Auto Safety (continued)

Built-in or integrated car seats can be found in some vehicles. As with other forward-facing car safety seats, built-in seats are for kids 1 year of age and older and at least 20 pounds. Some convert to belt-positioning booster seats. Weight and height limits will vary so be sure to check your owner's manual.

Booster Seats (40-80 Pounds)

When your child reaches the maximum weight allowed for the car seat or your child's ears have reached the top of the car seat, you'll need to switch to a booster seat. Booster seats are designed for kids who have outgrown forward-facing or convertible safety seats but are still too small to be properly restrained by the vehicle's seat belts. Many states have passed laws requiring booster seats for kids up to 8 years old and 80 pounds (37 kilograms), or 4 feet 9 inches (about 150 centimeters) tall.

Booster seats come in many styles. Belt-positioning boosters raise kids to a height where they can safely use the car's lap and shoulder belts. They come in high-back or backless models: High-back boosters are recommended when the car has low seat backs, and backless boosters may be used if a child's head is supported up to the top of his or her ears by the vehicle's back seat or head support.

Combination seats can be used with harnesses as a forward-facing safety seat up to about 40 pounds (19 kilograms) or as a belt-positioning booster seat when harnesses are removed when the child weighs more than 40 pounds (19 kilograms).

Shield boosters (with no back and a shield tray in front of the child) are designed for cars with lap-only belts, but they do not provide adequate upper-body protection. If your car doesn't have shoulder belts in the back seat, consider having them installed by the dealer.

If that's not possible, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends keeping any child older than 1 year and between 20 and 40 pounds (10 and 19 kilograms) in a convertible or forward-facing seat. Kids who weigh more than 40 pounds (19 kilograms) should never use shield boosters unless the shield is removed and the seat is used as a belt-positioning seat with the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts.

How to Install a Booster Seat

Prior to installing booster seat, read the product manual thoroughly.

• Booster seats should be placed forward-facing in the back seat, ideally in the middle of the back seat where there is a lap and shoulder belt.
• Read the owner's manual for your car to find out how to use your car's seat belts with a child safety seat.
• Be sure to check the tightness of the safety seat before each use.

How to secure your child's seat belt:

• Read the entire booster seat manual.
• Make sure the lap belt is low and tight across your child's hips.
• The shoulder belt should lay flat and snug across your child's shoulder and stay clear of his or her neck or face.
• Shoulder and lap belts should always lie flat, never twisted.

Kids this age can begin to understand the importance of buckling up and may want to buckle themselves in. Be sure to check their seat belts and offer praise when they voluntarily put on their belts.

Using a Seat Belt Without a Booster

Kids can stop using a booster seat when they're big enough to use the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts while sitting with their back against the vehicle's seat back and their knees bent over the edge of the seat without slouching. The lap belt should rest low, on top of the thighs, and the shoulder belt should lie comfortably across the middle of the chest.

Kids should be able to remain in this position throughout the entire trip. This usually happens when a child reaches a height of 4 feet-9 inches (about 150 centimeters).

Remember, the shoulder strap of the seat belt should never be fastened behind a child's back or under his or her arm. And you should never buckle two kids (or an adult and a child) under one seat belt — a crash could cause their heads to collide.

Air Bags and Kids

When combined with safety belts, air bags protect adults and teens from injury during a collision. They have saved lives and prevented many serious injuries. But infants and children can be injured or even killed if they are riding in the front passenger seat when an air bag opens.

Air bags were designed with adults in mind: They need to open at up to 200 miles per hour to protect an average-sized, 165-pound (75-kilogram) male from injury. While this force is appropriate for adults and bigger kids, it can be dangerous for smaller passengers, possibly resulting in head and neck injuries.

Protect kids from air bag injury by following these rules:

• All kids 12 years old and younger should always ride in the back seat, and in the middle of the back seat whenever possible. All passengers must have their seat belts buckled.
• Air bags present a serious danger for babies riding in rear-facing car seats. Never place a rear-facing infant seat in the front seat of a car that is equipped with a passenger-side air bag.
• Child safety seats should be placed in the back seat. If you have no choice and must place a child in car seat in the front, push the passenger seat as far back as it will go.
• A law passed in 1995 allows car manufacturers to install a manual cut-off switch that temporarily disables a passenger-side air bag. As recommended by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, if you must place a child in a car seat in the front seat (that is, if your car is a two-seater or if the car seat will not fit in the back seat) and your car has this cut-off switch, disable the air bag for the duration of the ride. Be sure to switch the air bag back on when you remove the car seat.

The LATCH System

Since September 2002, most new vehicles have safety seat anchorage points and most safety seats have anchor attachments.

One of the problems with installing safety seats properly has been incompatibility between the car seat and the vehicle. The Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system was devised to make installation easier because it does not require use of the car's seat belts.