Car Seat Safety

The middle is safest, I'm assuming that your 4 mo. old is still rear facing though!

Hi I.,
I had to take a car seat class becuse I have a home daycare. I learned that the latch is just a diffrent way to strap the car seat in. It's not better just diffrent. The middle is the safest place but it's not always the easiest place to secure it. We also learned that infants should be rear facing until they are one and twenty pounds. It was a pretty cool class. I learned a lot.

The middle of the car with the latch system is the safest. My car has the latch system and my car seat sits in the middle. You should be able to connect to the latch system on the passenger side and the driver side of the back seat so the car seat can sit in the middle of car. If you have trouble figuring it out, make an appointment with the local police department to have your car seat checked and they can show you. I hope this helps.

You have to do what works best for you car. Not every car seat or every installation will work best in your car.
LATCH is just a different, supposedly easier, way to install a carseat. The seatbelts work too, so if you feel your child is safter in the middle, then use the seatbelt to hook her seat into the middle. If you cna't get it tight enough in the middle, then move it to the outside seat, and use the LATCH.

Fire departments, hospitals, and police departments all have carseat safety, they will help you install the seat and answer any questions you may have. Make sure you are being helped by a certified carseat technician, not just anyone.

As long as your baby is in a rear facing 5 point harness until past her first birthday, she will be safe!

Also, had to comment on the youtube video posted above. While its extremely sad, I see a few things wrong with the video itself. First off that little boy should have never been in a belted booster, but that is the point of the video. Secondly, in one of the first pics it shows him and his sister in thier belted boosters, and there are HUGE pieces of foam under the seat fabric under thier butts, thats not right and very dangerous. Also, I highly doubt the car seatbelts failed, I'm willing to bet taht little boy was allowed to hook his own seatbelt and he didn't get it hooked all the way.
I'm not trying to downplay the video, but it really created a mass hysteria over carseats. Some of it good, got out the word about belted boosters and young children, but I think it doesn't tell the whole story.

ANYWAY, as long as your daughter is properly restrained in a rear facing 5 point harness carseat that is tighly installed in your car, she is safe!

When we had our first son the latch system was not out and our car did not have a tether restraint, I don;t know if you middle seat has one but we bought the tether latch at a hardware store, you might be able to get one at babiesrus. You bolt the latch right into the back dash of the car securing it to the frame of the car and your seat should have a long tether that attaches to it. I think contacting your local fire dept. like many people said is your best bet, they will have the most recent and consistent information. I personally prefer the middle as long as you have that tether latch installed correctly but that is just a matter of opinion, we have 3 in car seats now so I obviously can't put them all in the middle.
Good luck
K. h

I did some looking around and this is what I found. Here is the link. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/csr2001/cs...

Usually if a car has the latch system, there will be a place to tether the seat in the middle. It's ideal to use the latch system, but I wouldn't put the seat on the side of the car. Also, make sure the convertible seat is one that can be rear-facing. We had to do the same thing with my son about the same time, and the only thing I regretted was that I couldn't just grab the seat and go when he was sleeping. You definitely want to keep your daughter in the middle of the seat and rear facing until she's at least a year old.

they have car seat technitions at my health department who showed me the proper way to put a car seat in my car.check there or a car dealership!

The middle of the car is always safer. We found, however, that when we switched our son out of the infant carrier that the middle seatbelt just didn't hold the convertible car seat in tight enough. So, we moved the car seat to the side. We just switched the car seat to face forward when he turned 1 yr., and moved it back to the middle.

If you're at all close to Eagan, the Eagan Police Department has a person who will go through your car seat installation with you. That's what we did, which is why I at least halfway know what I'm doing! You just have to call & make an appointment.

Hi I.,

I have an anal-retentive engineer stepfather (who is a doting grandfather to my son). All his meticulous research on car seats indicated that the latch system was the safest. Also, the position furthest away from the driver's seat was safest. This would mean the right rear of the car. That's where we've had my son's seat and it's been fine. Good luck!

I would keep her in the middle. The LATCH system was designed to make correct car seat installation easier, not necessarily safer (although the top tether is helpful when FF'ing, but when RF'ing few seats are able to use it). I've seen studies showing that the LATCH failure rate is greater than the seatbelt failure rate.

I. -

We had the same issue. I actually ended up taking my car and car seat into a service that installs and checks them for you. The person who installed ours said that the latch system is the safest - although the ideal situation would be to have the latch in the middle.

T.

I'm a little behind in my responses so I apologize if I'm repeating what other moms have said.
You can put your car seat in the middle and use the LATCH system. Just use the two latchs on either side. I know it seems like they are positioned for the side seats but I think the mfg's were trying to save space and money by only putting 4 hook supports instead of 6. The safest place is by far the middle for your little one.

They always say the middle of the back seat is the safest.

I only have the latch/anchors on the side seats and not the middle. I choose using the latch/anchors(side seats) over middle because her carseat is super duper tight and secure. The middle is safer for a accident in which you are t-boned but if you can't get the carseat safe and tight in the middle you have to weigh out your options. Seatbelts can and do fail! I doubt two anchors and a latch would ALL fail. Watch this video... I had it emailed to me and it broke my heart watching it and I learned alot and have more appreciation and thought into buckeling up my own kid. It's a sad story about a 3 yr. old who was properly belted in but his seat belt failed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

If I were to use my middle seat I coulnd't get the carseat in as tight and secure and when we have company or another child to get in the back there is no room. So I have chosen the passenger side in the back and I can easily look and help my daughter out because she's in my view better.

I would contact your local fire department for further advisement. They are a great resource.