Car Seats

A friend asked to hear more about car seats.  Be ready for a long post, I read a lot!  And also have a friend that is a car seat tech.  And I don't talk much about them at home, it is the topic of many heated discussions with Mr. C.   He wrote a research paper about "that securing a child in a car seat is no "safer" than using a modern lap belt.".  Lets leave it at, he could not find any hard data supporting that.
So I guess I will start with what my kiddos are in.  Mary is 4 and 36ish lbs and is in a Graco Nautilus 5pt harness.  Ryann is 2 1/2, 23 lbs and is in an Alpha Omega convertible seat froward facing.  And Weston is in a Safety First Air , rear facing.  He is 21lbs and 29in tall.  
Next are the facts.  These are not my opinions, they are recommendations and most of them come from  http://www.car-safety.org/faq.html
Car Seat Guidelines:

Rear facing: Children should rear face until AT LEAST one year AND 20lbs. This is the bare minimum and kids are 5X safer when left rear facing until at least 2 years. Many convertible car seats will accommodate a rear facing child until 35-45lbs. Contrary to popular belief, broken legs are not a concern when rear facing. Rear facing convertible car seats can be installed as upright as 30 degrees(35 for the First Years True Fit) to give older children more comfort.

Forward Facing: Children should remain in a 5pt harness as long as possible, until at least age 4 and 40lbs. Research has shown that children are better able to withstand crash forces in a booster after age 5. Also, at that age, children are better able to understand that they need to sit correctly in the booster. Many of the manufacturers say you can place a 3 yr old in a booster, but a real life three year old does not have the capacity to sit correctly 100% of the time. There are many seats out right now that will accommodate longer harnessing.

Booster: Children should remain in a booster until they are approximately 80lbs and 4'9" tall. For most children, this is around age 10-12.

Expiration: Yes, car seats do expire. Some are 6 years from Date of Manufacture(DOM) and some are 7-9 years. Check the manual or the back of the car seat for a date. Also, they expire from the date of manufacture, not the date of first use. They expire for several reasons. The plastic can degrade with temp. extremes, the instructions and others can be missing, they may have been recalled or are broken. No, they don't expire right on the date, but no one really knows when they will fail. The manufacturer will not be held liable if a seat used past the expiration fails. It is not a ploy to get people to buy more car seats. There is a video out there showing a ten year old Britax in a crash and the back is torn out. It is safest to discontinue use of the restraint when it expires.


Straps should be "snug as a hug" You should not be able to pinch any extra fabric in the straps. The chest clip is just that, a chest clip. It should not be down by the belly. It should be armpit level.


Used seats are generally not a good idea, UNLESS you know who it came from and you know the history of the seat.

Car seats should be replaced after a major accident, although some, such as Graco require replacement after ANY crash. Almost all insurance companies will pay to replace them. 


Don't use any after market products like the "Bundle Me"  they will compress in an accident and the baby could slip right out.  Same with winter coats, don't use anything thicker than fleece in a car seat.  Or make sure you pull out any extra , don't let it bunch up under the straps.  


I hope I hit all the main points.  I'm sure if I miss something April will comment :)