Car Seats

Buckling up the right way on every ride is the single most important thing a family can do to stay safe in the car. But finding the safest way for each member of the family to ride can be confusing if you don’t have the right information. 

• State Law Lookup
• Injury Trends Fact Sheet
• Parents Central (from National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration) 
• Air Bags and Children
• Disposing of expired/retired car seats   

Extended Rear Facing

• Rear Face past 2 yrs of age? What about their legs?
• Why Rear Facing: the Science Junkie’s Guide  
• How to tell if your RF seat has been outgrown 
• Choosing the Right Type of Restraint
• Rear-Facing As Long As Possible: American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends rear-facing to a minimum of 2 years…. however, that doesn’t mean you can’t rear-face past 2 years- in fact, it’s encouraged!!  (thanks DrMomma) 
• The Basics of Rear Facing 
• Rear Facing Car Seat Myths Busted
• More rear facing 
• Are You Turning Your Child Forward Facing Too Soon (video)  

Choosing a Seat

• Car Seat Types/Styles (definitions via photos and description)
• Purchasing Tips
• Choosing The Right Type of Seat
• Seat Recall List
• Booster Seat Evaluation 
• Recommended car seats

INSTALLATION

• Car Seat Inspection- Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of kids. Why? In many cases, children are either not properly buckled into their safety seats or parents don’t realize that a booster seat is vital to ensuring children fit safely in their vehicle’s seat belt. Don’t take a chance. Have your child’s safety seat inspected!

• Installation Tips
• How to lock in a child restraint/how to use a locking clip
• To Use or Not To Use, A Used Child Restraint (checklist)
• About LATCH systems
• More LATCH

INSTALLATION VIDEOS

• Instructional Videos
• More installation videos
• Overview (watch first): all children Rear-facing: infants and young children Forward-facing: children who have outgrown their rear-facing seats Booster seats: children who have outgrown their forward-facing seats Adult belts: older children

SAFETY VIDEOS

• Busytown car seat safety video (targeted at children- uses Busytown cartoon)
• Importance of proper forward-facing child restraint installation
• Simulation of 9 month old Rearfacing vs. forward facing
• Simulation of 6 yr in booster vs just seat belt
• Belt positioning booster seats (from AAA)
• Simulation video of preschooler in 35 mph crash with booster seat and without

What happens in an accident videos

• Video 1: seat appears fairly tight in vehicle, kid appears fairly tight in seat, yet see  how much richochet there is…

• Video 2:  look at how much the car seat on the passenger side, itself  moves…

• Video 3

• Video 4: watch how much the kid flies forward in the seat- imagine how much less that  would be if they were buckled in tighter, properly.. at least the seat is  fastened tighter to the car!! 

• Video 5 

• Video 6

• Video 7

• Video 8: notice it talks about correct angle, correct placement of harness, putting the  handle down

GROUPS/REFERENCE/SOURCES

• Safe Kids Elkhart Co (FB)
• Safe Kids Kosciusko Co (FB)
• Safe Kids- USA (FB)
• Safe Kids Worldwide

• Car Seats for the Littles (FB)
• Car Seats For The Littles (YouTube)

• The Car Seat Lady
• The Car Seat Lady (FB)
• The Car Seat Lady (YouTube)

• Carseat.org
• Car Seat.org (FB)

• Car Seat Safety (FB)

• National Child Passenger Safety Board (FB)

• CPSafety

• Seat Check Useful links

American Academy of Pediatrics App for car seat selection/installation