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| The
back seat is safer than the front.
The center belt often works best
for a safety seat. Older children
should use booster seats with lap/shoulder
belts for best protection until
about age 7-8. Some booster seats
got to 100 lbs. |
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| Always
read the car owner's guide for advice
on installing safety seats.
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| Everyone
in this family buckles up. Mother
sits in back beside her baby to
watch and play with him. This car
has a passenger air bag, so the
baby ALWAYS rides in back.
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Does your child
ride in the back seat?
Anyone who rides loose can hurt those who are
buckled up by being thrown against them. People
riding without belts or safety seats can be hurled
out of the car and seriously hurt.
The back seat usually is safer than the front,
because head-on crashes are the most common kind
(A).
There must be one belt for each person. Buckling
two people, even children, into one belt could
injure both. Each child safety seat needs a safety
belt to hold it in place.
If no shoulder belt is available, it’s much safer
for anyone (except small babies who can’t sit
up) to use just a lap belt than to ride loose.
Keep the lap belt low and snug across the thighs.
Other options should be pursued, i.e., having
shoulder belts installed or using harness/vest
devices for children.
Children who have outgrown safety seats are better
protected by lap/shoulder belts than by lap belts
alone. So if several children are riding in back,
and there are shoulder belts there, let the older
ones use the shoulder belts. Put the child riding
in the car seat in the middle where there is only
a lap belt (A).
Infants must ride facing the rear of the car.
In this position, the safety seat cushions the
head and back.
Infants must ride facing the rear of the car,
even if they are out of the driver's view in the
back seat. Parents should feel just as comfortable
in this situation as they do when they put their
babies down for a nap and leave the room. If a
baby has special health needs that require full-time
monitoring, ask another adult to ride with the
baby in the back seat and travel alone as little
as possible.
Always read the instructions that come with the
safety seat. Also read the section on safety belts
and child seat installation in your vehicle owners
manual (A).
Does your car have
an air bag for the front passenger seat? An
infant or child could be seriously injured or
killed by an inflating air bag.
A passenger air
bag can seriously harm a child riding in the
front seat of the car.
Many new cars have
air bags for the right front seat. Air bags
work with lap/shoulder belts to protect teens
and adults. To check if your vehicle has air
bags, look for a warning label on the sun visor
or the letters “SRS” or “SIR” embossed on the
dashboard. The owner's manual will also tell
you.
An inflating passenger
air bag can kill a baby in a rear-facing safety
seat. An air bag also can be hazardous for children
age 12 and under who ride facing forward. This
is especially true if they are not properly
buckled up in a safety seat, booster seat, or
lap and shoulder belt.
In a crash, the
air bag inflates very quickly. It would hit
a rear-facing safety seat hard enough to kill
the baby. Infants must ride in the back seat,
facing the rear (C). Even in the
back seat, do not turn your baby to face forward
until he or she is about one year of age and
weighs at least 20 pounds. Look for a seat that
meets the higher rear-facing weight limit for
heavier babies not yet one year of age.
If there is no
room in back and you have no alternative, a
child over age one who is forward facing may
have to ride in front. Make sure the child is
correctly buckled up for his or her age and
size and that the vehicle seat is moved as far
back as possible. Fasten the harness snugly,
and make sure a child using a lap and shoulder
belt does not lean toward the dashboard. Read
your vehicle owner's guide about the air bags
in your car.
| WARNING:
If the front right seat has an air bag,
a baby in a rear-facing seat must ride
in the back seat. All children age 12
and under should ride in back. |
Remember: One Person
- One Belt
- Never hold a
child on your lap because you could crush
him in a collision. Even if you are using
a safety belt, the child would be torn from
your arms in a crash.
- Never put a
belt around yourself and a child on your lap.
- Two people with
one belt around them could injure each other.
- The cargo area
of a station wagon, van, or pickup is a very
dangerous place for anyone to ride. Anyone
riding in the bed of a pickup truck, even
under a canopy, could be thrown out!
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Home>Installation
Guides> Transportation
Safety Tip #2
