Did you know that September is National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Month? It’s the perfect time for parents and caregivers to check their precious cargo’s child safety seats. With the pace of rising, inflation and other pressures touching families lives and budgets are tight. Sometimes in the pursuit of saving money, we sometimes find creative solutions, but purchasing a child safety seat is not the place for creativity, especially with rise of secondhand or potentially counterfeit seats.
20 years ago, Nissan introduced Snug Kids® the first program in the industry aimed specifically toward improving the safety of children in child restraint systems, commonly referred to as “child safety seats.”
Unfortunately, not all seats fit in every vehicle.
After, Nissan safety engineers thousands of hours evaluating hundreds of child safety seats and installing them in Nissan and INFINITI vehicles the need for Snug Kids became apparent. And the result is the Snug Kids® Child Safety Seat Fit Guide, which simplifies the process for parents and caregivers.
“Don’t install a used seat, an expired seat, or a seat that’s been in a collision, and make sure it was tested according to federal standards… It’s also crucial to make sure you’re using a car seat correctly to keep your child safe in a crash. If installed properly, the car seat should not be able to move more than an inch in any direction at the belt path and there should be no slack if you pinch the strap at the child’s shoulder.”
Robert Sinclair Jr, senior manager of public affairs at AAA.
“Parents and caregivers also should read their child restraint system’s owner’s manual and vehicle owner’s manual to ensure proper installation and use of car seats and boosters,” said Matthew Gapinski, senior manager product safety team at Nissan. “I’m often asked which car seat is the best, and my response is ‘the one that best fits your vehicle and that you can install and use correctly every time.'”
For additional help correctly installing car seats, parents can search a list maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find certified technicians in your area.
