Installing the Car Seat With Lower Anchors and Tether –
- Read your car seat’s instruction manual and your vehicle’s owner manual carefully. Pay close attention to the location of the lower anchors and tether anchors, and directions on how to use this vehicle hardware,
- Place the car seat in the back seat of your vehicle in the forward-facing position.
- Locate the lower anchors in your vehicle.
- Connect the lower anchor attachments on the car seat to the lower anchors, making sure the straps aren’t twisted.
- Press down firmly on the car seat and tighten the straps.
- You should not be able to move the car seat side-to-side or front-to-back more than 1 inch.
- Connect the tether found on the car seat to the tether anchor in the vehicle and tighten.
- This step is very important as it limits forward movement in a crash.
Do you lock seatbelt when installing car seat?
(Last Updated On: September 26, 2019) Before installing a car seat, the most important step is reading the manuals for both the vehicle and the car seat. The vehicle manual will tell you what kind of seat belts your vehicle has. The car seat manual will tell you what kinds of seat belts the car seat can be used with and if the car seat has any additional locking features of its own.
The following is a basic guide; always read the manual first, and visit a Child Passenger Safety Technician if one is available, In order to properly install a car seat using the seat belt, the car seat must be tightly installed with less than one inch of movement, To achieve that goal, the seat belt must be locked.
There are four ways this can be done:
Using the seat belt’s latchplate.Using the seat belt’s retractor.Using a locking clip or belt shortening clip.Using a car seat’s built-in lockoff.
Beginning in 1996, all passenger vehicle seatbelts are required to lock pre-crash. This means that seat belts have a locking mechanism in the retractor or in the latchplate. If the vehicle is older than 1996, it may only have an emergency lock, which will require either a locking clip, belt shortening clip, or a car seat lock off to create a pre-crash lock. Sliding latchplate Sliding Latchplate Sliding latchplates are the most common type; they slide freely along the lap/shoulder belt. If the vehicle is 1996 or newer, most commonly a lap/shoulder belt with this type of latchplate will lock at the retractor (more on that in a minute!). 
There are two basic types of locking latchplates. One type is found on lap only belts, the other type is found on lap/shoulder belts. The locking latchplates may look different from the pictures provided. A lap/shoulder belt with a locking latchplate slides fairly easily before it is buckled, however, once buckled and tightened, the lap portion of the belt will remain locked. 
A locking latchplate on a lap belt will lock once the tail is pulled to tighten it. Switchable latchplate Switchable Latchplate Switchable latchplates are not common, and most often appear in older European vehicles.
Is it better to use car seat anchors or seat belt?
Children’s car seats can be installed with a seat belt or the lower anchors of the LATCH system, LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. Parents—especially when the car seat isn’t getting tight—often make the mistake of using both the lower anchors and the seat belt at the same time.
- However, unless your child’s car seat is one of the few that specifically states to use both seat belt and lower anchors at the same time, you’ll need to choose one or the other, not both.
- Forward-facing car seats all come with a tether strap, which secures the top of the car seat to an anchor in the back of the car.
Every forward-facing car seat is safer (and better able to protect your child’s brain and spinal cord) when you use the tether strap. Regardless of whether the forward-facing car seat is installed with the seat belt or the lower anchors, you always add the tether strap in addition.
Do you have to anchor a forward facing car seat?
Why use top tethers – 
As soon as you install a forward-facing car seat with a harness (or convert your rear-facing to forward), you must use a top tether. Top tethers are meant to secure forward-facing seats to keep them from tipping forward in the event of a crash. Without the tether attached, a seat can be thrown 4 – 6 inches forward.
- It may not sound like a lot, but that movement can allow a child’s head to collide with the back of the front seat or the console, resulting in serious head trauma.
- Top tethers can be used with either a seat belt installation or a LATCH installation.
- The point is, they must be used on a forward-facing harnessed seat.
If your older vehicle doesn’t have tether anchors, you may be able to get them retrofitted with aftermarket hardware. Some car manufacturers like Toyota have retrofit programs for pre-2001 cars. It may cost a nominal fee, but check with your car manufacturer first to see if they can help.
Can a 23 pound baby sit forward facing?
