If you are bringing home that newborn baby, getting a child safety seat for a your growing youngster or replacing a child safety seat because it's been damaged in a car crash, picking the right seat for your kid is but half the task. The real challenge is still ahead – getting the thing installed correctly
NHTSA, the National Safety Council and Charlie's Columbia CARSTAR in Columbia, Illinois offer these tips to aid parents in ensuring that their child safety seat is installed as securely as possible.
• Keep the baby rear facing. While the view may be boring to you and more so to the child, it does the greater good of ensuring that the infant is the safest position if an accident occurs. The rear facing position greatly decreases the likelihood of neck or spine trauma compared to that of a child facing forward. While there are some experts who advocate keeping the child rear facing until they are six months and or twenty-two pounds, there is no problem with delaying a bit longer.
• Use the best type of seat for your little one's age, weight and height. If you've got leather seats, get some anti-slip rubber shelf liner or you can get a "seat saver" to put beneath the car seat. It will keep your vehicle seat clean and stop the car seat from slipping around everywhere. Although, depending on your child safety seat, a seat saver might interfere with installation, so be sure to hold on to the receipt.
• Read the car and child seat manuals thoroughly, and follow the car seat manufacturer's advice, always. If you do have questions for them, just give them a call. Your local dealer might or might not be up to speed on your installation questions.
• Rear-Facing, Infant-Only Seat — LATCH Install -- Parents of newborns commonly opt for the type of infant car seat that has a separate base. The base stays installed in the car though the baby carrier itself can be taken out and snapped back in whenever you desire to do so. Infant seat bases have flexible LATCH connectors — basically belts with hooks at the ends. Find the lower anchors near the second-row window seats. Just be sure that the child safety seat is laying flat against the seat's bottom and back, between the two lower anchors. Hook in the LATCH attachment that is farthest from you onto the anchor. Then, if you can, climb up on top of the seat, putting your knee on top. With your weight fully compressing the vehicle seat, hook the other attachment to the anchor and pull out all of the slack. If you aren't able to get on top of the seat, use your full strength to push down on the seat while you hook on the second attachment.
• Rear-Facing, Infant-Only Seat — Standard Shoulder and Lap Belt Install
It may be possible that your car or your car seat is an older model and doesn't feature LATCH. It may even be possible that your car's seat cushions or anchor placements make LATCH installation all but impossible. Don't forget that you can always do a standard shoulder and lap belt installation; that's quite safe. First, thread the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt through the proper slots, known as the "belt path." If you own a convertible car seat that can go from forward-facing to rear-facing, choose the correct path; but don't worry, it'll be clearly marked.
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Connect the latch plate (male end of the seatbelt) into the buckle (female end), then, using your body weight as stated above, tighten up the belt. Make sure all the slack is fully retracted from both the lap and the shoulder. As a general rule, using a locking clip will give you a much more secure installation. A locking clip is an H-shaped piece of steel that is included with new car seats or can be requested from the producer. To use one, plug in the seatbelt, make it as tight as you possibly can, then unplug it again while grasping the belt very tightly. Wrap the locking clip around the belt as close as you possibly can to the latch plate, then connect it again. You may have to bounce up and down on the seat a couple of times to get it closed. This may not be easy, but it will give you a rock-solid installation.
Remember that a rear-facing baby car seat should sit at a 45-degree angle to stop the baby from slumping and to make sure that their airway is open. Look at the car seat instructions to see if yours comes with an angle adjuster; if it does, use it. If it doesn't, a tiny bit of a pool "noodle" placed underneath the seat is the most secure way to get the same angle. Why a noodle? Well, you could use a tightly rolled towel, but towels have a tendency to compress over time, whereas the material in pool noodles does not do that. If you use a towel, check it now and again to see that the angle has been maintained.
The experts at Charlie's Columbia CARSTAR in Columbia, Illinois, who also serve Waterloo, Millstadt, Freeburg, New Athens, and all over southern Illinois, make a great effort to deliver a top-quality, reliable repair for every single customer and would like to extend that commitment to the youngest passengers in our customers’ vehicles. Those who have put their pride and joy in a child car seat know exactly what trust you put in that seat. They want to empower parents to shield their children, whether during day-to-day driving or in an accident.
