| Is
your safety seat secure in the car?
To do its job, a child safety seat must be held
securely against the vehicle seat back. If the lap
part of the safety belt is not tight or the safety
seat slides around on the vehicle seat, your child may
not be protected.
Always read the instructions that come with the
safety seat. Also read the section on safety belts and
child safety seats (child restraints) in your vehicle
owner’s book (A). If you cannot attach your
seat tightly, call your vehicle customer service
number for help or the Auto Safety Hotline at
1-800-424-9393.
WARNING: Children age 12 and under should ride in
the back seat. Never put an infant (less than
one year old) rear facing in the front of a car with a
passenger air bag. Infants must always ride in
the back seat facing the rear of the car.
How Tightly Should a Safety Seat Be
Attached?
The lap part of the belt must hold the safety seat
firmly in place. To make it tight, push the safety
seat down into the seat cushion while you tighten the
belt around it. Push down on it with your full weight
to get the belt really tight (B) (D).
To check for a tight fit, pull the safety seat
forward and push it from side to side. If the belt
loosens (C) or the base of the safety seat
slides forward or sideward more than an inch, your
child may not be well protected.
If the safety seat moves, first try another
seat location in your vehicle with a different kind of
belt. The lap belt in the middle of the back seat may
work best to keep your safety seat in place.
Which Kinds of Belts Are in Your
Vehicle?
There are lap belts that hold the hips and lap/shoulder
belts that hold the hips and one shoulder. There
are several kinds of retractors to take up
slack and latchplates that fit in the buckle.
Read the following pages for the ways the belts,
retractors, and latchplates in vehicles work.
Many vehicles have belts that stay loose while you
drive and lock up in a crash. This sheet will tell you
how to make this kind of belt stay tight.
The owner's manual for recent vehicles tells you
about using belts for child safety seats. Starting
with the 1996 model year, vehicles MUST have safety
belts designed to stay tight around safety seats.
How to Check If A Belt Retractor
Locks
There are two kinds of retractors that take up slack
in the belt:
1. An “emergency locking retractor” locks only
during a crash or sudden stop. During normal driving
you can pull the belt in and out easily. Check it in a
deserted parking lot with your lap/shoulder belt on.
If you slam on the brakes while driving about 10 mph,
you will feel the belt “grab” you.
2. An “automatic locking retractor” locks whenever
you stop pulling it out. To check for an automatic
locking retractor, pull the lap belt out and stop.
When you pull on it again, you will find it is locked.
This kind of belt will hold the safety seat tightly.
Take the slack out by pushing the webbing back into
the retractor.
“Switchable” Retractors
A switchable retractor works well with safety seats.
It is an emergency locking retractor that can be
switched to an automatic locking retractor. The
retractor may be on either a lap belt or a
lap/shoulder belt. The belt usually has a label on it
telling you how it works (I). You also can read
about it in your vehicle owner’s book.
In most cases, you switch the retractor by pulling
the belt slowly all the way out until it goes no
farther and you hear a click. It may pull out from the
lap end or shoulder end. When you let the belt roll
back, you will find that it locks every inch or so and
will hold a safety seat tightly. In some vehicles,
there is a button to push on the retractor instead.
Again, check in the owner's book.
Belts with Locking Latchplates
Locking latchplates (E) work well with safety
seats. They usually are found on lap belts in center
rear seats. Lap/shoulder belts in many vehicles also
have them. A locking bar prevents the belt from
loosening once it is tightened.
To tighten this kind of belt, pull on the loose end
of the lap belt or on the shoulder part of the
lap/shoulder belt. This tightens the lap belt. Then
test for tightness by pulling the safety seat forward
and side to side.
If this kind of belt does not stay tight, see if
the latchplate is fastened right at the place where
the belt turns to go through the slot in the safety
seat (F) or around its frame. In this position,
the belt may slide through the latchplate. Turn the
adjustable end of the belt over (G). This will
keep it tightly locked in most vehicles. This
also may help keep the belt from loosening slowly
over time.
Lap/Shoulder Belt with a
Free-Sliding Latch plate
This kind of belt (H) has one piece of belt
webbing that slides through the latch plate even when
the belt is buckled. It usually has an emergency
locking retractor. It stays loose except in a crash or
sudden stop. To lock this belt around a child safety
seat, use a metal “locking clip.” Some belts are
labeled to tell you the locking clip is needed (I).
First check to see if it has a switchable retractor
that allows the retractor to stay locked (see above).
How to Install a Locking Clip on a Lap/Shoulder
Belt With a Free-Sliding Latch plate
If the lap/shoulder belt (H) does not have a
switchable feature to lock it around a child safety
seat, you should use a metal “locking clip” (J)
to keep it tight. You will find this clip attached to
the side or back of most new safety seats. If you do
not have a locking clip, you can buy one from a safety
seat manufacturer or from Ford, Nissan, or Toyota
dealers. Here is how to install the clip (J).
