Parents Should Add 'Check Your Child Seat' to Summer Vacation Planning Checklist

BURNSVILLE, Minn., June 30 -- The millions of parents who diligently check their engine fluids and tire pressure before making summer vacation car trips should add one more thing to the checklist: child safety seats. Fewer than one in six child seats are installed correctly, according to new data from AAA.

"Parents make detailed plans to get the oil changed, stop home newspaper delivery and even pack snacks before a big family car trip, yet many don't take five minutes to check that their young passengers will be safe," said Shannon Swanson, spokesperson, AAA Minnesota/Iowa. "By adding this to their pre-trip checklist, parents can travel with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their little ones are safe."

An analysis of more than 1,100 safety seat inspections in the new AAA Safety Seat Database showed that 85 percent of seats were installed or used incorrectly. The top five mistakes parents made were: not installing the seat tightly (64 percent of all seats); harness straps not snug on child (28 percent); retainer clips not at armpit level (19 percent); locking clips used incorrectly (19 percent); and harness threaded incorrectly (11 percent).

AAA encourages parents and other caregivers to take five minutes to check these top five mistakes made in using child safety seats:

   1. Check that the safety seat is installed tightly. Grab the child seat
      where the seat belt threads through it and pull. It should not lift
      up more than one inch or move more than one inch from side to side.
      If it does, it is not tight enough.
   2. Be sure the harness straps are pulled tight to the child. The harness
      should be snug and lie flat on the child so that no slack can be
      pinched in the straps.
   3. Position the retainer clip at the child's armpit level when the
      harness is snug. An improperly positioned retainer clip causes the
      harness straps to fit incorrectly.
   4. Check that the locking clip is in the right place and is threaded
      correctly. Child safety seat manuals and car owner's manuals give
      specific information about using locking clips. For additional help,
      parents should contact a child seat technician or attend a child
      safety seat check. In the Twin Cities metro area, parents can call
      Shannon Swanson, at (952) 707-4623 to schedule an appointment. For
      help finding a local child seat technician outside the metro area, go
      to www.aaapublicaffairs.com , then select "For Kids' Sake."
   5. Harness straps must not be twisted and should be routed through the
      appropriate slots for the direction that the seat is facing. Rear-
      facing seats should have the straps at or below the child's
      shoulders; forward-facing seats should have the straps at or above
      the child's shoulders.

AAA Minnesota/Iowa, which includes more than 700,000 members, offers automotive, travel, insurance and financial services. It is part of The Auto Club Group (ACG), the largest affiliation of AAA clubs in the Midwest, with 4.1 million members in eight states. ACG clubs belong to the national AAA federation, a not-for-profit organization, with more than 45 million members in the United States and Canada.