Positioning Children in Child Safety Seats

These are some basic guidelines to follow when positioning a child in a child safety seat. Always read the owner’s manual for your child safety seat to learn how to make adjustments for your specific seat.

There are videos available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that demonstrate proper positioning in child safety seats and boosters.

Positioning Your Child in a Five-Point Harness

1. Place your child in the seat with her back and bottom flat against the seat. Do not place any padding 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. Make sure the harness straps are through the correct slots based on the direction your child will be facing in the vehicle.

For rear-facing child safety seats, the harness should be at or slightly below the child’s shoulders.

For forward-facing child safety seats the harness should be at or slightly above the child’s shoulders.

3. Bring the harness straps over your child’s shoulders and over the hips.

4. Buckle and adjust the harness. The harness should lie flat over the child’s shoulders and keep the child snugly in the seat. You will know if the harness is snug enough if you “pinch” near the child’s collar bone. You should not be able to pinch the strap or make a fold in the webbing.

Harnesses can be tightened or loosened in a variety of ways. The owner’s manual for your child safety seat will give you instructions about how to tighten or loosen the harness straps.

5. Position the chest clip or retainer clip mid chest or arm-pit level. The chest clip keeps the harness over the child’s shoulders.

6. Some child safety seats come with extra positioning inserts, padding, or cushions to provide more support or comfort for your child. Check your owner’s manual for instructions on when and how to use them. Never use inserts, padding or cushions that are not designed for your specific car safety seats. These products have not been crash-tested to use with your seat and do not meet federal safety standards.

If allowed by the child safety seat manufacter, infants can be centered in a rear-facing child safey seat by using rolled receiving blankets along the baby’s head and body, outside the harness. A rolled wash cloth or cloth diaper can be placed between the baby’s crotch area and the harness buckle or crotch strap. This will help keep the baby from sliding down in the seat.

Positioning Your Child in a Booster Seat

1. Choose a seating position in the back seat with a lap and shoulder seat belt. All belt positioning boosters must be used with this type of seat belt system. Lap belts only cannot be used with booster seats.

2. Place the child in the booster 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 safety belt may be too loose to keep the child properly in the seat. Thick winter coats should also be avoided for this reason.

3. Bring the lap portion of the seat belt over your child’s upper thighs. If your booster has armrests, check the instructions to learn if the lap portion of the seat belt goes under the armrests.

4. Bring the shoulder portion across the middle of your child’s shoulder and chest. If your booster has armrests, check the instructions to learn if the shoulder portion of the belt is under the armrest closest to the seat belt buckle. If there is a shoulder belt guide on the booster, adjust the shoulder belt so that it lies across the middle of your child’s shoulder.

5. If your booster has an adjustable head rest, make sure to move it to the position that provides head support for your child and allows the shoulder belt to be positioned properly.

6. Buckle the vehicle seat belt and give it a tug. The belt should be snug and not twisted.