Our Facebook page
Our Blog| Rear-Facing Seats |
|
|
|
|
Page 7 of 14 Where should I install my child's safety seat? Which spot is safest?  The center of the back seat is statistically the safest place in the car. It's not just safest for kids...it's safest for adults too! Research from real crashes shows that kids sitting in the center are 43% safer than those sitting on the side, since in the center you cannot take a direct hit in a crash. What if my car does not have LATCH in the center? Talk about mixed messages! LATCH was specifically designed for child safety seats, yet the safest place in the vehicle for the child safety seat usually doesn't have LATCH! But.....just because there is no LATCH does NOT mean that you cannot install the child safety seat in the middle. You will just need to use the vehicle safety belt to install the child safety seat instead. Remember, there is almost always a tether anchor for the center seat, so if you are installing a child safety seat forward-facing, make sure to use both the vehicle safety belt AND the tether strap. More about using LATCH in the center. What if two or more people need to ride in my backseat? Since the center is the safest place in the vehicle, try to put the person who is the least protected in that position. For example, a rear-facing child (even a 4 pound preemie) is 5 times safer than a forward-facing child or adult, simply because the rear-facing child is rear-facing! So put the forward-facing person in the center seat to "even things out." Of course, there are times when this might not work. If you have a lap-only belt in the middle seat, things get complicated. A child in a booster seat or an adult should NOT ride with just a lap-only belt. If you have a lap-only belt, it will be safer for the child in a booster seat or the adult to sit on the side and use a lap-and-shoulder belt. My child safety seat won't fit securely in the center! What do I do? The most important thing is to use the child safety seat properly. If it does not fit in the center correctly, place it on the side. Or buy a different child safety seat that will fit in the center! Won't my child fly through the front windshield if she sits in the center? As a parent, you have many things to worry about. And many parents worry about this. But as Car Seat Ladies, we are going to tell you NOT TO WORRY! If a child safety seat is used correctly, you don't need to worry about anyone going through the windshield. A properly used child safety seat is belted tightly to the vehicle and the child is strapped in tightly to the harness. The one people who might go through the windshield are those who forgot to wear their safety belts or kids who were very loose in their harness straps. Do I need to be concerned about the fold-down armrest in the center seat? Nope! For those of you who may have heard not to put a rear-facing child safety seat in front of a fold-down armrest, here is how that myth got started. Years ago, one child safety seat manufacturer (Evenflo) slipped this sentence into the instruction manual for all of their rear-facing safety seats: "When this restraint is used rear-facing, DO NOT place it in a seating position with a fold-down armrest. During an impact, the movement of the armrest can cause serious injury or death to your infant." Evenflo was never able to provide even one real-world example where a baby was hurt in a crash because of an armrest. None of the other child safety seat manufacturers ever even thought the arm rest was a problem. In fact, no one in the safety field is even aware of one injury to a rear-facing baby due to the arm rest. Eventually, Evenflo removed this statement from all of their seats and now allows any of their seats to be placed in front of a fold-down armrest. Remember, the study that found that kids are 43% safer in the center was from real-world crashes, with real babies riding rear-facing in front of fold-down armrests. |
