From the American Automobile Association

The Right Way to Use a Safety Seat
A car seat can save your child's life---but only if installed properly.

by Allison Brunner • abrunner@aaaworld.com

SPENDING $200 ON a top-of-the-line car seat won't ensure your child's survival in case of an automobile accident. If she is inappropriately restrained, or the seat is improperly installed, it won't make a difference whether your child is placed in an Eddie Bauer, Britax or Graco.

Four out of five child safety seats are used incorrectly in the U.S., according to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). And data published by the Crash Injury Research & Engineering Network (CIREN) indicate that inappropriately restrained children are nearly three-and-a-half times more likely to suffer a severe injury in a crash than their appropriately restrained peers.

Car seats, when improperly installed or misused, can be more dangerous than helpful, warns Pam Maiolo, AAA Mid-Atlantic Public Affairs manager and certified Child Passenger Safety (CPS) technician. "The seat can tip over, flop around or move forward on impact if, in fact, there were a crash," she explains.

The SAFE KIDS Coalition of Southeastern Pennsylvania points out the four most common mistakes caregivers make when restraining children:

** The harness is not fastened tightly against the child. It should be adjusted so you can slip only one finger underneath the straps at your child's chest.

** The car seat is not tightly secured to the vehicle. The safety belt must stay tight when securing the safety seat, with no more than one inch of movement.

** Infants face front too soon. They should ride in rear-facing restraints, in the back seat, until about age 1, or at least 20-22 pounds. Those who weigh 20 pounds before 1 year should ride in a restraint approved for higher rear-facing weights.

** Parents don't use safety seats long enough. Keep your child in a car seat with a full harness until at least 40 pounds. Then use a belt-positioning booster seat until children are at least 4´9? and 80 pounds. When they can sit with their back straight against the vehicle seat back cushion, with their knees bent over the seat edge without slouching, children are ready to be moved out of the booster seat into the regular back seat.

"Don't rush children to the next seat, and don't face them forward too soon," SAFEKIDS of Southeastern Pennsylvania Chair Gina P. Duchossois advises. "If the car seat can still accommodate them, keep them in the car seat."

People should also take the time to read their car seat manufacturer's instructions and vehicle owner's manuals thoroughly before restraining a child passenger, says Norm Grimm, AAA Mid-Atlantic director of Driver and Safety Services. Grimm, also a certified CPS technician, lists some of the errors he has witnessed in child-passenger restraint: placing children in front of air bags, facing infants for-ward in rear-facing seats, selecting the improper seat for the type of car, incorrectly routing the seat belt through the car seat, and placing the car seat at an improper angle.

(For a booklet on how to correct common mistakes, go to NHTSA's common mistakes, go to NHTSA's Web site, nhtsa.dot.gov, click on "Child Passenger Safety," then on the right side of the page click on "How to solve problems you may have installing your child car seat.")

"There's still a number of people who believe if you simply place the child in a seat … and strap [him or her] into where the seat doesn't get thrown out of the car, the child's going to be safe," says Grimm. "These are misunderstandings."

Child restraints are potentially 71 percent effective in reducing the likelihood of death, NHTSA estimates. That number depends, how-ever, on whether motorists install the seats correctly and whether the child is restrained appropriately.