Safe Car Seat

It is not surprisingly the most common question by parents.  We all want the best for our precious little kids.  There is no good answer to this question and buying a seat which has placed “best in test” might not give any additional safety.  Lets start by saying rear facing is the absolute safest.  Regardless of seat, don’t turn your child forward facing until you have reached the limits of your seat by height or weight.

Truth is that most well known rear facing car seats offer equal safety.  It’s rear facing which is the huge advantage, not car seat model. Testing done by car seat manufacturers are never shown in public.  All tests are also different.  A different sled might be used, different speeds, different install, etc. Safety in a collision might vary depending on install and type of vehicle.  Those are factors which are always going to be there but knowing this might perhaps encourage parents to read the manual a little extra.

Guidelines, Installation and Challenges

In an effort to further reduce risks to young passengers, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have issued new child safety seat guidelines. The revised guidelines advise parents to keep children inrear-facing seats until they are 2 years old or until they are at the maximum height and weight for the seat, based on manufacturers' instructions.

The academy's previous policy suggested a child could be turned around to a forward-facing seat by age 12 months and 20 pounds.

The academy also says most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they reach 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between ages 8 and 12. Children should remain in the backseat until they are 13, experts say.

Research on passenger safety triggered the new advice. For instance, a 2007 study in the journalInjury Prevention found that children under 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or be severely injured if they ride in a rear-facing seat. The recommendation to keep children facing the rear while seated until they reach their second birthday is not a hard-and-fast rule, the academy notes. Some children will benefit by staying in the rear-facing seat even longer, while others might outgrow that position earlier.

In addition to recommending that children stay in rear-facing seats as long as possible, NHTSA and other organizations continue reminding parents that for child safety seats to be effective, they must be installed correctly. A recent NHTSA study says that this is easier said than done.

What's Your Installation IQ? 
According to the study, just 26.9 percent of parents installed a child car seat correctly. This means that three out of four parents could use some help.

Installation is not as complicated as it may seem, says Julie Vallese, a consumer safety expert for Dorel Juvenile Group, a manufacturer of car seats. Vallese also is certified as a child passenger safety technician (CPST). "It only feels like parents need a Ph.D. in car seat-ology in order to get it right," she says.

The first thing about car seats any parent should know, she says, is that "the right car seat for them to use is the one that fits their child and their car — and the one they will use correctly each time."

There are two types of child car safety seat systems. The first is LATCH, which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. The second is the seatbelt system. In the U.S., you can use either system, Vallese says.

While some experts prefer one over the other, the two systems are generally considered equally effective.

"Both the LATCH system and the seatbelt system work equally well," says Lorrie Walker, the training manager and technical advisor for Safe Kids Worldwide, which certifies child passenger safety technicians. NHTSA agrees.

"LATCH was introduced as a way to make it easier to get it right," Vallese says. But people make mistakes with both systems, she says.

How To Install a Car Seat With the LATCH System
Here is information from NHTSA and Vallese about the way to install a car seat with a separate base and the LATCH system for an infant. For instructional videos for older children, visit NHTSA'schild safety page or the Web site of your car seat manufacturer:

·                                 For seat location, choose the backseat spot that has a LATCH connection. The middle seat is safest, provided it has LATCH, Vallese says.

·                                 If you are carrying an infant and a toddler, place the toddler seat in the LATCH-equipped middle seat and place the infant seat in one of the outboard seats, Vallese says. That is considered safest because of how the shell of the infant seat is constructed, she adds.

·                                 Identify the two anchors in the seat bight (where the seat front and back come together).

·                                 Pick up the car seat. Attach the straps on the car seat to the anchors.

·                                 Tighten the belt to secure the base to the car. Test it to be sure it's secure. It should move no more than an inch, side to side or front to back.

·                                 Position the harness, referring to the car seat manual. Adjust it until snug.

·                                 Place the chest clip at the child's armpit level.

·                                 Be sure the seat is rear-facing for an infant, and the seat is at a 35-45-degree angle. This is considered the best angle to prevent ''head drop.''

