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How to Share Car Seats Between Parents

by Leslie Penkunas

Overview

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that the leading cause of death for young children and adolescents is motor vehicle crashes. Parents and caregivers provide safety measures for their children by using infant or child safety seats. Some parents opt to install the appropriate safety seat in each car they own; others choose to share the safety seat, switching it out of one car and into the other as needed. When sharing a child's car seat, parents should consider many safety and convenience factors.

Step 1

Determine which child safety seat you require, based upon your child's age and weight: An infant should be in a rear-facing safety seat until he is at least one year of age and 20 pounds. There are two types of rear-facing safety seats: an infant car seat and a convertible (from rear to forward-facing) car seat. A child should ride in a forward-facing car seat until the age of five. Children older than 5 should use a booster seat until they are at least 57 inches tall and 65 pounds.
Step 2

Review the owner's manuals for your vehicles for specific instructions for infant or convertible safety seat installation. Vehicles manufactured after September 2002 have LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) systems.
Step 3

Use your vehicle's LATCH system by attaching the lower and upper anchor straps of the safety seat to the vehicle's metal anchor rings located, respectively, in the vehicle's seat crack and behind the upper portion of each seat.
Step 4

Install a safety seat in a vehicle without a LATCH system by threading the vehicle's seat belt through the base of the safety seat. Then tighten it.
Step 5

Practice installing the safety seat in each car. Always install it in the back seat. Infant safety seats should be in the middle back seat if possible.
Step 6

Test to see how securely you have installed the safety seat. If you can move the safety seat more than 1 inch from side to side or front to back, you will need to tighten it.
Step 7

Test how securely the seat has been installed after each installation before placing your child in it.

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Appropriate car seat Vehicles' owner's manuals
Appropriate car seat
Vehicles' owner's manuals
Consider attending a car seat installation workshop offered by most major hospitals as well as many fire stations and large baby supply stores. For infant car seats, consider purchasing an extra base to install in the other parent's car so that only the carrier itself will have to be clicked into place when switching cars. Booster seats are not installed into a car's restraint system; they provide a boost to a child's height, enabling the lap and shoulder restraints to fit over the child properly. These are the easiest safety seats to transfer between cars. Do not rush installation of the safety seat.
Consider attending a car seat installation workshop offered by most major hospitals as well as many fire stations and large baby supply stores.
For infant car seats, consider purchasing an extra base to install in the other parent's car so that only the carrier itself will have to be clicked into place when switching cars.
Booster seats are not installed into a car's restraint system; they provide a boost to a child's height, enabling the lap and shoulder restraints to fit over the child properly. These are the easiest safety seats to transfer between cars.
Do not rush installation of the safety seat.
Between 2003 and 2007, more than 43,000 infants in the U.S. were taken to emergency rooms due to injuries caused by falls or roll-overs in infant car seats which were placed on top of tables or on beds or sofas. To avoid possible injury, never leave your child alone in an infant car seat unattended.
Between 2003 and 2007, more than 43,000 infants in the U.S. were taken to emergency rooms due to injuries caused by falls or roll-overs in infant car seats which were placed on top of tables or on beds or sofas. To avoid possible injury, never leave your child alone in an infant car seat unattended.