Picking the correct baby car seat can play a critical role in maintaining the comfort and safety of infants and young children during car travel, as well as providing protection and, quite possibly, life-saving security in the event of an accident.
The Child’s Vital Statistics Must Be Taken into Consideration
It is critical that you choose the appropriate seat in accordance with your child’s age, weight, and height. Typically, infant children are safest riding in rear-facing seats. Toddlers aged two and up are often the safest in forward-facing seats. Older children are usually expected to travel in a booster seat until they are eight years old or meet certain height and weight requirements. Such regulations vary from state to state. In addition, more in-depth regulations might be suggested or mandated by the car company who manufactured your vehicle.
Read Your Vehicle’s Owner’s Manual
In addition to establishing specific height and weight regulations, your car’s owner’s manual will likely also provide information relating to exactly where the child safety seat should be positioned inside the vehicle and instructions regarding the most appropriate method that should be employed for installation.
If you are unclear or confused about how to proceed after perusing through the written guide, you can often receive assistance from Child Passenger Safety (CPS) technicians. Such professionals are government-certified and possess expert knowledge of how to properly install a child safety seat.
Choose a Seat with Two-Piece Retainer Clips
Children are often curious and like to touch and jostle objects surrounding them. Safety seats containing the safety feature known as two-piece retainer clips are difficult for infants, toddlers and especially older, stronger children to accidently unfasten.
Another important thing to do is check to see if the car seat you are considering has been recalled due to potential dangers or failures.
Choosing and installing the appropriate child car safety seat may require you to perform a certain amount of research, partake in comparative shopping, and perhaps employ the services of a trained professional. However, the action is necessary to ensure the well-being of your children or that of other very young people traveling in your vehicle. At Cannon & Dunphy, we work hard to protect families from defective car seats. If your child has been harmed, our Wisconsin product liability attorneys can help.
Call us today to discuss your potential case.