Summer driving season is just around the corner. So if you’re planning on getting out of town with the family, you’ll want to make sure that the child car seats in your vehicle are installed properly.
Toronto police held a spring car seat clinic on Tuesday, May 15 in Scarborough to help parents make sure their kids are safely secured in the car. You can find some of their tips here.
Various surveys and clinics like this one consistently find that there are issues with the way most child car seats are installed.
Among the most common errors cited:
- The seat is not properly secured in the vehicle.
- Tethers not used correctly, or used at all.
- The shoulder harness is in the incorrect slot of the child seat.
- The child is in the wrong type of seat for his or her height, weight and age.
There are three main types of seats used to secure infants and young children in cars.
Rear-facing infant seats
These are designed for children under a year old. They’re held in place by the car’s seat belts as well as a metal latch that hooks to the car. The seat is designed to protect an infant from birth to 10 kg. Canadian standards for infant seats were upgraded on Jan. 1, 2012 requiring seats accomodate children up to 10 kg instead of nine kg.
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Convertible seats
These are designed to be used as both an infant car seat as a well as a car seat for a toddler and older child. They can be used either as rear-facing or forward-facing. Once the infant is old enough – usually around 12 months – the seat is converted to a forward-facing seat. The seats come with five-point harnesses. This type of seat is designed to be used until the child reaches about 20 kg.
Booster seats
It’s now recommended that children move to booster seats after they weigh about 40 kg – at around 4-and-a-half-years of age. They should remain in the booster seat while in the car until around the age of eight.
Seat belts are designed to be used by adults who weigh around 75 kg. If a young child is secured in the car with a seatbelt, the lap belt tends to ride up on the abdomen. The shoulder belt can cut across the face or neck. This can result in injury during sudden stops and crashes.
Booster seats – which are held in place by the seatbelt – were designed to correct this problem for most children.
Car seat laws are a provincial matter. In Ontario, children are required to ride in the back seat until they reach the age of 12.
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