Securing a child in a forward facing child safety seat with harness

Correct Installation of a Combination Seat
Correct Installation of Forward Facing Convertible Seat

Here are guidelines for properly securing a child in a forward facing child safety seat:

1. Place the child in the seat with his back and bottom flat against the seat. Nothing should be placed behind or under the child. In a crash, padding can compress and the harness may be too loose to keep the child properly in the seat. Thick winter coats should also be avoided for this reason.

2. Choose the harness slots that are at or just above the child’s shoulders. The top harness slots must be used in many forward facing convertible seats. Please read your instruction manual to be sure you are using the correct harness slots for your child safety seat. 3. Buckle and adjust the harness. The harness should fit flat over the child’s shoulders and keep the child snugly in the seat. You will know if the harness is snug enough by using one of the following methods: Try taking a “tuck” in the strap near the child’s collar bone. You should not be able to pinch the strap or make a fold in the webbing. Slide one finger under the harness at the child’s chest and try to pull it away from the child. It should stay close to the body. Ask the child to lean as far forward as he can. Only his head should move forward. His back should still touch the child safety seat.

Properly secured child in forward facing child safety seat. Harness at or above shoulders and snug with retainer clip mid-chest. Image provided by NHTSA

Harnesses can be tightened or loosened in a variety of ways. Some tighten by pulling a piece of webbing attached to the front of the seat, some adjust by changing the harnesses’ position on movable bars located on the back of the seat, and some adjust by threading the free end of the harness through and back over a metal slide on the back of the seat. Regardless of how the harness is adjusted, it is important to determine how to keep the harness locked once the adjustments are made.

4. Position the retainer clip or chest clip mid chest or armpit level. The chest clip keeps the harness over the child’s shoulders.

5. A child should stay in a forward facing seat with a full internal harness until he has outgrown the height or weight limitations of the harnessed seat and is mature enough to sit still in a booster seat with a lap and shoulder seat belt. Height and weight limitations vary for each CSS. Please read your instruction manual.

Other height limitations include shoulder and head position. Your child has also outgrown his CSS if:

• his shoulder’s are above the top harness slots or
  
  
• the tops of his ears are at the top of the CSS.