Sarah Buhs
Cloquet Area Fire District
Over the last two years I’ve had the opportunity to educate many people about the proper way to install a car seat. The national trend shows that the number of children dying in car crashes has declined by more than half (58 percent) in the last 25 years. This is definitely the direction we want to head towards, but it’s surprising how many people think you can strap a car seat in a drive away safely. Car crashes are still the number one cause of death for children ages 3-14, and four out of five car seats are still installed and used incorrectly.
Before I became a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPS-Tech) I thought I was doing it all correctly also. I read my car’s manual and my car seat’s manual. I admit I was confused but thought I had it figured out. When I took the Public Education Coordinator position for the Cloquet Area Fire District (CAFD) I felt one of the things I needed was to get certified as a Child Passenger Safety Technician. It was a 40-hour class and I walked in that first day thinking this class was going to be a breeze; I have a baby at home, I knew how to use a car seat, what are they going to teach me that I already didn’t know? I learned I was naive about the child passenger safety world. It was disheartening to me that I was using my child’s car seat incorrectly. I was amazed at how much they taught me about child safety seats and how much the small details matter during a crash.
Children are our most precious cargo and as parents we want to keep them safe from injury. When I became a CPS-Tech my mission was to teach and educate as many parents/caregivers/grandparents as I could about car seat use and safety.
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Some of the top common child passenger safety mistakes I see are:
- Turning a child from a rear-facing restraint to a forward-facing restraint too soon. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) now recommends keeping children rear-facing until 2 years old if possible (based on child’s weight and height).
- Restraint is not secured tight enough - it should not shift more than one inch side-to-side or out from the seat.
- Harness on the child is not tight enough - if you can pinch harness material, it’s too loose.
- Retainer clip is up too high or too low - should be at the child’s armpit level.
- The child is in the wrong restraint - don’t rush your child into a seat belt.
- Using LATCH or seatbelts to secure the car seat. Use one or the other, but not both.
- Using LATCH in the backseat center of vehicle. LATCH anchor bars are required to be a specific distance apart. Most vehicles that have LATCH do not have the anchor bars in the center, the mistake people make is using the inner bars from the outboard bar seating position.
- Buying a used car seat - only if you know its full crash history. That means you must buy if from someone you know, not from a thrift store, internet or garage sale.
- Once your seat has been in a crash it needs to be replaced - no exceptions. Check with your insurance company about their seat replacement policy.
- Car seats have an expiration date - That's a fact to which the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) wholeheartedly agrees. Most car seats expire after six years.
- Not using booster seats - Children must ride in a booster seat once they have outgrown a forward-facing harnessed restraint. It’s safest they remain riding in a booster until they are 4 feet 9 inches tall, or at least age 8, it is also the law.
If you have any additional questions or would like your car seat inspected by a CPS-tech call us at 218-499-4258.
Sarah Buhs is the public education coordinator for the Cloquet Area Fire District.
