Anchor a Child Safety Seat

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that people incorrectly install child safety seats as many as 8 times out of 10. To reduce death caused by car accidents, child safety seats and vehicles manufactured after 2002 must have lower anchors and tethers for children (LATCH), but many people need to know how to anchor a child safety seat.

Steps

Rear-Facing Infant Safety Seat

  1. Locate the lower LATCH anchors near the seat belt buckle. You will find these between the back of the seat and the bottom of the seat.
    • Vehicles with the LATCH system may not have a LATCH anchor for every rear seat. Manufacturers typically install LATCH anchors for the window seats in second- or third-row seating. Choose a rear seat with a LATCH anchor for maximum safety.
  2. Place the infant car seat backward in one of the vehicle's rear seats.
  3. Stabilize the safety seat or base to lie at approximately a 45-degree angle to the bottom of the vehicle's seat. Some vehicles have an angle adjuster to fill gaps between a safety seat and the vehicle's seat.
    • If your car doesn't have an angle adjuster, you may want to use something to help stabilize the child safety seat. "A Quick Guide for Infant and Toddler Seats" by Joanne Helperin suggests you wedge a piece of swimming pool noodle into to the gap to support the safety seat and prevent it from slipping.
  4. Attach the hooks on the ends of the child safety seat's LATCH connector belts extending from the bottom of the safety seat on both sides. Listen for the click. To ensure the connector belt straps are as tight as possible, put your weight into the child safety seat and tighten any slack. You can do this by putting one knee in the seat.

Forward-Facing Child Safety Seat

  1. Position the toddler, convertible or booster safety seat in one of the vehicle's rear seats. Choose a rear seat with a LATCH anchor for maximum safety.
  2. Hook the safety seat's connector belt clips to the vehicle's LATCH anchors. Put weight on the safety seat and tighten the connector belts.
  3. Connect the tether on the safety seat to the tether anchor on the vehicle. The tether should be the longest strap.
    • The vehicle's tether anchor can be in one of several locations depending on your make and model. Check behind or under the seat, along the rear window shelf, on the floor of the cargo bay or in the ceiling.
  4. Pull the tether belt tight to remove slack.

Tips

  • Your owner's manual has specific safety seat installation instructions for your vehicle's make and model.
  • Forward-facing safety seats are only for children older than one year of age who generally weigh more than 22 pounds (10kg).
  • It is helpful to rock your body weight back and forth or bounce up and down to get a tighter fit for the safety seat. If you are able to move the safety seat more than 1 inch (2.5cm) from side to side, then you need to find a way to tighten the safety seat straps.
  • Infant car seats do not normally require the top tether anchor.
  • Schedule an appointment with your local police or fire department to confirm how to anchor a child safety seat properly.

Warnings

  • Never place a child's safety seat in a front-row seat that has passenger-side airbags. A deployed airbag poses potentially fatal harm to a child in a safety seat.
  • It's not safe to anchor multiple tethers to the same point.

Things You'll Need

  • Swimming pool noodle
  • Vehicle owner's manual

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