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Dear Subscriber,
Yes, it's true. Chances are that YOUR car seat is not
installed correctly. How can I say that? Well,
according to the 2004 report by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/)
entitled "Misuse of Child Restraints," 72.6% of all
children's car restraints fall into the category of
"critical misuse," meaning "misuse that can be
expected to raise the risk of injury" in the case of a
vehicle accident.
72.6%!!!! That is the kind of number that would make
me run and check my babies' car seats right away, and
in fact that is exactly what Alison and I did when we
heard this shocking statistic.
You are probably wondering how so many well-
intentioned, smart people could be putting their
children at risk in their car seats. To cut straight
to the point, let me spell out the top 4 errors people
are making.
1) The car seat or infant carrier is not secured
tightly enough to the seat of the car. Simply pulling
the seat belt through as hard as you can from a
standing position is not enough. To achieve the
necessary tightness, you must sit or kneel on the car
seat yourself while pulling the seat belt through or
attaching the latch system. Try this and you will
quickly see how much slack was still available
compared to when you try to do it standing up.
2) The chest-clip is in the wrong position. The chest
clip on a car seat should ride at the baby's arm-pit
level. Not farther down the rib cage, and certainly
not higher up near the neck, although the most common
error is to place the chest clip too far below the
armpit level.
3) People ignore the height limit for infant carriers.
Every single day we see somebody in the grocery store
or some other public place with a baby whose feet are
sticking far out of the end of their infant carrier.
If you were to ask the parent they would probably say
something like "well, my baby is still five pounds
under the weight limit, and I love my infant carrier."
It's true, infant carriers are the greatest and we all
cry when our babies graduate to convertible car seats,
but most of us wait too long to make that graduation a
reality, putting our babies in a dangerous position.
So check and see what the height limit is on your baby
carrier; you will probably be surprised.
4) Babies' car seats are often turned to face the
front of the car far too early. The rule is that
babies should be facing the back of the car until they
are both 1 year old AND 20 pounds in weight. Many
people turn their children around as soon as they hit
either of these milestones, but they must hit both
marks before it is safe to face them towards the front
of the car. This is also the law in most states.
There are lots of other ways to get it wrong with car
seats. They may seem simple, but if you want them to
truly protect your child, it is actually a quite
complicated task. But there are experts near you who
will inspect your car seats to make sure you are doing
everything right. To find the expert nearest you,
just go to http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/ and
enter your Zip Code.
Considering the number of car accidents that happen
every year, even to great drivers like yourself, it is
worth the time to make sure your baby has the proper
protection.
Once again, to find the car seat inspection station
nearest you, go to:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/
And to view the government report on "Misuse of Child
Restraints," in addition to a great deal of other
valuable information, just visit:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
and select "Child Safety Seat Information" in the
"Quick Links" drop-down menu.
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Have a wonderful week, and drive safely!
Sincerely,
Paul
Paul & Alison Martin
Noss Galen Baby LLC
www.NossGalenBaby.com
Copyright, Noss Galen Baby LLC 2005
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