Child Restraints

Shaners · October 23, 2003

Some how I managed to screw things up on the board while I was trying to put this valuable info in both LD and HD forums. This info was provided by one of our new members (RoblnCT) and I appreciate his contributions greatly. As the father of three children myself, I can't emphasize the importance of making sure your chid seats are installed properly.

I'm sorry about screwing up this post... Shane

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First of all I would like to say that I am a law enforcement officer and that I have been a nationally certified Child Restraint Technician (NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) for the past 5 years.

Okay, now you know something about my qualifications in this area. This topic is very confusing and problematic for many as I have observed in my work and also on this site. I hope I can shed some light on this subject as child safety is my area of work...and hopefully I can do this in a few paragraphs short of War and Peace!

I have a new 9/03 2003 GMC 2500 HD Crew Cab. Some info I will give pertains to this particular vehicle, but most is applicable to most vehicles. I will deal with my truck first.

As with any child restraint system you need to know how it works in your application. The best source of reference should be in your vehilce. The owner's manual is "The Resource". Starting on 1-31 of my manual you will get all of the information and illustrations you could ever want! There are detailed instructions on how to place different car seats (forward facing, rear facing, etc.) in the different seating location of your particular vehicle. Please pay attention to the owner's manual. Use this as your guide, not necessarily the information contained in the child seat documentation.

Another source of information is usually printed on the individual seat belts in your vehicle. Sometimes the seat belt information will give you additional warnings and advisories pertaining to that seat position.

Then of course you need to follow (explicitly) the instructions for the car seat. A technician and parents (and in my case being both) worst nightmare is the number of car seat manufacturers, types and makes and models of vehicles, old, new, etc. The combinations are endless. Know how tall and how much a child can weigh in that seat and strictly follow these guidelines!!!

Send in your product registration form as this is the only way a seat manufacturer will be able to contact you in case of a product recall (this happens frequently) any questions on recalls go the NHTSA.gov website for an up-to-date listing.

With that being said I want to answer a few F.A.Q's I hear all the time:

Q. What is the safest car seat?

A. The one that fits your child and your vehicle.

You can have a $70,000.00 Benz with sculpted rear seats and may not be able to fit a majority of seats in this car!

Q. I like to have my baby next to me so I can see him/her

A. Cool! If you are like me, you may have pictures in your wallet! Print one out and put it on your dash! Most vehicles have airbags in the front seat. WARNING!!!!

Never put a child in front of an air bag. My 11 year old still rides in the back! Why take a chance with your kids???

Q. What is the safest seating position in my vehilce?

A. The seating postition closest to the center of gravity of the vehicle is safest. Most all cases this is the rear center seat. On my Crew Cab this seat will accomodate most child seats! In a lot of vehicles the rear seats are "scooped" out to make them more comfortable for adults. This poses many challenges to the installation of child restraints in these seats.

Obviously there are many more and I will leave a contact email so if any of you have further questions we can try to tackle them.

As far as my truck...It is equipped with the LATCH SYSTEM (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. They are located in the seat bight which is the area where the crack where the bottom seat cushion meets the back seat cushion. On my Crew Cab the drivers' rear seat is a single and the passenger is a double. The Latch anchors are bright metal and clearly visible when you tip up the bottom of the seat. There are also anchor points to top tethers. Some seats now come with a strap on the top of the child seat and this strap affixes to the anchor point to limit excursion (the amount of forward travel the seat is subjected to during a crash) of the child seat. Again all of these terms and items are detailed in your vehicle's owner's manual.

For those of you without LATCH equipped seats, some knowledge of seat belt systems is helpful. There are no less than 6 different types of seat belt systems, sometimes all 6 can be found in 1 vehicle!!!!

The seat belt systems will affect the SAFE AND PROPER installation of a child restraint system. In my HD the rear center shoulder belt is an ALR (Automatic Locking Retractor) seatbelt. This means that when you pull the belt out, the belt locks and you can not pull any more of the belt out unless you fully retract the belt.

You can usually tell if a belt is an ALR if you pull the belt out all the way and slowly let the belt retract. When retracting you will hear a ratcheting sound and once you stop letting the belt retract you can not pull the belt back out. Most seats will have directions on them if the belt is of this type.

With an ALR installing a car seat is fairly straight forward. Route the belt through the belt path of the seat. Click the receiver into its receptacle and let the belt retract. To tighten...Ok the hard part...physically kneel in the seat, this will cause the seat cushion to depress. feed slack back into the retractor (remember, once the belt retracts, no more feeds out (locks) until you put the length of the belt back into the retractor) Now let up, the seat should be tighter and the belt will now stay.

To check for proper tightness of a child seat is also simple. You will want to grab the seat at the belt path. (Where the belt is supposed to go through the seat. Pull on the area, there should be no more than an inch play from side to side. You do have to pull, I mean really pull. If you can do this and the seat does not move more than 1 inch, the seat is tight.

There are many other combinations of retractors and latches that may be unique to your application and would be almost impossible to cover here. My manual is almost a 1000 pages long!!!

If you have any questions if your child's seat is installed correctly, don't put that child in the seat. You should be SURE the seat is in properly. Once you know how to do this correctly you will feel confident and secure about your responsiblity to your child and know full well you have done everything possible to be safe.

Many law enforcement jurisdictions have technicians trained in this field. Contact your local police department to see if they have members trained. Hospitals are also valuable resources with regards to child restraint information and/or installation.

SafeKids.org is another fantastic site with great information. On the left side of the homepage there is an area to enter that has inspection station information. This will bring you to a page where you can see if there is an inspection station near you. You will see CTSafeKids to which I belong.

I really enjoy this site and I hope I have provided useful information for all of those here.

2003 GMC 2500 HD CrewCab

Bugflector II hood shield

Line-X Spray in bedliner

BullsEye stake pocket tie-downs

HuskyLiner Mud Flaps

Sylvania SilverStar Headlamps

Decal King Vortec364 decals

WeatherGuard Black Aluminum Diamond plate tool-box

Westin CPS step bars

Any further questions you can email me, RobInCT at the following address:

[email protected]

chevy38fan · October 24, 2003

good read, my dodge has the LATCH things, which is pretty cool if you have kids, and an option to turn the front pass. airbag off (reg. cab). Pretty smart thinking there, IMHO all new vehicles should be equipped with this, if they aren't! (i know its by law to have an option to turn off the front pass. airbag on all reg. cab and ext. cab models!)