Car seat safety: What every parent needs to know

Featured expert

Jessica Lopez, MPH, Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST)

Jessica Lopez is a Community Health Educator specializing in pediatric injury prevention and health and wellness at Rady Children’s Community Education Department. With a strong focus on evidence-based practices, she plays a key role in developing and implementing interventions that promote child safety and health across inpatient, outpatient, and community settings.

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Transcription

Caitlin Whyte (Host): Welcome to Long Live Childhood, A podcast dedicated to pediatric health and wellness, presented by [Rady Children’s Health of Orange County]. I’m Caitlin Whyte. And today I’m thrilled to have Jessica Lopez, a community health educator, joining us as we discuss car seat safety, what every parent needs to know.

Well, Jessica, certainly an important topic we are talking about today. To start us off, what are the key differences between infant carriers, convertibles, and booster seats, and when should parents transition their child from one to the other?

Jessica Lopez, MPH, CPST: So a couple of differences between all of those. Infant carriers are rear facing only car seats that typically come with a detachable base. So infant carriers do offer that portability and convenience as they can be used with strollers as part of a travel system.

And generally just have an easy in and out. This is probably the most common car seat we see newborn infants in. When infants reach the maximum height or weight limit of the infant carrier or when their heads is within an inch of the top of the car seat shell, parents are going to want to transition the infant into the next car seat, which is the convertible. Convertible car seats can be used rear facing for infants and toddlers and then be converted to forward facing. So while these car seats don’t have a base like infant carriers, they can actually be used for newborns as well. Most if not all convertible car seats start at five pounds. Unlike the infant carrier, which typically last parents about six months to maybe a year, if they’re lucky, the convertible offers a longer lifespan.

With convertible car seats, children should stay rear facing until they reach the maximum height and weight limits. After that limit, parents can begin using the convertible seat in forward-facing mode. When the child reaches the forward-facing height and weight limits, it is time to transition.

Booster seats are actually designed to elevate a child in order to position the vehicle seatbelt correctly. So booster seats no longer have that five point harness like infant carriers and convertibles do. They’re just used with that lap and shoulder belt. So typically once a child reaches this stage, the child should remain in a booster until the seatbelt fits properly. There is a five-step test to help parents know when a child can ride without a booster. A common theme is to follow the car seat manufacturer’s recommendations for every transition. We don’t want to prematurely promote children to the next car seat unless they’re really ready to do so.

Host: Well, thank you for those differences, Jessica. Could you explain also the importance of these rear facing car seats and at what age children should transition to forward facing seats?

Jessica Lopez, MPH, CPST: The current recommendation is to rear face for as long as possible. In a car crash, rear facing car seats actually distribute crash force more evenly across children’s bodies and helps avoid the risk of those head, neck, and spinal injuries. California law, only requires children to rear face until age two.

So once they’re two, legally, they can transition to forward facing car seats. However, I do want to note that two years is the absolute minimum requirement, and children could still rear face until they reach the height and weight limits of their rear facing car seat.

Host: And what are the most common mistakes parents make when installing car seats and how can they avoid those?

Jessica Lopez, MPH, CPST: A very common mistake is installing a car seat or infant carrier base too loosely. After installation, grab the seat at the belt path and give it a quick shake. If it moves more than one inch side to side or front to back, tighten it more. Another common mistake is using both the seatbelt and the LATCH system together. Some car seat manufacturers allow both methods, but most do not. So we would recommend to check your car seat manual to see if the car seat allows it.

But one method of installation isn’t safer than the other. I always like to tell parents to go with whatever method they feel most comfortable with and can get a better installation with. And then with forward facing car seats, a very common mistake is to not use the top tether. The top tether actually secures the car seat from the top and reduces that forward head motion in a car crash.

The top tether is a critical part of forward-facing installation. It can make the difference between no injuries, minor injuries, or serious injuries in a crash. As a child passenger safety technician, I anchor the top tether first. This helps ensure I do not forget to use it.

Host: Wonderful. And to wrap us up, Jessica, are there any other tips or tools parents can use to make sure their car seat is as safe as possible?

Jessica Lopez, MPH, CPST: Yeah. Car seat manuals are helpful and provide important information for parents. I highly recommend reading the manual for your specific car seat. Child passenger safety technicians are available throughout Orange County and worldwide. These experts can help parents correctly use and install their car seats.

To find any local child passenger safety technicians, I encourage parents and everyone to visit cert.safekids.org to find the nearest technician to them. Parents, can also go to a free car seat checkup event that are available to the community year round. They can attend these events to get their car seat inspected by a child passenger safety technician or instructor.

During these events, technicians check for recalls and car seat expiration dates. They also check the child’s fit, positioning, and the car seat installation. The goal is to work with parents and the community to ensure every ride is safe. Parents with questions can use NHTSA’s tool called Find the Right Seat. They can just input general information like their child’s age, weight, and height and get recommendations of appropriate car seats for their child. And it compares and contrasts different car seats. So couple of cool tools.

Host: That was Jessica Lopez sharing invaluable insights on car seat safety. For more pediatric health and wellness tips, visit health.choc.org. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it on your social channels and explore our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. I’m Caitlin Whyte, and this is Long Live Childhood, a pediatric health and wellness podcast presented by [Rady Children’s]. Thanks for listening.

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