By Mary O’KEEFE

In recognition of Child Passenger Safety Week (Sept. 15-21), on Saturday Assemblymember Laura Friedman partnered with California Highway Patrol (CHP) to educate people on the correct way to install in vehicles child car seats. Spots for installing seats at the event quickly filled up with a total of 36 installations requested.

Each installation is only one car seat that is inspected and installed, according to CHP Officer Shanelle Phillips.

“Assemblymember [Friedman] reached out to the Altadena CHP Area Office to collaborate on this event,” Phillips added.

She worked closely with Friedman’s team during the planning of the event.

“Every installation takes at least 30 minutes, so we can go over both the car seat and vehicle manual for detailed instructions. Each child must also be measured in height and weight to confirm they meet the requirement for the car seats we were installing,” she added.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children. In 2020, 1,093 children 14 and under were killed in motor vehicle crashes, according to Injury Facts.

“Studies have shown that parents can be overconfident in their ability to select and install the right seats for their children,” she added.

AAA and the National Safety Council (NSC) worked with the National Digital Car Seat Check Form (NDCF) database that found “nearly three-fourths of all car seats inspected by Child Passenger Safety Technicians in 2023 were improperly installed and used. Yet a general consumer survey revealed only one in five parents and caregivers seek expert help installing a car seat or securing a child in a car seat.”

The study also found there were three common misuses when installing a child’s car seat including the car seat is too loose; the car seat’s tether was not used when installing a forward-facing car seat using either the car’s lower anchors or seat belts; the harness is too loose when securing a child in the car seat.

“When installing any car seat, parents should read the instructions. Read both the car seat instruction manual and the vehicle owner’s manual. These documents contain critical information about correct car seat installation in your vehicle. California law states that all children must ride in appropriate car seats or boosters seats up to age 9,” Phillips said.

“Children are often transitioned out of the appropriate car seats before it is safe to do so — 24.9% of children are moved to booster seats too soon, and 93.6% of children are transitioned to a seat belt too soon. Parents and caregivers are good at getting expert help when children are less than 1-year-old or before the child is born, but they do not always come back for adjustments as the child gets older. Or they change car seats [and/or] add [the number of] children to the vehicle. Child Passenger Safety Technicians inspect about five times [the number of] rear-facing car seats than they do forward-facing car seats … and 83.5% of forward-facing seats were not used correctly.

“Parents and caregivers who make an error are more likely to make other errors. These errors can compound each other from a safety perspective. On seats with at least one harness-related error, 71.5% also have at least one installation-related error as well (tether, seat belt and/or lower anchor error),” according to NSC.

“Parents can go to their local CHP area office regardless of their child’s age. We highly encourage if any parent has any question to speak to an officer for guidance. Also, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides helpful resources online to make child passenger safety easier for parents and caregivers. Visit www.nhtsa.gov/Carseat to learn more about car seats,” Phillips advised.

Phillips added that children under 13 should travel in the back seat of cars because riding in the front seat is not safe.

“Air bags in the front seat are not safe for kids; [the airbags] are designed for adult passengers,” she added.

For those who missed Saturday’s event, the Altadena CHP Office offers free car seat installations every Wednesday. Appointments are required. The Altadena CHP Office is located at 2130 N. Windsor Ave., Altadena. To contact the office, call (626) 296-8100.