Tomorrow is the final day of National Child Passenger Safety Week, and we’ve been bringing you tips and information related to safety events throughout California over the course of the past few days. We thought we’d use this last day of the week to close out the event in style, bringing you some final safety information as related in a new article from Consumer Reports.
The organization revisits those times in a child’s life that a switch to a different type of seat should be made, and parents absolutely must not jump the gun in this matter. If used correctly and with a child of the appropriate size, the risk of a fatality among infants is reduced by 71%, while kids aged one to four see the risk reduced by 59%.
Your child needs to face rearward until they’ve reached about the age of two, with some consideration also given to your child’s size and height when you make the switch. A forward-facing seat will then be the way to go until your child gets to be about 50 inches tall and up to 65 pounds in weight (actual range will depend on the directives of the manufacturer). A booster seat will be the next step, at least until the seat belt can fit properly, which will typically be between eight and 12 years of age.
Finally, if you’re in the market for a new seat, visit Consumer Reports to see how various units fared in terms of safety.