Choosing and Using Child Restraints
Importance of Correct Installation
 
updated 10-03--03

To do its job, a child restraint must be installed correctly in the vehicle. If the lap part of the safety belt is not tight enough or the restraint slides around on the vehicle seat, your child may not be protected. Always read the installation instructions that come with the child restraint AND read the section on safety belts and child restraints in your vehicle owner's book. Before each trip, check to make sure the belt that is holding the child restraint in place stays tight enough.

Air bag warning
How Tightly Should a Child Restraint Be Installed?
Vehicle Features That Effect Child Restraint Installations
Should I put my child in the front or back seat?

WARNING: Children age 12 and under should ride in the back seat. Never put an infant (less than one year old) rear facing in the front of a car with a passenger air bag. Infants must always ride in the back seat facing the rear of the car.

How Tightly Should a Child Restraint Be Installed?
The lap part of the belt must hold the child restraint firmly in place. To make it tight, push the child restraint down into the seat cushion while you tighten the belt around it.
Once the lap belt is tightened around the child restraint, it must then lock to hold the belt tight. Seat belts can be locked with their retractors or latchplates. Some belts cannot be used to install a child restraint correctly without using additional hardware. Starting with the 1996 model year, vehicles MUST have safety belts designed to stay tight around child restraints. The belt may have a label on it telling you how it works, but your vehicle owner's book gives more information and detail.

To check for a tight fit, grasp the shell of the restraint at the belt path being used and pull the child restraint forward and push it from side to side. If the belt loosens or the base of the child restraint slides forward or sideward more than an inch, the child in it may not be well protected. If the child restraint moves too much, first try to tighten the belt some more and then, if that does not work, try another seat location in the vehicle with a different kind of belt. The lap belt in the middle of the back seat may work best to keep a child restraint in place.

Vehicle Features That Effect Child Restraint Installations
Retractors - There are three kinds of retractors that take up slack in the belt. An "emergency locking retractor" locks only during a crash or sudden stop, an "automatic locking retractor" locks by itself whenever you stop pulling it out, and "switchable" retractors are emergency locking retractors that can be switched to automatic locking retractors to install child restraints. Emergency locking retractors cannot be used to install a child restraint unless the belt has a locking latchplate or additional hardware is used.

Latchplates - Locking latchplates work well with child restraints. They usually are found on lap belts in center rear seats. Lap/shoulder belts in many vehicles also have them. A locking bar prevents the belt from loosening once it is tightened. To tighten this kind of belt, pull on the loose end of the lap belt or on the shoulder part of the lap/shoulder belt. This tightens the lap belt. Then test for tightness by pulling the child restraint forward and side to side.
If this kind of belt does not stay tight, see if the latchplate is positioned where the belt turns to go through the slot in the child restraint or around its frame. In this position, the belt webbing may slip through the latchplate. If this happens, turn the adjustable end of the belt over. This will keep it tightly locked in most vehicles.

Locking Clips - If the lap/shoulder belt does not have a locking or switchable feature to lock it around a child restraint, it may need a "locking clip" to keep it tight. Locking clips are attached to the side or back of most new child restraints and can also be bought from a child restraint manufacturer or from Ford, Nissan, or Toyota dealers. Instructions for using the locking clip come with the child restraint instructions and in many vehicle owners' manuals.

Tether Straps - A properly used top tether strap hooked to a properly installed (or built-in) tether anchor can help keep any front-facing child restraint more secure. A top tether strap anchors the upper part of a forward-facing child restraint when it is bolted to the frame of the vehicle. It may be the only way to keep a child restraint secure if belts are anchored forward of the seat back. A tether aids protection even when the child restraint is held firmly with the lap belt.
Some manufacturers have tether kits for their forward-facing child restraints. Do not attempt to install a tether on a child restraint not made to use one. Many vehicles have holes drilled behind the rear seat to hold a tether anchor. Some have nuts installed. Check the owner's manual for tether anchor locations.

Other Vehicle Features - Some vehicle seats have hollows and humps that prevent the child restraint from resting flat on the cushion. Use another position if possible, or find a child restraint with a base that fits better in your car. Always check your vehicle owner's book for belt information.
Belts that come out of the seat cushion or from the side of the vehicle seat may not hold a child's child restraint against the vehicle seat back. Sometimes, a top tether can help keep the installation tight enough.

Should I put my child in the front or back seat?
The rear seat is generally the safer position for anyone, because the occupant is farther away from the point at which a frontal crash (by far the most common type) occurs. All other things being equal, placing a child in the rear seat rather than the front seat increases crash protection by about 25%. All efforts should be made to secure children in the rear seat. The center-rear is generally considered to be the safest position. If you have to use a side position, neither the left (driver)  nor the right (passenger) side is safer than the other in terms of crash protection. Installing the seat on the right side is usually preferred since this allows the driver to glance back at the child more easily and since the right side is curb-side for parking on the street. 

For a rear-facing infant, the ideal is for an adult to ride in the rear seat with the baby. If your vehicle does not have a passenger-side air bag and you are traveling alone with your baby and your rear-facing infant has special needs that require monitoring, you can install the seat in the front to monitor her condition. Unless you car is equipped with a automatic seat belts or a passenger-side air bag (see warning below), a rear-facing seat will generally provide good protection in the front. Infants (up to 20-22 pounds and one year old) should always ride facing rearward, whether in the front or back seat. 

WARNING: Rear-facing seats (infant only seats and convertible models installed facing the rear) cannot be used in a position equipped with an air bag. Note that turning an infant around to face the front of the vehicle is not safe and will place the child in great danger (refer to "When should I turn my child's seat to face the front of the car?"). Infants under 20-22 pounds and less that a year in age must ride in the rear seat in the rear-facing position if the car has a passenger-side air bag. Front-facing car seats should not be installed in the front seat in front of an air bag unless absolutely necessary, the car seat can be installed very tightly with the seat belt, the harness securing the child is as snug as possible, and the vehicle seat is moved as far back away from the dashboard as possible.

Air bags can also seriously injure or even kill an unbuckled or improperly buckled child or adult who is sitting too close to the air bag or who is thrown toward the dash during emergency braking. Remember that the rear seat is the safest place for children of any age to ride. Make sure that everyone who does ride in the front seat, especially with an air bag: 

• Is properly buckled up with snug, well adjusted lap and shoulder belts.
• Is positioned correctly on the vehicle seat. This means that the child or adult must sit fully upright with buttocks against the vehicle seat back. Sitting coward in the seat will place the child or adult too close to the air bag.
• Has the vehicle seat moved back away from the dashboard and air bag as far as possible.

Most cars made since 1986 will have either air bags or some type of automatic seat belt in the front seat. Most types of automatic seat belts cannot properly secure a safety seat without the use of additional hardware available through car dealers. Consult your vehicle's owner's manual to be sure what types of seat belts you have and how to properly secure safety seats with them.

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