Installing a Rear Facing Child Safety Seat

 Correct Install - Rear Facing Infant Seat with base
 Correct Install - Rear Facing Infant Seat without base

1. Select an appropriate seating position in the vehicle for the child safety seat (CSS). Never place a rear facing CSS in front of an airbag. Read the vehicle owner’s manual. Some seating positions have seat belts that can be used by adults but cannot be used with CSS. Take all passengers into consideration when deciding the safest seating scenario. Statistically, the back seat is much safer than the front seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that all children 12 and under should ride in the back seat.

Never place a rear facing child safety seat in front of an air bag. Image provided by the NHTSA

The center-most seating position, typically the rear middle, is the safest position in the vehicle as long as the CSS can be installed properly in that position.

2. Place the CSS in the vehicle facing the rear.

If there is a carrying handle, it may be required to be back or in the down position. Please refer to your instruction manual for details.

3. Angle the CSS according to the CSS manufacturer’s instructions. Newborns should be angled as close to 45 degrees as possible. As a child gains head and neck control change the angle to be more upright or closer to 30 degrees.

 

A tightly rolled towel or portion of a foam pool noodle may be used under a rear facing CSS at the vehicle seat crack to get or maintain a proper angle. Never use the towel or pool noodle for a forward facing CSS installation.

  

4. Thread the seat belt through the proper seat belt path. Or, if you are using the LATCH system, make sure the LATCH strap is threaded through the proper seat belt path. Do not use both the vehicle seat belt and the LATCH system at the same time. Choose the system that gives the best fit. Click here to learn more about LATCH.

5. Buckle the seat belt. Or, if you are using the LATCH system, hook each clip to the appropriate metal ring in the vehicle seat crack. (Refer to your vehicle owner’s manual to determine which rings to use for each seating position.)

6. Apply pressure and weight to the CSS and pull all the slack out of the lap portion of the seat belt or the LATCH strap.

7. Some vehicle seat belts require you to pull the shoulder belt webbing completely out and then let it wind back up in order to properly install a CSS. Some vehicle seat belts require use of supplemental hardware, such as a locking clip. Click here to learn more about locking clips. Read your vehicle owner’s manual to determine what type of seat belt system you have.

Example of seat belt that locks when shoulder belt is completely pulled out. Image provided by NHTSA

8. There are a few child safety seats that come with a top tether that can be used when the seat is rear facing. Tethering a rear facing seat will help with side impact and rollover crashes. Do not use a top tether on a rear facing seat unless the instruction manual allows for it to be tethered rear facing. Read the CSS instruction manual to decide if your seat can be tethered rear facing. Click here to learn more about tethers.

9. Check to see if the CSS is installed tight enough by grabbing it with both hands at the seat belt path. Slide the CSS from side to side without tilting or twisting and from front to back. The CSS should not move more than one inch in either direction.

If the CSS moves more than one inch in either direction check to see if the seat belt or LATCH strap is pulled tight enough. Applying enough pressure to compress the vehicle seat cushion will help remove slack from the seat belt or LATCH webbing.

If there is still more than one inch movement, your CSS may not work in that seating position or in that particular vehicle. There may also be a special fix that a trained child passenger safety technician can help you with. To find a certified child passenger safety technician or child safety seat inspection site in Indiana click here. To find a child safety seat inspection site outside Indiana click here.

10. Recheck the angle of the CSS. Some CSS’s have an angle indicator on the side of the seat or the base that will help you determine if the CSS is at the proper angle.

Example of an angle indicator