Forward-Facing Car Seats with Harnesses

Stage 2: Forward-Facing Car Seats with Harnesses until Age 5+

Children are safer riding rear-facing and should ride rear-facing as long as possible until they reach the maximum rear-facing height or weight rating for the seat. Once top rear-facing limits are reached, use a forward-facing car seat with a harness and a tether. Keep your child in a car seat with a harness until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit for the harness.

Forward-Facing Car Seat Safety Tips

Children should remain in forward-facing car seats

with harness straps until the maximum weight limit for harness straps. Avoid graduating to a booster seat until the child reaches the maximum height or weight limit of the forward facing car seat.

There are a variety of seat options:

Convertible, Forward- facing, Combination seats.

Read labels and car seat instructions

to determine the correct seat for age, weight and height. Maximum forward-facing harness weight and height ranges can vary greatly depending on manufacturer.

Make sure child is within weight/height limits

for the seat and head is more than one inch below the top of the car seat shell.

READ the instruction manual

AND the safety belt/seat section in your vehicle manual for proper installation guidance.

Children under 13 years old

should always ride in the back seat.

Install safety seats tightly

in the vehicle; less than an inch of movement at the belt path.

If using a safety belt to install

LOCK the vehicle safety belt to keep it tight; refer to labels on belt, vehicle owner’s manual, and car seat instruction manual.

Safety Restraint Misuses

At least half of safety seats

are unintentionally misused. Partial misuse of a safety seat reduces its effectiveness against severe injuries.

Parents’ top 3 mistakes when installing traditional safety seats include:

  • Failure to secure the seat tightly
  • Failure to secure the harness straps tightly
  • Incorrect positioning of the chest clip

To help guard against misuse, parents should always

  • READ seat instructions, labels, and vehicle owner’s manual
  • Install the seat tightly (less than 1 inch of movement) & lock the safety belt
  • Position the harness straps tightly

Printable Parent Resources

 

Child Passenger Safety Stages 1-page Flyer |  English  |  Spanish

Printable Child Passenger Safety Guide |  PDF