Babies and Little Kids Safety

Children should use rear-facing car seats in the back seat as long as possible, even up to age 4. Be sure to stay within rear-facing height and weight limits for the seat. When your child outgrows the rear-facing seat, use a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether in the back seat.

Keep children Rear-Facing up to Age 4 in a Seat That Fits Their Height and Weight

Start your child in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat

Experts recommend keeping children rear-facing up to age 4

If your child outgrows their car seat before age 4, change to a seat with higher rear-facing weight and height limits

Leg crowding is expected and does not harm the child

Why?

Small children are more vulnerable and likely to be injured if forward facing

A rear‐facing car seat cradles your child and absorbs crash forces, reducing harm to neck and spine.

Keep Children in Car Seats with Harnesses Until at Least Age 5

When your child outgrows the rear-facing seat, use a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether in the back seat
Use a Car Seat with a harness and tether until at least age 5, or until they reach the upper height and weight limits for the harness

Why?

Harnesses spread crash forces over strong parts of the body, keeping the child’s body properly positioned in a crash
The tether limits head injuries by reducing car seat movement in a crash

View our interactive child passenger safety guide

Project Lead

Contact Information

Macon & Joan Brock, Virginia Health Sciences

at Old Dominion University

Community Health and Research

E.V. Williams Hall Pediatrics

855 W. Brambleton Avenue

Norfolk, Virginia 23510

Phone: 1-757-446-5799

E-mail: carsafetynow@evms.edu

Materials are free for educational, nonprofit use; citation is appreciated.

The Car Safety Now program was supported by a series of grants from the Virginia DMV Highway Safety Office (Principal Investigator: Kelli England, Ph.D.). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Virginia DMV, or Virginia Highway Safety Office.

Project Lead

Kelli England, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics & Clinical Psychologist

Contact Information

Eastern Virginia Medical School
Community Health & Research
PO Box 1980
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1980, USA
Phone: 1-757-446-5799
E-mail: carsafetynow@evms.edu

The Car Safety Now program was supported by a series of grants from the Virginia DMV Highway Safety Office (Principal Investigator: Kelli England, Ph.D.). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Virginia DMV, or Virginia Highway Safety Office.