LOVELOCK - After adjustments to multiple straps and buckles, Jade Hill was ready to ride in her new pink car seat. The 3-year-old had cheerfully endured the procedure as Debra Hill learned more about maximizing her granddaughter's safety. Hill attended last week's car seat event in Lovelock courtesy of the Ron Wood Family Resource Center in Carson City. Quality car seats at discounted prices, along with free installation training, were offered to all families who dropped by. The program is funded by a grant from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety. "I wanted to double check and make sure she was OK because she seems to be a little bit taller," Hill said. "That's why I thought that we might have to cut the straps and make it a booster seat." Car seat technician Kevin Maher said Jade is nearly tall enough for the conversion to a booster seat. He threw his own weight into helping the 100-pound grandmother cinch down her granddaughter's seat - it was "close" but not quite secure enough for Maher. "Car seats are only as good as the installer," he said. "If the car seat's installed correctly, you won't have any problem. If you can't move it, it's in there right. If you can move it a half inch, it's not in there correct." Maher explained why all the effort is worthwhile. "It feels like it was built into the seat but at a 25 mph accident, it's going to compress out a foot," Maher said. "If it moves any more than that, there's a good chance it could fail. If the straps failed, the seat could go forward and go through the window or out the door." Maher and Holly Brown hosted the event. Both are nationally certified child safety seat technicians after completing a five-day training course offered by REMSA. Five types of car seats were offered at reduced prices from $10 to $35, Brown said. "Normally, in the stores, those range from $15 to $50," she said. "Here, they get a good break and the education they need to install it. Hopefully, we can help a lot of these families in the area that don't have services like what we offer (in Carson City)." Families who couldn't afford a new car seat are allowed to volunteer for eight hours at the family resource center in exchange for a seat, Maher said. The complex process of child car seat use and installation is constantly evolving as new research indicates safer car seat designs. "Everything we know about the car seats is data from the last 30 years and it keeps changing," Maher explained. "As the data comes in, they find out maybe this isn't good because there's more injuries this way and we'll modify things. But, as it stands right now, we're pretty much up to date on car seats." According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car crashes are the No. 1 killer of children from 1 to 12 years old in the United States. "The best way to protect them in the car is by using the right car seat at the right time and in the right way," states the website www.nhtsa.gov. The proper seat is determined by the child's age, height and weight. To protect fragile necks and spinal cords, toddlers below one year and 20 pounds should ride in rear-facing car seats anchored in the car's back seat. "It's safer. If the car seat is rear-facing, in a car accident the seat itself is going to take the force and protect the child," Brown said. At one year and 20 to 40 pounds, or when they have outgrown the rear-facing seat, children can go to forward-facing car seats anchored by top and bottom straps but still in the car's back seat. When a youngster has outgrown the height and weight limits of a car seat, they should then use a booster seat secured with a seat belt. Booster seats lift children, allowing seat belts to fit properly across the laps and chests of small children. Older children who've outgrown their booster seats can then graduate to seat belts. A seat belt should fit snuggly across the upper thighs, shoulder and chest to restrain the child safely in a crash. "The best way to tell if a kid doesn't need a booster is if they can sit with their butt all the way to the back of the seat and their feet flat on the floor, then they don't need a booster," Maher said. All children 12 and under should ride in the back seat because front seat air bags deployed in a car crash are hazardous to young passengers. "They can't go into the front seat because of the air bag system," Hill said. "It can kill them. There have been kids decapitated by the impact of an air bag." As she left the event, Hill thanked Maher for helping to keep her granddaughter safe. "Good thing he was here so he could get it snug because I couldn't," she said. "I'm sitting in there, I'm tugging and pulling and I'm like, I've got to find somebody!"[[In-content Ad]]
