Tethers
| As of September 1999, all new child safety seats that are used forward facing with full harnesses are required to have top straps called tethers. If properly attached to an approved tether anchor in a vehicle, a tether can reduce forward movement of a child safety seat up to four to six inches in a frontal crash. However, a tether alone is not enough to secure a child safety seat. A child safety seat must also be installed with a seat belt or LATCH (if both the child safety seat and vehicle are equipped with LATCH hardware). |
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As of September 2000, all new passenger vehicles are required to have factory installed tether anchors that will accommodate the child safety seat tethers. Many older vehicles can be retrofitted by a vehicle dealer with the tether anchor hardware. Click on www.nhtsa.dot.gov for more information about tethers. The resource manual “LATCH: Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children.2007” is a comprehensive resource on tethers and LATCH and provides details about specific child safety seats and vehicle manufacturers. For more information on the manual, contact 800-403-1424 or www.saferidenews.com. Check your vehicle owner’s manual for tether anchor parts’ numbers.
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