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Expectant and Postpartum Moms
Car seat installation
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Anonymous
| Is it better to use the seat belt or latch system to secure the car seat. It wasn't specified when we had ours inspected, but I read in another post that using the seat belt is better. Any ideas? Thanks! |
Anonymous
| According to Consumer Reports there have been problems with the LATCH belts. They aren't made as strong as seabelts and have failed in some tests. Read their reports. I use the seatbelts for mine b/c of this. |
Anonymous
| Take the seat to the car seat check at DC Children's Hopsital. They will actually install the seat for you and tell you how to do it properly. Whether the latch or belt is best actually depends on your car, the seat etc. |
Anonymous
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In some cases a proper seat belt installation may be better than a proper latch installation, but it is generally easier to perform a proper latch installation. If you got the seat inspected already, I wouldn't worry about it.
There is a ton of info. out there on proper car seat installation, and I'd treat Consumer Reports as only one source of information (and one that does not focus full time on car seats). |
Anonymous
| Seat Belts are better. They are designed to restrain more weight than the latch system. However, the seatbelt system is tricker and should be done by experts. Please go to a professional (hospital, police, ems...) for installation. |
Anonymous
| I do both. Latch is for up to 48 lbs ( I think that is the high end). Latch was not made to be stronger than seat belts, just easier to install because so many people do not install the seats correctly with a belt. I Latch mine in, then seat belt the seat in next. over kill but doesn't take long and I feel better about it. |
Anonymous
|
On the National Highway Transportation website (link below - look on the left of the homepage for car seat links) you can find a place near you that will check the installation of your car seat, and more info about use of car seats. The inspectors who do this can generally get the thing in waaay tighter than you can! NHTSA's position is that the LATCH system is better/safer when properly used, but the catch is that most people do not properly use it. Some cars also have the anchors only on each side of the rear seat, when the middle of the rear seat is the safest position (in case of side-impact crashes). I'm not sure it matters whether you use the seatbelt or LATCH - just that the seat fits snugly in the car and is properly installed.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ |
Anonymous
In DC, the Motor Vehicles Dept. will install your car seat for you (for free) at their inspection station at 1001 Half St. SW. You can even make an appointment with them on-line in advance, so you don't have to wait around there. The guy who did it for me was extremely nice, explained everything in a lot of detail, and gave me confidence that he really knew what he was doing. 
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