Properly Installing Child Safety Seats
Properly installing Child Safety Seats is crucial to ensuring your child's safety just like ensuring you have proper insurance coverage. If you are transporting a child under the age of 3 they must be sitting in a protective Child Safety Seat if you wish to have them in a moving vehicle. In order to ensure they are safe in the seat you will want to make sure it is installed properly. The following guide should help you do that.
The Lowdown on Safety Seats
The first thing you will need to do is buy a Child Safety Seat. While generally it is advisable to buy one brand new, some second hand seats may still be O.K. if you are looking to save money. It is, however, strongly cautioned that you only buy a second hand seat from someone you know and trust as a Child Safety Seat can be damaged without showing any outwards signs. For the most part seats begin to lose their effectiveness after about five years due to general wear and tear so, wherever you get your seat from, make sure it is younger than that.
When you go to install the seat the main thing to keep in mind is tightness. You want the seat to be as tight and secure to the back seat of your car as it possibly can be. Use the weight of your body in order to keep it in place as you do this. Then you can take the tether strap at the rear of the seat and hook them onto the anchorage system of your car. As you hook it in make sure the tether is not twisted or slack in any part.
Every time that you put your child in the seat you should double check that the tethers are still tight and straight. If these straps are bent out of shape in any way it can cause your child serious discomfort and if they are loose they can be extremely unsafe. These are the straps that really keep the seat in place so don't take any chances with them.
You might also find your Safety Seat has locking clips to be slotted into your car's seatbelt buckles. These are not standard on every Child Seat but are becoming more popular and are great as an extra safety precaution. If you do have them, lock them into the buckles for the middle seat of your car.
Once the seat is in place you can thread the harness belts through the harness slots at the back of the car. As long as the seat is in tight and the slots have been aligned properly, the belts should come through pretty easily. Like the tethers, make sure the harness doesn't twist or fold at any point in the process.
When you are placing you child into their seat, always make sure there is no more than a single finger of space between their harness and their collarbone. Also you want to adjust the chest clip so as it lies flat against your child's chest at armpit level. Note as well that your Child Safety Seat should not be aligned near an airbag.
Properly installing Child Safety Seats is an important part of making sure your children are safe when you travel by car. There is no point in having a safety seat if it is not properly installed. By following this simple, easy to use process and regularly checking tethers and harnesses for tightness you can ensure that your children remain protected at all times.