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Car Seat Installation

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Installing a car seat properly can reduce the risk of serious injury or death by as much as 75%. However, studies show that car seats are installed improperly as high as 80% of the time.

Here are some tips on how to install your car seat properly to ensure safety for your child:

• When installing a car seat, carefully follow both the car seat manufacturer’s manual as well as the owner’s manual for your vehicle.

• The car seat should be as tightly secured into the vehicle as possible, and the child should be buckled snuggly into the seat.

• Once installed, car seats should not move more than one-half to one inch in any direction.

• Rear-facing infant seats should rest on a 45-degree angle.

• The harness straps should rest at or below the baby’s shoulders and the chest clip should lay flat at armpit level.

• If the car seat comes equipped with a tether strap, use it according to the manufacturer’s instructions to prevent the seat from moving forward.

• Make sure the seat belt is routed through the correct belt path and that it is buckled as tightly as possible.

• If your vehicle and car seat were manufactured in 2002 or later, they should be equipped with the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system. You will not use a seat belt to secure the car seat if you have the LATCH system; instead, you will hook the tethers from the car seat to tethers in the automobile. This was designed to make the installation process easier and more secure.

• If you still have questions regarding the installation of your car seat, Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technicians can help. You can find a list of CPS Technicians by state or ZIP code on the website for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There are also inspection stations that can help ensure you have your car seat installed correctly, and these locations are listed at www.seatcheck.org. Your local Police Department should have someone on-hand that is knowledgeable about car seat installation as well.

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