Are the child safety seats in your car installed correctly?

It's trickier than you think; my vehicle failed the test!

BENTON COUNTY - Statistics show that more than 80 percent of child safety seats are not correctly installed.

My husband and I are both extremely picky about car seats. We check up on each other and scold, “It’s not tight enough.” So after looking at the statistics, I began to wonder, are our children’s car seats really installed correctly?

I became obsessed with car-seat safety when my oldest child was born.

I was nearly killed in a car accident at the age of 18 and my best friend and two of my cousins lost their lives in car crashes over the years. Driving is one of the most dangerous things we do, and we do it every day.

So when I looked down at the tiny bundle in my arms and realized how delicate and helpless she was, I wanted to do everything I could to keep her safe.

The Experiment

Six years later, my family has grown to three children and I have installed and reinstalled all types of child safety seats in a number of vehicles, seemingly hundreds of times. I have done a considerable amount of research and even wrote several columns on car seat safety. I wanted to find out if I was one of the 20 percent that get it right. And if not, what were my mistakes.

Benton County Public Information Officer Doug Gay and Training Sergeant Tom See took the time to inspect my car and explain some of the essentials about child safety seats. They are both not only certified technicians, but also instructors who teach other law enforcement officers to become technicians.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office has about a dozen deputies and one civilian that are trained as child safety seat technicians, including bilingual deputies, according to Deputy Gay. They also provide free car seats to the public, thanks to grant money.

In order to become technicians, law enforcement officers take an intensive five-day class. While parents are faced with learning about one make of car and one kind of child safety seat, technicians have to learn about all makes and models of cars and child safety seats. They do a lot of practical and hands-on work in addition to textbook learning.

So how did my three car seats stack up to the inspection? I failed the test. I am one of the 80 percent who have my child safety seats improperly installed.

The Results

My vehicle offered Deputy Gay and Sergeant See a good sample of car seats since my three children range from school age to toddler.

Safety Seat: Convertible from rear facing to front facing for an 18-month-old child weighing 30 pounds.

Findings: This car seat had several issues. As soon as the deputies opened the car door and spotted the Mighty Tight ratchet I used to keep the car seat firmly in place, they exchanged a knowing look. As all parents have found, it can be very difficult to getcar seats tight enough. My manual says that the car seat should not be able to move in any direction more than one inch.

Although after-market ratchet devices like the one I was using may seem like a good idea, they are not crash tested, so nobody reallyknows if they can withstand the forces of a crash, Sergeant See explained. Also, using the ratchet to lock the car seat in as tightly as possible can actually damage the seat,Deputy Gay said.

Deputy Gay showed me how to properly tighten the seat by putting one knee in the seat while pulling on the latch device or seat belt. The result was a car seat anchored firmly in place.

The second issue was that the seat was a hand-medown from my oldest child. Car seats more than 5 years old should not be used, and her seat was exactly 5 years old. Not only have some of the components been replaced with newer and better technology, but sun and heat in the car can damage the seat over time and make it more likely to fail in a crash. Sergeant See said many parents use car seats that are hand-me-downs or bought at garage sales. Used seats can be risky. They should be inspected by a technician for damage, in case they were involved in a crash. Parents should also check a recall list, like the one on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site, to make sure the seats haven’t been recalled.

Safety Seat: Forward facing seat for a 4-year-old child weighing 50 pounds.

Findings: This seat is designed to be used as a forward-facing car seat and then a booster seat. It was basically installed correctly, although not quite tight enough. My middle child is right at a transitional age. Arkansas law requires that children must be in a car seat until they are at least 4 years old and 40 pounds. Then they can move into a booster seat. While it’s a good idea to keep children in a five-point harness as long as possible, the car seat manufacturer’s recommendation’s are really what dictate how long they can be kept in the harness, Deputy Gay said. Sergeant See read the fine print on my son's seat and discovered that it is only to be used as acar seat for children under 40 pounds. For heavier children, it is designed to be used as a booster seat.

The web harness straps are not the issue, they are extremely strong, but the plastic housing around them is what may not hold under the forces of a crash, DeputyGay said.

Safety Seat: Booster seat used for a 6-year-old child weighing 60 pounds.

Findings: I finally got something right! The only comment the deputies made on this seat is that my oldest child is big enough that we could take the back off of her booster seat if it made her more comfortable. Arkansas law requires children to be in a booster seat until they are 6 years old and 60 pounds, but the NHTSA recommends that booster seats be used until a child is 8 years old or 4 foot, 9 inches tall.

Booster seats not only keep the shoulder and belt straps properly positioned on a child, but help the child’s knees bend at the proper place, Deputy Gay explained. A child sitting in an adult seat has their legs out straight and in a crash hitting the seat in front of them with straight legs could cause a lot of injury to the pelvis and legs, he said.

Fixing Common Mistakes

I am certainly not alone in my mistakes. The single most common mistake people make is not using a car seat at all, Sergeant See said. The second is using the wrong type of seat for the child’s age and weight. Thirdly are those that fall into the category of having the seats improperly installed, he said.

Both car seat owner’s manuals and vehicle owner’s manuals have detailed instructions for installing car seats.

“First read the owner’s manual for the child seat, second read the owner’s manual for the vehicle, and if you have any questions beyond that, contact a technician,” Sergeant See said.

But for people like me, who have read and obsessed over the manuals and think they have it right, I would still recommend contacting a technician to make sure.

The Force of a Crash

Forces in a crash increase exponentially by the formula “speed x weight = force,” Deputy Gay said. That meansthat if a car traveling 30 miles per hour crashed into a fixed object, a 10 pound baby would become a 300 pound force. Using Deputy Gay’s formula, my 6-year-old’s 60 pounds would become a 3,900 pound force at interstate highway speeds of 65 miles per hour.

With those numbers in mind, it’s not surprising that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14 years of age, according to the NHTSA . The good news is the organization’s statistics also show that child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars.

Resources

Arkansas law requires that children younger than six years of age and weighing less than 60 pounds must be restrained in approved safety seats. Parents can be issued citations, or in extreme cases even charged with child endangerment, depending on the circumstances.

Benton County is not so much about writing tickets as about educating the public, according to Deputy Gay.

“If we’re going to charge people, we’re also going to have to educate them and help make it right,” he said. It seems to me the goal is to make children’s lives safer, not to punish parents.

Parents can stop by or call the Benton County Sheriff’s Office to have their child safety seats inspected for free, and child safety seats are provided at no charge if needed. The Sheriff’s Office is also planning a child safety seat day at the Pleasant Grove Walmart in Rogers on March 19, 2011, where free inspections will be conducted and safety seats will be given out.

Parents can reach the Benton County Sheriff’s Office at 479-271-1008 for more information. There are also a number of good resources online. Deputy Gay recommended the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site, www.nhtsa. gov, and Safe Kids Worldwide at www.safekids.org.

News, Pages 11 on 12/01/2010