How to Install a Car Seat
Unwrapping a new car seat can bring so much excitement— and so many questions! Here are our top three things to know about installing a new car seat.
That postcard attached to the car seat is not trash. Don’t throw it out! You want to fill in the contact information and slip it into your outgoing mail so that if there is ever a recall on your child’s car seat, the manufacturer will be able to contact you and let you know. If you don’t fill this out, you could be missing out on valuable information, potentially endangering your sweet babe. If you’re thinking, “Oh no, I tossed that long ago!” Fear not! You can find the manufacture date and model number on a small white sticker on your seat (likely on the back or bottom of the seat) and register your seat on the manufacturer’s website.
If you have any questions, we’re here to help.No, the manufacturer didn’t give your baby their first book. That’s the manual! It has every piece of information you need to know about your child car seat—although it isn’t the most riveting piece of literature, and it might be confusing to read. Plus, it’s not the only tiny book you should read through before installing your child’s car seat.
Did you know that your vehicle’s manual has an entire section devoted to car seats? It does! By reading and cross-referencing these two documents, you will have all the info you need to install your child’s car seat properly.
If “reading and cross-referencing” already has you running and crossing your arms, fear not. We’re here to help.There’s no easy way to put this last tip, so here goes: properly installing your child’s car seat all comes down to selection, direction, location, harnesing, and installation.
Selection: which seat will work best for your child’s and your needs? Do you have a budget to consider? Do you want a seat that can move between multiple vehicles and lock into a stroller or do you want a seat that stays in the car all the time? Do you need to fit multiple car seats on the same row? There is plenty to consider when selecting a seat for your child—that’s part of the reason there are so many car seat options out there! Don’t let it overwhelm you. We’re here to help.
Direction: Which direction does your child’s seat need to face? There are plenty of rear-facing and forward-facing options on the market; some seats that are either/or and some that do both! If you have a seat that works both ways, please be sure you’re threading the seat belt or lower anchor webbing through the correct belt path. Not sure what a belt path is, let alone which one you should be using? Good news— we know, and we’re here to help!
Location: We’re not talking about your home address or where you last “checked in” on social media. This is the part where you will read the vehicle manual to see which seating positions allow for the type of installation you’re planning to utilize. You’ll also consider the other occupants of your vehicle and make sure your child’s seat plays nice with others. Too many people have “heard someone say” the center is safest, but that’s not automatically true. In fact, some vehicle are not designed for car seats to fit in the center seating position at all. We also don’t want your child’s car seat touching the vehicle seat in the row in front of them—unless it’s a seat manufactured by the Dorel Juvenile Group.Ugh! There’s so much to know about car seat. You don’t need to know it all, you just need to know us. We’re here to help!
Harnessing: Your child’s harnesses or seatbelt are crucial for their overall safety when they are traveling in a motor vehicle. For rear-facing passengers, make sure harness straps come from at or just below the top of their shoulders. For forward-facing passengers, make sure harness straps come from at or just above the top of their shoulders. If any of that was confusing, don’t worry. You can call us. We’re here to help.
Installation: Remember back when we said you should read and cross-reference both the car seat and vehicle manuals? Here’s where that will really come in handy.
When installing your child’s car seat or booster seat, will you use the seat belt? Or will you use the LATCH system? Or perhaps you’ll only use the lower anchors. But wait, if one safety restraint is safe, is two safer?? The answers to all of these questions will be in your manuals, however we know how quickly it can get confusing when one manual says one thing and the other seems to say something completely different. By now, you probably know what we’re going to say; don’t stress…we’ve got you.
We have been doing car seats for a long time. We’ve met with hundreds of families and can still count on our hands the number of perfect installations we’ve seen roll up to appointments. Your ability to correctly install your child’s car seat has no correlation to how much you love your child. (Feel free to read that last line again.)
Car seats seem so simple, and in a lot of ways, they are. But they are also incredibly complicated. Before you pour a lot of your precious time into reading and deciphering your car seat and vehicle manuals, take a breath and remind yourself that you are doing an amazing job. Then do yourself a favor and book an appointment with us. Let one of our highly trained, certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST) show you how to ensure your most precious cargo is as protected as possible when riding around in a vehicle.
Car Seat Concierge. Protecting your most precious cargo.