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The back seat is the safest place for a child to be. It is estimated that children ages 12 and under are 36 percent less likely to die in a crash if they are in the back seat.

Accept a used child car seat with caution. Never accept a seat that was in a crash (even if it looks OK). Avoid seats with obvious wear and tear, missing parts or lacking the manufacturer’s date and model number (you’ll have no way to know about recalls). Also, check the seat for the manufacturer’s recommended “expiration date.”

To make sure your child is properly secured in their seat every time they ride in your vehicle, follow these car seat guidelines:

Fitting Infants and Toddlers

The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends keeping children in a rear-facing car seat as long as possible, up to the limits of their care safety seat. This will include virtually all children under 2 years of age and most children up to age 4. Your child is 75% less likely to have a serious injury in a crash if he or she is rear-facing.

When a child has outgrown the rear-facing limits, you can turn the child around to forward-facing. The AAP guidelines state that children stay in a child safety seat until at least age four or until he or she outgrows it by either height or weight.

With both the rear-facing and forward-facing car seats, be sure your child is buckled correctly every time: harness straps untwisted, the chest clip positioned at armpit level, and the harness secured properly into the buckle.

Finding the Right Car Seat

Booster seats are ideal for older children who haven’t grown enough to safely use the vehicle seat belts yet but have outgrown their forward-facing car seats.

Wearing Seatbelts

Kids can start wearing a regular seatbelt when they can easily rest their back against the seat of the car and bend their knees over the edge of the seat. Usually, this happens when kids are 8-12 years old and around 4-foot-9. Make sure the lap belt fits comfortably across the thighs (not the stomach) and that your child is not slouching. The shoulder strap should go across the chest and shoulder, and never goes beneath a child's arm, behind the back, or across the neck. Seatbelts must be worn correctly for them to work properly.