For important information on the CARSTAR Child Safety Seat program, visit www.auto-body-columbia-il.com.
NHTSA, the National Safety Council and Charlie's Columbia CARSTAR in Columbia, Illinois offer these tips to aid parents in ensuring that their child safety seat is installed as securely as possible.
• Keep the baby rear facing. While the view may be boring to you and more so to the child, it does the greater good of ensuring that the infant is the safest position if an accident occurs. The rear facing position greatly decreases the likelihood of neck or spine trauma compared to that of a child facing forward. While there are some experts who advocate keeping the child rear facing until they are six months and or twenty-two pounds, there is no problem with delaying a bit longer.
• Use the best type of seat for your little one's age, weight and height. If you've got leather seats, get some anti-slip rubber shelf liner or you can get a "seat saver" to put beneath the car seat. It will keep your vehicle seat clean and stop the car seat from slipping around everywhere. Although, depending on your child safety seat, a seat saver might interfere with installation, so be sure to hold on to the receipt.
• Read the car and child seat manuals thoroughly, and follow the car seat manufacturer's advice, always. If you do have questions for them, just give them a call. Your local dealer might or might not be up to speed on your installation questions.
• Rear-Facing, Infant-Only Seat — LATCH Install -- Parents of newborns commonly opt for the type of infant car seat that has a separate base. The base stays installed in the car though the baby carrier itself can be taken out and snapped back in whenever you desire to do so. Infant seat bases have flexible LATCH connectors — basically belts with hooks at the ends. Find the lower anchors near the second-row window seats. Just be sure that the child safety seat is laying flat against the seat's bottom and back, between the two lower anchors. Hook in the LATCH attachment that is farthest from you onto the anchor. Then, if you can, climb up on top of the seat, putting your knee on top. With your weight fully compressing the vehicle seat, hook the other attachment to the anchor and pull out all of the slack. If you aren't able to get on top of the seat, use your full strength to push down on the seat while you hook on the second attachment.
• Rear-Facing, Infant-Only Seat — Standard Shoulder and Lap Belt Install
It may be possible that your car or your car seat is an older model and doesn't feature LATCH. It may even be possible that your car's seat cushions or anchor placements make LATCH installation all but impossible. Don't forget that you can always do a standard shoulder and lap belt installation; that's quite safe. First, thread the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt through the proper slots, known as the "belt path." If you own a convertible car seat that can go from forward-facing to rear-facing, choose the correct path; but don't worry, it'll be clearly marked.
Connect the latch plate (male end of the seatbelt) into the buckle (female end), then, using your body weight as stated above, tighten up the belt. Make sure all the slack is fully retracted from both the lap and the shoulder. As a general rule, using a locking clip will give you a much more secure installation. A locking clip is an H-shaped piece of steel that is included with new car seats or can be requested from the producer. To use one, plug in the seatbelt, make it as tight as you possibly can, then unplug it again while grasping the belt very tightly. Wrap the locking clip around the belt as close as you possibly can to the latch plate, then connect it again. You may have to bounce up and down on the seat a couple of times to get it closed. This may not be easy, but it will give you a rock-solid installation.Remember that a rear-facing baby car seat should sit at a 45-degree angle to stop the baby from slumping and to make sure that their airway is open. Look at the car seat instructions to see if yours comes with an angle adjuster; if it does, use it. If it doesn't, a tiny bit of a pool "noodle" placed underneath the seat is the most secure way to get the same angle. Why a noodle? Well, you could use a tightly rolled towel, but towels have a tendency to compress over time, whereas the material in pool noodles does not do that. If you use a towel, check it now and again to see that the angle has been maintained.
The experts at Charlie's Columbia CARSTAR in Columbia, Illinois, who also serve Waterloo, Millstadt, Freeburg, New Athens, and all over southern Illinois, make a great effort to deliver a top-quality, reliable repair for every single customer and would like to extend that commitment to the youngest passengers in our customers’ vehicles. Those who have put their pride and joy in a child car seat know exactly what trust you put in that seat. They want to empower parents to shield their children, whether during day-to-day driving or in an accident.
For important information on the CARSTAR Child Safety Seat program, visit www.auto-body-columbia-il.com.