I think this frustrates me more then a lot of other things. You always hear about car seats being installed incorrectly but I see a lot of kids buckled improperly!! This is so unsafe. Not only can they get their little arms out of the straps but if you were to be in a car wreck your child could get ejected out of the car seat no matter how correctly that car seat is installed.
I just don’t understand how parents can buckle their kids into these car seats and not TIGHTEN the straps or put the chest clip in the correct position…. it’s no rocket science, it’s common sense! People spend all this money on these fancy car seats only to not strap their child in correctly. I mean it doesn’t matter how much money you spend on a car seat because if it’s not buckled right it’s not going to save your child’s life!!
It’s a hard thing too. I mean whether you know the person or not(I just saw a photo online) it’s hard to point out that their child is incorrectly buckled in. You don’t want to insult their parenting by pointing out they don’t know how to buckle in their child but you also want their children to be safe…. hard call.
The two things I see all the time are the straps are way too loose and the chest buckle is way too low! I know there are the pads on the straps above the chest clip but those are to keep the straps from cutting into your child’s neck, they won’t do any good on your child’s chest, that is where the clip goes!! Push those bad boys up to the top of the straps against the car seat and push that buckle up to their arm pits. And if you don’t believe me, here is the same information from Babycenter.com:
Not securing your child in the seat
To make sure the car seat harness straps are snug enough to hold your child firmly in the event of an accident:
• Buckle your child in, making sure the harness straps aren’t twisted, and then use the mechanism on the front of the car seat to pull the harness tight. You shouldn’t be able to pinch any harness fabric between your fingers.
• Slide the plastic retainer clip that holds the two straps together up to armpit level before securing it. If the clip is too low, your child could be ejected from his seat in a crash.
I pulled the above tips from babycenter.com in an article titled: Car seat safety: The biggest mistakes parents make, and how to avoid them.
I hope that it clears some things up for some folks and helps keep more children safe!!!