Child Passenger Safety Week: Sept. 18-Sept. 24

Child Passenger Safety Week is celebrated every year to remind parents and other caregivers of the need to keep children of all ages properly restrained in the seat that meets their weight and height requirements.

Children grow at different rates and restraints should be checked frequently to ensure safety.
Families are urged to have their child seat checked to be sure they are using the right restraint: a car seat, booster seat or seat belt. When it comes to the safety of a child, there is no room for mistakes.
To make sure you are securing your children correctly, find a safety seat checkup event near you. A calendar of upcoming events is on this website.

Parents and caregivers should follow a few basic guidelines to determine which restraint system is best suited to protect their children in a vehicle:

Top Child Passenger Safety Tips

For the best possible protection keep infants in a back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible—up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. Never turn a child forward-facing before age 1 and at least 20 pounds, although keeping kids rear-facing until at least age 2 is safer and preferred if the seat allows.

When children outgrow their rear-facing seats, they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in a back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular harnessed seat. Many newer seats exceed the old 40 pound weight limit.

Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats, they should ride in booster seats, in a back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly.

Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt rests on the shoulder or collar bone (usually when the child is between 8 and 12 years old, approximately 4’9” tall and 80 to 100 pounds).