The Danger of Coats and Car Seats
It's winter, running errands now involves the extra step of putting a heavy coat on your child before buckling her into a car seat. You think you are protecting her from the elements and keeping her safe if there's an accident. Unbeknownst to you, car seats and coats are actually an unsafe combination. Why? When your child is wearing a bulky coat, you can't get the harness as tight as it needs to be if there's an accident. If it's too loose, your child could be thrown from the car seat. So what's a well-intentioned parent to do? According to Consumer Reports, you can test it by following these steps:
- Step 1: Put the coat on your child, sit them in the car seat, and fasten the harness. Tighten the harness until you can no longer pinch any of the webbing with your thumb and forefinger.
- Step 2: Without loosening the harness at all, unhook it and remove your child from the car seat. Take the coat off, put your child back in the car seat, and buckle the harness straps, which should be adjusted just as they were when the child was wearing the coat. If you can pinch the webbing between your thumb and forefinger now, the coat is too bulky to be worn under the harness.
If you find the coat is too bulky to be worn in the seat, use it as a blanket instead, then put the coat on your child correctly when you reach your destination. All of this might seem like a lot of extra work, and it may require extra patience, but isn't it worth it to keep your child safe in the seat?
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