1. Put the belt through the correct path on the safety
seat and buckle it.
2. Push down on the safety seat. Pull up on the
shoulder end of the belt until the lap belt is pulled
tight.
3. Hold the two parts of the belt together at the latch plate
and unbuckle it.
4. Thread the belt through the locking clip as shown,
close to the latch plate.
5. Buckle the belt again. If you put the clip on
right, the belt will now stay tight around the safety
seat.
6. Remove the locking clip when the belt is not
holding a safety seat.
The regular locking clip
that comes with most child safety seats must be used
in this way only.
Belts That Do Not Lock
Belts with emergency locking retractors in the lap
part of the belt stay loose. These belts do not have
switchable retractors (see page 2) and need a special
belt-shortening clip (heavy-duty locking clip) to
shorten the lap belt (see page 4). Such belts are: Lap
belts in front seats of many cars that have automatic
shoulder belts; Lap belts in rear seats of some older
cars; Often on belts with lap and shoulder belts sewn
onto the latchplate (P, see page 4). These
latchplates may be found in front or rear seats.
Automatic Safety Belts
Some automatic shoulder belts are attached to the door
and wrap around you when you close the door (K).
Others have a motor which moves them along a track
above the door (L) when you turn on the
vehicle. The best way to avoid problems with these
belts is to buckle up children in the back seat.
Most automatic shoulder belts have separate lap
belts. Some of these lap belts lock, but many do not.
Some are “switchable” (see page 2). Some vehicles
(Cougar, Thunderbird, 1989-93; some Nissans) offer a
separate “child seat buckle” to use with the front
seat lap belt to hold a safety seat.
Where both the lap and shoulder belts are
attached to the door (M, as in many GM and some
Nissan and Honda cars, they should not be used
to secure a child safety seat. To anchor a child
safety seat, it is necessary for your car dealer to
install a special “attaching belt.”
Contoured Bucket Seats and Child
Safety Seats
Some vehicle seats have hollows and humps that prevent
the safety seat from resting flat on the cushion. Use
another position if possible, or find a safety seat
with a base that fits better in your car.
| Always check
your vehicle owner's book for belt
information. |
Belts Anchored Forward of the Seat
Back
Belts that come out of the seat cushion or from the
side of the vehicle seat (N) may not hold your
child's safety seat against the vehicle seat back.
Test your child's seat by pulling it forward and
sideways. If the base moves, use a different seating
position unless your vehicle owner's book shows you
how to make the belt system hold a child safety seat
securely. A tether may help.
A Tether Can Help Keep A Safety Seat
Secure
A top tether strap (O) anchors the upper part
of a forward-facing child safety seat when it is
bolted to the frame of the vehicle. It may be the only
way to keep a safety seat secure if belts are anchored
forward of the seat back. A tether aids protection
even when the safety seat is held firmly with the lap
belt.
Some manufacturers have tether kits for their
forward-facing safety seats. Do not attempt to install
a tether on a safety seat not made to use one. Many
vehicles have holes drilled behind the rear seat to
hold a tether anchor. Some have nuts installed. Check
the owner's manual for tether anchor locations.
Lap and Shoulder Belts Sewn to the Latch plate
Some belts have the lap and shoulder parts sewn
separately to the latch plate (P). Check to see
if the lap belt can be locked or “switched” to one
that locks (see page 2). If not, use a special
heavy-duty locking clip to shorten the lap part of the
belt (see below).
How to Shorten Lap Belts That Do Not
Lock
If a lap belt or lap part of a lap/shoulder belt with
a sewn-on latch plate does not lock and cannot be
“switched,” you can shorten the belt to make it
the right length to hold your safety seat tightly.
You will need a special belt-shortening clip
("heavy-duty" locking clip, Q). This
special clip is available only from Ford,
Toyota, and Nissan dealers. Your vehicle owner’s
book may explain how to use it. (Toyota locking clips
come with instructions.)
This heavy-duty clip looks just like a regular
locking clip but is made from extra-strong metal. Some
are a little bigger, about three inches long. If you
buy a heavy-duty clip, mark it with a dab of nail
polish or paint so you will know which kind it is.
WARNING: Use ONLY a heavy-duty locking clip
to shorten a lap belt. Use of a regular locking clip
to do this would put your child in serious danger in a
crash. The regular clip could bend and release the
belt, leading to possible serious injury.
Use a locking clip to shorten a belt only if
you know that it came from Ford, Toyota, Nissan and
you have instructions for using it. If you have
questions about how to use locking clips or keeping
child restraints tightly secured in your vehicle, call
your vehicle customer service line.
|
