The car seat is essential for securing a child on all car journeys. But even today, all parents sometimes find it difficult to use it correctly... Our checklist of important points to respect for baby safety.
Most (if not all) parents want to offer their child maximum well-being and security in everyday life. To take a child on the road, it is compulsory to seat their child in a car seat adapted to their weight and height so that they are protected on both short and long journeys. However, for the child's safety to be faultless, it is essential that the child is correctly installed in his or her car seat, which itself must be properly installed in the vehicle.
Safety and the car seat
Figures show it*: 2 out of 3 children are not correctly restrained in their car seat and 75% of all belted infant seats are incorrectly installed. While parental vigilance may be to blame, it must be said that the installation of certain car seats is not always crystal clear, and mistakes are quickly made.
With a baby or child, drive carefully and reduce your speed. On every trip, if you leave the car seat in your car (or not for that matter), don't hesitate to check its installation point by point. Indeed, between two uses, make sure that the belt is always taut (for a belted seat) and that the Isofix connectors on the base are properly engaged. Similarly, take a look at the strut, it must be placed on the floor.
To help you get on the road with peace of mind, here are checklists to simplify the installation and illustrations (which you can also print, by clicking on the image, and keep in the car). These checklists apply to users of car seats gr 0+ or i-Size (those car seats that are also called cozy and can be clipped on to pushchairs), with belt or Isofix base.
Checklist for belted car seats
1- Before putting Baby in his shell, start by removing his coat (as well as all the thick clothes he is wearing, such as a big jumper, for example).
2- The car seat should always be installed with the back of the car facing the road, on the rear seat (best) or on the front passenger seat, regardless of the child's age.
3- Once seated in its cozy position, put the harness on your little one. The straps must not twist. It is essential to adjust them to the correct height, just above Baby's shoulders and to adjust them so that they fit snugly over Baby's body once the buckle is locked. In the same way, adjust the headband as well. How do you know if your sling is taut? Once the buckle on the sling is locked, try to put your hand between the straps and your baby's chest. If the sling is taut, only one finger should be able to pass through.
4- It's time to fix the car seat on the bench. With a belted car seat, use the vehicle's passenger belt. This belt must not twist and must pass through all of the dedicated notches, without exception, integrated into the seat. These belt loops are easy to recognize: on the car hulls, they are blue in color. Once the passenger belt is in place in all the belt loops and is tight, all that remains to be done is to fasten it.
5- Lift up the carrying handle of your car seat.
The checklist for car seats with Isofix base
The car seat with Isofix base "hooks" into the car in a different way. In fact, the car shell is fixed in the vehicle thanks to a base on which it clips itself. The base integrates the Isofix system that "hooks" into the vehicle. To use a car seat with Isofix attachment, it is imperative to ensure that the vehicle itself has the Isofix retention system. Today, most vehicles are equipped but if in doubt, check on the vehicle manufacturer's website. How can you recognize the Isofix system in your car? It is integrated at the rear of the vehicle, it is located between the rear seat and its backrest.
1- Belted or Isofix car seat, same battle! Remove all the thick clothes that Baby is wearing, for safety reasons.
2- Install the base with the Isofix system: clip the Isofix connectors (the two rods with pliers) to the Isofix system in your car. Reminder: the Isofix system is only located at the rear of the vehicle. If you wish to install it at the front, in the passenger seat, you will need to belt your car seat (and do not use the base).
3- Position the strut present at the front of the base on the floor of your car. The strut is adjustable in height and is a stabilizing element, particularly in the event of an impact.
4- Put the harness on your child (taking care that it does not twist and adjusting it as close as possible to your baby. This point is exactly the same as point 3 of the checklist with a belted car seat (see above in our article).
5- Clip the car seat back to the road on the base.
6 - Check that the carrying handle is straight.
