Putting child car seats in correctly can be tricky, and even the top-rated ones often get installed wrongly.
This is according to a study in the Traffic Injury Prevention journal.
Although the seats that are easiest to use get fewer mistakes, there is still a need for more effort to make sure that children are safe in cars.
When used properly, child car seats can reduce the chance of getting hurt in a crash by 50% to 85%. However, if they’re not used right, this benefit can be lost.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a rating system that helps people pick the best car seat.
This system rates the seats from one to five stars, based on how easy they are to use.
There are experts called child passenger safety technicians who can help answer questions about how to install and use car seats. The NHTSA website lets you find one near you.
“New parents usually learn how to put in a car seat before their baby is born.
But, it would be good if they also used the available resources after the baby is born, especially when moving from an infant carrier to a rear-facing car seat, and then again when switching to a forward-facing seat,” said Dr. Michelle Macy, the lead author of the study.
Dr. Macy and her team looked at data from Safe Kids Illinois and the EOU ratings.
They found that mistakes were most common when car seats were installed with seat belts (70%) and least common with recline angle (37%).
One error that was found half the time, even with the best-rated car seats, was to do with the top tether on forward-facing car seats.
This is a strap that needs to be attached to a point in the car. Often parents either don’t attach it or attach it in the wrong place.
Dr. Macy said that while parents can trust the car seat rating system, they should know that mistakes can still happen, even with the top-rated car seats. She suggested that parents get help from a certified technician to make sure their child is safe in the car.
Dr. Macy is a part of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where they are committed to improving children’s health through research.
They are a nonprofit organization that aims to give exceptional care to all children. They’re also one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
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Source: KSR.
