A list of certified technicians in your area is available on the NHTSA website.
#Child restraint systems car install#
Many fire stations, hospitals and incident centers have certified child passenger safety technicians that can help install you car seat safely. The car seat must be tightly secured to the car and the harness and seat belt must be snug over the child’s body, particularly over the shoulders and pelvis. Further, it is imperative that the seat is properly installed. The expiration date may be on the seat itself or can be provided by the manufacturer.Īlways ensure that the car seat is appropriate for the height, weight and age of your child. In addition, car seats have expiration dates. Never use a car seat that has already been involved in an accident, no matter how minor and even if it looks fine, as it may have been weakened. The NHTSA website lists over a hundred models of child restraint systems that have been recalled due to defects. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FROM DEFECTIVE CAR SEATS?įirst, if you already have a car seat, check with NHTSA to determine if your car seat has been recalled due to a defect. It has been found that many car seats that meet the 30 mph frontal crash requirements fail to provide protection in other types of collisions. This reliance has been found to be inadequate as some manufacturers have simply submitted passing test results while concealing those tests in which the child seat failed the requirements.Īnother flaw in the federal standards is the lack of any requirements for side impacts, rear-end impacts, or rollovers. Instead, NHTSA relies on test results submitted by the manufacturers. Absent from the requirements is industry wide testing by the federal government. Under the federal requirements, child restraint systems must provide protection from injury in frontal crashes up to 30 mph. Unfortunately, the NHTSA standards are not particularly stringent, and the testing procedures are minimal.
In order to comply with the law, the car seat must meet standards set forth by the United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The car seat requirement includes rear facing infant seats, forward facing toddler seats and booster seats for older children. Under Illinois law, all children 8-years-old or younger must be in a child restraint system while traveling in a car, unless that child is 57 inches or more tall. As the summer travel season swings into high gear, one often overlooked safety concern is defective child car seats.
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