Types of Car Seats
Another type of seat is the harness-to-booster seats that start out as forward-facing car seats and can be turned into booster seats (where the child uses the vehicle’s seat belt across them as their restraint) later on. There are also 3-in-1, 4-in-1, and all-in-one seats that are forward-facing car seats that become high back boosters. Some rear-facing seats can turn into backless boosters for the oldest kids. Whether you are using a convertible, a harness-to-booster, or any of the other types, all that matters is the way you are using it right now—as a forward-facing car seat where your child is using a five-point harness.
When to Use Forward-Facing Car Seats
Most children are turned forward-facing much too soon. Before you buckle your child up in a forward-facing car seat, check to see if they could still be riding safely rear-facing. Parents sometimes rush kids out of their forward-facing car seat (where the child uses a 5-point harness as their restraint) and into a booster seat (where they use the vehicle’s seat belt as their restraint). You can tell when your child is ready to switch from a car seat to a booster seat because they will be all three of these criteria:
Is at least 5 years old and Is mature enough to sit properly in a booster seat (no slouching, leaning over, or messing with the vehicle seat belt) and Weighs at least 40 pounds
When you make the switch to forward-facing, make sure that your child meets the minimum weight, height, and age requirements of the car seat you’ve chosen. Some forward-facing car seats specify that a child must weigh a minimum of 25 pounds before use. Others require a child to be at least two years old before using the seat forward-facing. You might see other requirements stated by the manufacturer in the instructions and on the side labels. There are also maximum height and weight limits for the five-point harness when used forward-facing. These vary by manufacturer and by car seat model. Kids usually outgrow their forward-facing car seats by height before they do weight. When the shoulder straps are in their highest setting and the child’s shoulders reach the strap slot, the child is too tall for the five-point harness on that forward-facing car seat. There are two types of harnesses: Those you have to rethread in order to move the shoulder straps up or down, and those where you move a piece (usually a headrest) up and down to move the shoulder straps. If it looks like there is only one slot for the shoulder straps, you most likely have a car seat with a no-rethread harness.
Rethread Harnesses
Car seats with a rethread harness use a metal splitter plate to connect the shoulder straps to the tail of the strap used to tighten the child. When rethreading the straps, be extra careful not to introduce a twist. That way you can refer back to the pictures if you’re not sure what it should look like after adjusting. You could also just remove one harness strap at a time from the splitter plate. Once the first strap is replaced correctly, you can undo the second one and re-route it.
No-Rethread Harnesses
For car seats with a no-rethread harness, typically there is a lever or button to squeeze that allows you to raise or lower the headrest, which will raise or lower the shoulder straps with it. Check your instruction manual to see how the straps can be adjusted. On most forward-facing car seats, the crotch buckle needs to come from in front of the child’s body (the child should not be sitting on any part of the strap that the buckle is attached to). This mistake actually makes the crotch buckle even shorter and tighter on the child. If the crotch buckle seems too low and tight on your child, double-check that you’ve adjusted the crotch buckle properly. To loosen the straps, find the tail that you pull to tighten the straps. Just above the tail, often hidden under a fabric flap (to make it less likely the child will loosen their own straps while you are driving!), there will be a tab or button. This is the harness release mechanism. Depending on your particular seat, you’ll either lift up or push down on this mechanism while simultaneously pulling the shoulder straps away from the car seat. You should also pull the buckle forward before your child gets into the car seat. Even a small child feels pretty heavy when they’re sitting on a buckle you need to use. Make sure your child’s back is against the car seat shell. Their bottom also should be back against the seat with no slouching or scooching forward. Make sure the harness webbing is flat and doesn’t have any twists in it. Smooth out those straps every time your child gets in the car because twisted, rope-like straps are not as effective for protecting your child if there’s a crash. The metal pieces that go into the buckle are called the buckle tongues. Place those into the buckle until they click. Some car seats have what’s called a puzzle buckle, where the buckle tongues have to be fitted together in a certain way before they’ll click into the buckle. You need to pull on it hard, several times, to get a snug fit. Some car seats have knobs or other tightening mechanisms, but the webbing tail is most common. Make sure you know the steps of the tightening process. With the chest clip low around the belly, hold the chest straps, and pull firmly upwards. If done properly, you’ll notice that the straps around the child’s legs get snug, and lots of slack gathers near the shoulders. Let go of the chest straps, and pull hard on the webbing tail to remove the slack. Next, repeat: slide the chest clip down, pull the chest straps up, pull the webbing tail. Repeat until there is no slack and you cannot pinch any webbing at the collarbone when you pull up on the shoulder straps. The chest clip is the very last step in harnessing the child. After the straps are snug, move the chest clip up until the top of the clip is at the top of the armpits. Always readjust the chest clip and harness every time you take your child in and out of the seat. If you try to buckle them into straps that are properly snug, your child is not going to like it. It is much easier for you and more pleasant for your child to be buckled into straps that are loose (and then tightened after buckling). The same goes for coming out of the seat; loosen the straps to make it easier to get the arms out.
