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Child safety experts advise parents about common car seat mistakes

By Mark Barber
By Mark Barber

Child safety experts are warning many parents who are preparing to travel for Christmas that they may be making common mistakes with car seats.

Hundreds of local children are hurt in crashes every year, even though their injuries could have been prevented.

On Friday, mother Brittany Hart told Channel 9 that she struggles sometimes to figure out her 1-year-old son's complex car seat.

"I've actually gotten a ticket because he's come out of his car seat," Hart said. "If the vehicle is small, sometimes it might not work, then you have to adjust the seat so maybe it will work. Seat belts might not cover."

While her boy hasn't been hurt, many other children have been.

According to officials with the nonprofit Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg, children were hurt in 667 crashes in 2016 in Mecklenburg County because car seats weren't installed properly, or the child wasn't in a car seat at all.

In two recent cases, toddlers were killed when their car seats weren't secured.

[PAST COVERAGE: 16-month-old falls out of truck while strapped in car seat, police say]

Back in September, a 16-month-old girl died in Cleveland County when her car seat fell out of her grandmother's truck.

Then, in the last week of November, a 14-month-old girl was killed in her car seat in a crash just north of uptown Charlotte.

[READ MORE: 14-month-old girl dies in wreck north of uptown Charlotte]

"The harness wasn't used at all, so when they're in a crash, there's no point to the seat, there's nothing holding the child in the seat," Janice Williams, with Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg, said.

Williams said she thinks the tragedy in north Charlotte may have been prevented if the girl was strapped in properly.

She said two of the biggest takeaways for parents are to make sure the car seat is anchored securely at the base and the back, and to tighten the car seat straps so the child can't slip out of them.

North Carolina law requires children under ages 8 and who weight 80 lbs. or less to stay in a car seat or booster; however, Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials recommend using a booster until children are 10 years old.

Hart's 1-year-old son has a long way to go until he reaches that point, so she hopes it will get easier.

"I still struggle with him because he doesn't like to be in it, so he'll find any way he can to get out of it," Hart said.

Hart said the volume of crashes in Charlotte is so great, parents need to ensure their children are protected because they could very well end up in a crash.

She also encourages parents to read the instructions for car seats because they fit into different cars in different ways.

If people have any questions about whether their car seat is installed properly, they can have it checked by certified technicians.

Mecklenburg County locations can be found on the Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg website.

Locations in other counties can be found by visiting buckleupnc.org.

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