Recent Articles on Child Safety Seats

2006 Child Safety Car Seat Ease of Use Ratings

The National Highway Transportation Safety Association program strives to prompt car seat manufacturers to improve their products and make them easier for consumers to use.

The purpose of the ratings program is to educate parents and caregivers about child safety seat features and to assist them in finding the appropriate child safety car seat for their needs. This comprehensive spread sheet should assist parents making car seat choices. Unfortunately, this list only rates ease of use not actual safety of product.

Study Says LATCH Car Seat System Confusing

On December 22, 2006 the NHTSA released a study that says the current LATCH car restraint system (car seats) was still too confusing. LATCH means (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children). LATCH is a technology designed to better secure child safety seats to vehicles. LATCH was created to simply child car seat installation but that's not the case.

The study found that 40 percent of parents still rely on the vehicles' seat belts when installing their car seat. It also indicated many parents are unaware of the existence of or the importance of the tethers when securing the car seat to the vehicle and only 55 percent of parents use the top tether.
The goal is to better make LATCH devices safer and easier to use.

Car Seat Safety 101 - Put the Fleece Away

The South Jersey Traffic Safety Alliance has issued a statement encouraging people to be careful when using fleece covers for infant car seats. Adding material under the child or between the child and the safety belt system of the car seat can cause slack in the belt system, possibly allowing the child to be injured or ejected in a crash.

Parents are recommended to read the car seat manual to determine what, if any, items may be used with the car seat. The Safety Alliances also advises to dress the baby in three to four thin tight layers instead of a bulky coat.