Elizabeth Kanagawa, an authorized little one passenger security technician, demonstrates find out how to modify the harness of a automotive seat. She can be the proprietor of Three Littles, a youngsters’s retailer that sells automotive seats and strollers, amongst different gadgets, in Washington, D.C.
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Dad and mom, are you certain you’ve got acquired your child’s automotive seat put in proper?
Likelihood is, in all probability not, says Emily Thomas, affiliate director for auto security at Shopper Studies. She can be a mother and has a Ph.D. within the biomechanics of pediatric accidents, equivalent to automotive accident accidents. “Automobile seat misuse charges are fairly excessive proper now.”
Based on information from the Nationwide Digital Automobile Seat Test Kind (NDCF), 74% of the virtually 60,000 automotive seats that little one 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 whenever you’re late for that physician’s appointment or speeding to soccer follow, Thomas says it’s vital to take the additional time to present your kid’s automotive seat a once-over. It could possibly be a lifesaving determination.
Site visitors accidents stay a number one explanation for dying amongst youngsters in the USA, in line with the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration. Analysis exhibits that automotive seats and booster seats can considerably scale back that threat — when used appropriately.
Thomas, who’s a CPST, walks us via the highest automotive seat errors — and find out how to repair them. Our information on correct set up is Elizabeth Kanagawa, a CPST and the proprietor of Three Littles, a youngsters’s retailer that sells automotive seats and strollers, amongst different gadgets, in Washington, D.C.
Mistake No. 1: You’ve got acquired seat belt points
Almost 60% of automotive seat misuse — and the highest mistake — needed to do with the seat belt, in line with the NDCF’s 2025 information. That always means the automotive seat base is just not secured tightly sufficient to the automotive with the seat belt for some cause, says Thomas.
Tighten and lock that seat belt
A automotive seat needs to be securely strapped to your automobile, Kanagawa says. Should you can wiggle the bottom round, it is a signal you might have to additional tighten your seat belt or LATCH (decrease anchors and tethers for youngsters) system to your automotive 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 street. That is what you need to keep away from occurring to your kid’s automotive seat.
Be sure 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 suggests it is switched to locking mode.”
Then, slowly feed it again into the retractor whereas making use of agency downward strain with a knee or a hand to the bottom of your automotive seat, says Kanagawa. That ensures it is as safe as potential.
Kanagawa demonstrates what a securely fixed automotive seat base seems to be like.
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The automotive seat should not “transfer greater than 1 inch aspect to aspect or entrance to again whenever you pull at that belt path,” Thomas says. Test your work whenever you’ve completed putting in the bottom of your automotive seat by giving it a agency shake the place you’ve got threaded the seat belt.
Thread it via the designated belt path
Convertible or all-in-one automotive 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. Should you’re utilizing a convertible or all-in-one automotive seat, there’s normally one belt path for rear dealing with and one other for ahead dealing with. These paths are designed to tug your automotive seat as near the automobile seat as potential, relying on its orientation.
Have a look at the labels in your automotive seat fastidiously, after which route your seat belt via the designated path, Thomas says.
Mistake No. 2: Your harness is wonky
The second most typical challenge, in line with the NDCF’s 2025 information, needed to do with the harness, or the set of straps that restrain your child of their automotive seat. Almost 60% of CPSTs discovered that house owners weren’t utilizing them proper.
Regulate 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 dealing with, Thomas says. In a automotive accident, forces act in a different way relying on the path of the seat, so that you need to place the harness at a top that may assist management a toddler’s motion and scale back the opportunity of harm.
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 needs to be at or barely above the shoulder.
Do the pinch check
Should you can pinch the webbing in your kid’s harness, as demonstrated within the photograph above, it is too unfastened, says Kanagawa.
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Your harness ought to maintain in your little one 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 be capable to pinch any webbing, or strap, between your fingers.
Think about the chest clip and crotch buckle
The chest clip — the buckle that connects the shoulder straps collectively — needs to be at your kid’s armpit degree, Thomas says. These clips “make sure the automotive seat straps keep over your kid’s shoulder in a crash and assist restrain them.”
The crotch buckle needs to be positioned on the entrance of your kid’s lap. In case your little one is sitting on the buckle, transfer it a slot ahead.
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Be sure your little one is not sitting on the crotch buckle, the fastener between your kid’s legs that secures the harness straps collectively. It needs 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 automotive seat. It needs to be straight and tight, says Kanagawa.
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The third most typical automotive seat misuse challenge needed to do with tethers, in line with the NDCF’s 2025 information. These lengthy straps hold off your kid’s automotive seat, performing as a further anchor level for front-facing automotive seats and stopping them from tipping ahead.
Folks generally neglect this piece or consider it as non-compulsory, Thomas says, nevertheless it’s vital. Connect the tether to your automobile’s again seat anchor level. Relying on the automotive, that may be positioned on the rear shelf, seat again, ceiling or ground.
Should you can, hold your little one in a rear-facing seat for so long as potential, as much as the producer’s top or weight restrict, Thomas says. This place is extra protecting within the occasion of a automotive crash.
When unsure, seek the advice of your automotive seat guide (many automotive seats have a helpful pocket for simply that cause) or attain out to an area automotive seat set up knowledgeable for assist, says Thomas.
Like so many different features of parenting, Thomas acknowledges that coping with automotive seats will 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 would 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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