Elizabeth Kanagawa, an authorized youngster passenger security technician, demonstrates how one can alter the harness of a automobile seat. She can be the proprietor of Three Littles, a kids’s retailer that sells automobile seats and strollers, amongst different objects, in Washington, D.C.
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Mother and father, are you certain you have bought your child’s automobile seat put in proper?
Chances are high, in all probability not, says Emily Thomasaffiliate director for auto security at Client Stories. She can be a mother and has a Ph.D. within the biomechanics of pediatric accidents, corresponding to automobile accident accidents. “Automobile seat misuse charges are fairly excessive proper now.”
In line with knowledge from the Nationwide Digital Automobile Seat Test Type (NDCF), 74% of the just about 60,000 automobile seats that youngster passenger security technicians (CPSTs) checked in 2025 weren’t getting used because the producer supposed. The highest culprits? Misused seat belts, harnesses and tethers.
As arduous as it might be if you’re late for that physician’s appointment or speeding to soccer observe, Thomas says it is important to take the additional time to provide your kid’s automobile seat a once-over. It might be a lifesaving resolution.
Visitors accidents stay a number one explanation for dying amongst kids in the US, in line with the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration. Analysis exhibits that automobile seats and booster seats can considerably cut back that danger — when used accurately.
Thomas, who’s a CPST, walks us by way of the highest automobile seat errors — and how one can repair them. Our information on correct set up is Elizabeth Kanagawa, a CPST and the proprietor of Three Littlesa kids’s retailer that sells automobile seats and strollers, amongst different objects, in Washington, D.C.
Mistake No. 1: You have bought seat belt points
Practically 60% of automobile seat misuse — and the highest mistake — needed to do with the seat belt, in line with the NDCF’s 2025 knowledge. That always means the automobile seat base shouldn’t be secured tightly sufficient to the automobile with the seat belt for some motive, says Thomas.
Tighten and lock that seat belt
A automobile seat ought to be securely strapped to your car, Kanagawa says. For those who can wiggle the bottom round, it is a signal you could have to additional tighten your seat belt or LATCH (decrease anchors and tethers for kids) system to your automobile seat.
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Think about in case your driver’s seat shifted or slid a bit each time you took too huge a flip or caught a bump on the highway. That is what you wish to keep away from occurring to your kid’s automobile seat.
Be certain the seat belt securing the seat is locked and tight, Thomas says. “Pull the seat belt out of the retractor till you hear a click on, which implies it is switched to locking mode.”
Then, slowly feed it again into the retractor whereas making use of agency downward stress with a knee or a hand to the bottom of your automobile seat, says Kanagawa. That ensures it is as safe as doable.
Kanagawa demonstrates what a securely fixed automobile seat base seems to be like.
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The automobile seat should not “transfer greater than 1 inch facet to facet or entrance to again if you pull at that belt path,” Thomas says. Test your work if you’ve completed putting in the bottom of your automobile seat by giving it a agency shake the place you have threaded the seat belt.
Thread it by way of the designated belt path
Convertible or all-in-one automobile seats have two units of belt paths: one for the forward-facing place, proven on the left, and one for the rear-facing place, proven on the precise.
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One other frequent mistake with seat belts: utilizing the incorrect belt path. For those who’re utilizing a convertible or all-in-one automobile seat, there’s often one belt path for rear going through and one other for ahead going through. These paths are designed to tug your automobile seat as near the car seat as doable, relying on its orientation.
Take a look at the labels in your automobile seat fastidiously, after which route your seat belt by way of the designated path, Thomas says.
Mistake No. 2: Your harness is wonky
The second commonest difficulty, in line with the NDCF’s 2025 knowledge, needed to do with the harness, or the set of straps that restrain your child of their automobile seat. Practically 60% of CPSTs discovered that house owners weren’t utilizing them proper.
Alter the peak of the straps
Folks typically do not understand that the peak of your kid’s harness relies on whether or not it is entrance or rear going through, Thomas says. In a automobile accident, forces act otherwise relying on the path of the seat, so that you wish to place the harness at a top that may assist management a toddler’s motion and cut back the potential of damage.
For a rear-facing seat, place the “harness strap at or barely beneath your kid’s shoulder,” she says. For a forward-facing seat, the harness ought to be at or barely above the shoulder.
Do the pinch check
For those who can pinch the webbing in your kid’s harness, as demonstrated within the photograph above, it is too free, says Kanagawa.
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Your harness ought to maintain in your youngster snugly. To check whether or not the straps are tight sufficient, “pinch the harness webbing at your kid’s shoulder along with your thumb and forefinger,” Thomas says. You should not have the ability to pinch any webbing, or strap, between your fingers.
Contemplate the chest clip and crotch buckle
The chest clip — the buckle that connects the shoulder straps collectively — ought to be at your kid’s armpit degree, Thomas says. These clips “make sure the automobile seat straps keep over your kid’s shoulder in a crash and assist restrain them.”
The crotch buckle ought to be positioned on the entrance of your kid’s lap. In case your youngster is sitting on the buckle, transfer it a slot ahead.
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Be certain your youngster is not sitting on the crotch buckle, the fastener between your kid’s legs that secures the harness straps collectively. It ought to be positioned simply on the entrance of your kid’s lap.
“There’s usually a number of slots for the crotch buckle, so make the adjustment appropriately for that,” Thomas says.
Mistake No. 3: Assuming the tether is non-compulsory
Keep in mind to lock the tether in a front-facing automobile seat. It ought to be straight and tight, says Kanagawa.
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The third commonest automobile seat misuse difficulty needed to do with tethers, in line with the NDCF’s 2025 knowledge. These lengthy straps dangle off your kid’s automobile seat, appearing as a further anchor level for front-facing automobile seats and stopping them from tipping ahead.
Folks typically overlook this piece or consider it as non-compulsory, Thomas says, however it’s vital. Connect the tether to your car’s again seat anchor level. Relying on the automobile, that may be situated on the rear shelf, seat again, ceiling or flooring.
For those who can, preserve your youngster in a rear-facing seat for so long as doable, as much as the producer’s top or weight restrict, Thomas says. This place is extra protecting within the occasion of a automobile crash.
When doubtful, seek the advice of your automobile seat guide (many automobile seats have a useful pocket for simply that motive) or attain out to a neighborhood automobile seat set up professional for assist, says Thomas.
Like so many different features of parenting, Thomas acknowledges that coping with automobile seats could be “arduous and inconvenient.”
Nevertheless it’s vital. “So take the time to coach your self. You are doing nice, and what you did not know earlier than, that is OK,” she says.
This story was edited by Meghan Keane. We might love to listen to from you. Depart us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or e mail us at LifeKit@npr.org.
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