturer for a new one (should be a phone number on the seat itself), or check their website for a PDF version.

We found that the soft strap covers I picked up recently at a consignment sale were preventing us from putting the harness clip at the right level. Soft straps are no good if they don't hold him in properly. We removed those & I also re-adjusted the shoulder straps to the proper level (they should be at or below the shoulders, not above). I also removed the toys from the handlebar (at least while in the car) after the video pointed out that these could hit the baby during an accident. I talked to a friend about the position of the handle itself & am wondering if we should put it down. Our manual says that is okay it the upright position but she said the customer service told her not to have it up (same manufacturer) even though it was clearly different information than what was in the manual. (I am not even sure if it's possible in the Mustang). One item we were unable to change was the location of the seat. It is safer in the middle seat but this may not be feasible for everyone. For us it's not possible. Jack has to have his seat back so far because of his height and the Mustang has bucket seats in the back so the seat would not fit in the middle.

I had heard that fire stations locally were no longer doing checks due to liability (don't remember where I got that from) but that's not exactly accurate. The City of Raleigh does offer a car seat safety program but you must request an appointment which is only available at a few local stations & they will education you on how to install the seat. You can also go to BuckleUpNC.org to find other places for a check. For those in other states, the resource page of buckleupnc.org has links to programs around the country. SafeKids.org is another resource. I found a couple of places that are nearby I can try.