·                                 For older children, you'll use the tether with this system. Visit the NHTSA Web page and click the photo corresponding to your child's age. Then refer to the instructional video.

How To Install a Car Seat With the Seatbelt System

Here are the steps for installing a car seat that uses the seatbelt system for use by an infant, according to NHTSA and Vallese.

·                                 For one child, choose the middle seat in the backseat.

·                                 Pull out your seatbelt so it is fully extended. Feed the seatbelt through the belt path and put it into the locking mechanism.

·                                 Tighten the seatbelt system as far as it will go.

·                                 It might help at this point to put your weight on the car seat — such as placing your knee on the seat where the child would be sitting and then bearing down. This helps ensure the seat is tightly pressed against the vehicle seat.

·                                 At the same time, pull the seatbelt to make it as tight and taut as possible.

·                                 Then do the 1-inch test. The seat should move no more than 1 inch, side to side or back to back, when you try to move it.

·                                 Next, be sure the harness strap is adjusted correctly. When you're done, the harness should come out of the car seat as close to shoulder level as possible. Once you strap in your child, the harness clip should be at armpit level.

·                                 For older children, visit the NHTSA Web site and click the photo corresponding to your child's age. Then refer to the instructional video.

Do It Yourself or Hire Someone? 
Assistance choices abound. Plenty of help, much of it free, is available to make the installation process easier, to guide parents through it, or simply to check their work.

Whatever route you choose, know that a session with a professional is meant to be instructional. The expert you select is not installing the seat for you. Rather, he or she is teaching you how to do it, so you can reinstall it if need be and know the specifics of safety.

"You not only have to read the car seat instruction book, you have to know your car," says Cindy Crothers, a child passenger safety technician whose business, Kidzseatz is based in Somerville, New Jersey, and Los Angeles. Take the car owner's manual and the car seat instructions along to the training.

You should seek someone who is certified as a child passenger safety technician. The program is run by NHTSA, the National Child Passenger Safety Board, State Farm and Safe Kids USA. Ask to see the technician's proof of current certification.

If you're a first-time parent, you should have a plan for how you're going to install the car seat — either by yourself or with a professional's help — by about the seventh month of pregnancy, Crothers says. This allows time for you to troubleshoot the installation. If you know you are having twins (or more), push that back to the sixth month, as multiples have a reputation for arriving early.

Among the options for assistance:

Hire a CPST: Some child passenger safety technicians (CPST) are in ''private practice." In general, a training session costs about $50-$150, according to Crothers' estimates. Safe Kids USA, which certifies technicians, offers a locator service on its site. You can search by location, language or special-needs training. The site also lists NHTSA inspection stations. You can go to these inspection stations and have a trained expert there check to be sure you've done the installation correctly.

Visit an installation clinic with CPSTs: As it has in the past, Dorel will team up this summer with the American Automobile Association, hosting installation clinics in 10 cities across the country, Vallese says. Check with your local AAA office for dates and times.

Get online help: Many manufacturers have installation videos on their Web sites. Once you have the car seat you're going to use, check out the company Web site and you are likely to find a video for your particular car seat model.

Get help in choosing an easy-to-use car seat: As any parent or parent-to-be who's shopped for car seats knows, the choices can be overwhelming. Before choosing a new seat, you may want to check out the Ease of Use ratings for various child seats provided by NHTSA. It has a five-star ease-of-use rating system that will allow parents to evaluate car seat features before making a decision.

Help on the Horizon From Car Manufacturers?
Choosing a car seat may soon get easier. NHTSA and carmakers are developing a voluntary program to help parents know which car seats work in which car models. But it's not expected to become reality for a year or more.

According to NHTSA's Karen Aldana, the agency plans to launch a program to provide consumers with information from auto manufacturers about the specific child safety seats it recommends for individual vehicles.

Under this plan, carmakers would recommend a minimum of three restraint system categories (rear-facing, forward-facing and booster) in a range of prices. Nissan is getting ahead of the curve by offering a guide that shows parents seats that fit with some of its models.