For moms and moms to be - car seats

[MrsReber]

Hi everyone! I just have to post this because it's bothering me. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get your infant car seats inspected by the local police (or whoever in your town does this). It is so very important to make sure that your car seat is installed properly!!!!

In the past two weeks, DH has helped three people with their infant/child car seats. One guy at work asked for his help. The guy couldn't get the seat in tight enough so he was planning on putting some screws into the seat and attaching his own sort of tether. I told DH to tell him not to do that! By screwing things into the seat, you could weaken the whole thing.

Next, another of his co-workers has a 3 year old. He decided to take a look at her car seat. She has her child sitting in the seat and the seat is very loosely attached by the seatbelt of the car. Then he notices that there are no belts on the seat! Her son is just sitting, unrestrained, in his seat!!!

Last Sunday, we saw DH's neice who just had a baby. The baby is just over 2 weeks old. DH took a look at her car seat. It was in the center position in the backseat (that was good), but the seat was loose as anything. The center seatbelt often does not lock. There is a clip that you can buy to keep the belt from loosening.

I was disturbed after hearing of these three events. The major cause of death and/or serious injury as a result of an auto accident is improperly installed car seats!! It's not good enough to have the seat. Learn how to use it and make sure that it's in there good!

That's my public service message for today. Please, spread the word.

Susan

[paula]

to find a local certified inspector/installer go to

www.seatcheck.org

[MrsReber]

Thanks for posting that link, Paula. That's great. I was just amazed at how many people assume their car seat is installed properly. It can't ever hurt to have it checked out, but it can hurt to NOT have it checked out!

[KristinK]

Originally posted by MrsReber
Then he notices that there are no belts on the seat! Her son is just sitting, unrestrained, in his seat!!!
OK, there's improper installation, and then, well, there's just stupidity.

[stefania4]

Ditto to buying used car seats at yard sales and whatnot. I actually saw one - in a MERCEDES - that was duct-taped together. I'm not much on telling people how to live their lives or raise their children, but that made my blood boil.

[lhall]

There should be a date on the back of the car seat. I'm pretty sure it's just a circle with the last two digits of the year in it. I think they are rated as good for 4 years, so our seat has a circle with "04" on the back.

Leigh

[MrsReber]

The danger with used car seats is that you don't know the history and you should check to see if it's been recalled. When you buy a new seat, you should always always send in the registration card!

I just can't get over how many people think simply placing a child in a car seat is going to protect them from injury or death, with no thought to the proper installation and usage.

[KimKelly]

I'm so glad we've moved on to toddler seats that use the actual belt over the seat. I did find that my daughter had released her seatbelt to her baby seat once when she was about 2, that really scared me.

Kim

[DebGo]

Thanks for the reminder. i have heard statistics that 95-98% of car seats are installed incorrectly. that's an amazing number when you think of how many people have seats in their cars. i'm making my appointment tomorrow. i was waiting for DD to turn 20# so i could turn the seat around before i had it checked again. at last check (3 weeks ago) she was 19# 9 oz. :rolleyes: