Child Passenger Seat Inspection and InstallationChild Passenger Seat Inspection and Installation
As you may know, keeping children safe is very important to me. This passion began years ago when I started my career as a Nanny. So often, I would see things that were not safe and wanted to find ways to make them safer. When it came to car seat safety, I experienced a mistake first hand.
As a nanny, I am often called upon to use my own car to transport children. Because of this, I would often need to install car seats in my car. One day, my 3-year-old charge was in the backseat, and when I gently turned a corner in the neighborhood, she and the car seat tipped over. I'm sure you could imagine my horror! Luckily, I was very close to their home, and we arrived without another incident, but that scared me a lot. Since then, I have read everything I could about car seat safety, and made it a goal of mine never to let that happen again.
As a part of my goal to learn everything I can about car seat safety, I recently completed the Child Passenger Safety Technician class, so I am now certified to install and inspect child car seats. During the intense 4 day program, I learned there is so much more to installation than making sure the seat is tight.
As part of this program, we found out that approximately 90% of all child car seats in the United States are installed incorrectly! Oregon, itself, has about an 83% incorrect installation rate. Some of the most common mistakes are using seats that have expired (plastics become brittle and fail easier as they age), turning your baby around (facing forward) too soon, or keeping items in the passenger compartment of your car that could become projectiles during an accident.
One of the most powerful statements I heard during this program was, “Every time our children ‘graduate’ to the next phase of child car seats, they become less safe.” This refers to turning our child’s car seat to forward facing, moving them from a convertible car seat to a booster seat, or even moving the child to a regular car seat. At each step, they are less safe than they were before. Just because the car seat manual or state law says your child has met the minimum requirements to move to the next stage, does not mean it is the safest move for your child.
I mention this because I want to provide parents with as much education as possible about keeping their children safe. I strongly encourage families to have their child’s car seat(s) inspected regularly, especially after a purchase of a new seat.
During the safety inspection, if possible, please have both your vehicle and the car seat owner’s manuals with you. It is also a good idea to bring your child, so the inspectors can ensure a proper fit for the seat you have.
Please check Everything Baby’s monthly newsletter to find out the next clinic dates and which clinic I will be inspecting at. I will also post inspection dates on the Everything Baby, LLC Facebook page.