Here is the Answer – Fear not! The confusion lies in the awkward wording required by the federal government. The warning label tells you that if the child weighs less than 22 pounds, they must ride rear facing in this car seat, It doesn’t matter if the child is 1 year old, or 2, or 3. A child who weighs under 22 pounds has one option for the seat, and that is the rear facing position. Century Drive On 3 years old rear facing Does it mean that a child who is 23 pounds cannot ride rear facing? No, not at all. For example, this manual shows that a petite child who weighs 23 pounds at 3 years old could ride rear facing OR forward facing.
- However, for this car seat with these restrictions, all children who weigh less than 22 pounds MUST be rear facing, and children 22-40 pounds MAY be rear facing, depending on their height.
- Once your child is 2 years of age meets the minimum weight requirement to ride forward facing in their car seat.
You can follow “good” practice (on a scale of good/better/best) and make the parental choice to use it forward facing. Of course, we always encourage caregivers to follow best practice and use the seat rear facing until the child reaches the height or weight limit for the seat.
Can my 18 month old sit forward facing?
Common Questions about Rear-facing – Why is rear-facing safer than forward-facing? Instead of having your head pull violently away from your chest, as happens when you are forward-facing in a frontal crash, the rear-facing child is cradled in their seat in much the same way as you catch a fastball in a mitt.
This video shows two 12-month-old crash test dummies each secured in the same car seat but one is rear-facing and one is forward-facing – watch how much the forward-facing dummy’s head and neck move – and remember that this video is slowed down tremendously as crashes happen quicker than the blink of an eye.
For more on the physics behind why rear-facing is safer, see here, What about their legs? Isn’t it unsafe and/or uncomfortable? The video above shows a side by side comparison of a forward-facing car seat (on the left) and a rear-facing car seat (on the right) using the same crash test dummy and the same crash speed.
Notice how the rear-facing dummy tucks into a cannonball position? No matter how scrunched the rear-facing child’s legs start, they end up super scrunched during the crash and it does NOT cause injury to the legs (or other parts of the body either).There are ZERO documented cases of rear-facing children breaking their legs, hips, feet, etc., due to their feet touching the back of the vehicle seat.
In fact, studies show that forward-facing kids suffer many more leg injuries than rear-facing kids. The leg injuries to forward-facing children occur when the child’s legs fly up and hit the back of the front seat all the while the child & car seat are moving forward which traps the child’s legs and puts tremendous pressure into the leg bones which can break them. 3-year-old happily rear-facing Besides worrying about leg injuries, many parents worry about leg discomfort in the rear-facing child. As kids get older, their feet will touch the back of the vehicle seat; this is both comfortable and safe. Ever wonder why a 5-year-old can sleep comfortably with his chin on his chest and never wake up complaining of a stiff neck? It’s because kids’ joints aren’t fully formed, which lets them sit comfortably in positions that would be painful for even a yoga master.
What are the two common mistakes made with car seat installation?
Common mistakes include routing the seat belt through the wrong belt path, failing to use a top tether for a forward-facing car seat, installing a rear-facing infant seat in the front passenger seat, and using both the seat belt and the lower anchors at the same time.
Should a car seat be behind the driver or passenger seat?
Install in the Backseat – The car seat should always be installed in the back seat. That is the safest spot for your baby. If you can, put the car seat in the center seat. If not, it is fine behind either the driver or passenger side. The important thing is that it is in the back, away from the airbags. Even in a minor crash, airbags can seriously injure your little one.
Where should car seat straps be forward-facing?
3. Harness straps are not properly positioned for the child. – For rear-facing child safety seats, if you are looking at the child sitting in the seat the straps should be going through the safety seat at the slot at or below the child’s shoulder. In other words, you should not be able to see the strap coming out of the seat above the shoulder, it should be hidden beneath the child’s shoulders.
- In a forward crash — the most common type of crash — the first motion is going to be the top of the child seat rotating down toward vehicle’s floor.
- If there is enough crash energy, the child’s body is going to try to slide toward the top of the child safety seat.
- You want the harness straps to be cradling, or at least very close to the child’s shoulder, so that they do not slide “up” into and stop suddenly or even go through the neck opening when they finally hit the misplaced straps.
For forward-facing car seats, the harness straps should go through the safety seat at or above the child’s shoulder. Think about how our seat belt is positioned on us. It anchors above our shoulder so that we lean into it in a forward impact.
