Car Seat Safety Requirements

Car seats protect children and keep them safe in the event of an accident.sleeping in a car image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com

One of the most important, and sometimes stressful, tasks of being a parent is the ability to keep your children safe from harm, particularly while riding in a vehicle. However, the numerous different car seat styles and brands makes it difficult for parents to know which one is suitable for their child's safety needs. Knowing car seat safety requirements can help reduce the stress of buying a car seat.

Age Groups and Car Seat Types

There are car seat styles for every age group. Any child from birth to 1 year old or at least 20 lbs. must be placed in a rear-facing car seat. These car seats can be infant-only seats, used for travel only and may come with a base that stays in the car for easy car seat installation, or a convertible rear-facing seat that can be used as a forward-facing seat once your child has reached the maximum weight and height for the rear-facing seat, according to Healthy Children and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Once an infant has outgrown a rear-facing seat, he should be placed in a forward-facing seat until he's 4 years old and weighs 40 lbs. Most of these seats are available with a five-point harness, the safest type of harness available for children.

Children between the ages of 4 and 8, or up to 4 foot, 9 inches tall, must ride in a booster seat in the back seat of the car, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Healthy Children, a website operated by the American Academy of Pediatrics, suggests that parents need to ensure that the car seat harness is snug, but not too tight, and the harness clip sits mid-chest level on the child. Make sure a car seat is installed in the back seat of a vehicle, rather than the front, to prevent injuries from front-seat airbags. If the airbag activates while a child is in the front seat, they can be seriously injured or die.

Some vehicles, particularly minivans, come with built-in car seats. While these child seats are considered safe, parents should always check the vehicle's owner's manual before placing their child in the seat for a ride. The manual will state the age range, height and weight limits to using the buil-in car seat.

Most of the 50 states require that a child must be in a rear-facing seat up to age 1, a car seat up to age 4 and a booster seat up to age 8. However, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina require that a child needs to ride a booster seat only up to age 6, according to Elite Car Seats. Alabama has the youngest state requirements, asking that children stay in a car seat or booster seat until they're 4 years old.

There are times when car seat requirements can seem confusing. The best rule of thumb to go by is that a child should remain in a rear-facing seat as long as possible. Healthy Children suggests using a seat that can be used in a rear-facing fashion up to higher weights. Look for rear-facing seats that go up to 35 lbs.