How To Install Rear Facing Car Seat? 12 Easy To Follow Steps For You!

Steps on installing a rear facing car seat

How do I install a car seat that faces backwards? When looking for a car seat, this is a common query from first-time parents. However, after reading this post, you’ll know the answer to your question.

Rear-facing car seats come in many varieties, so familiarize yourself with the installation instructions for each one before continuing to Step 2.

Determine whether your new car seat is compatible with your vehicle before purchasing an adaptor. – Make sure both sides of the buckle are able to fit through the slots in the buckle.

Can I put my 5-year-old in a booster seat?

Booster seats are intended for children who have outgrown their basic child safety seat but still require the added security it provides in the automobile.

Children who are at least four years old or weigh at least 40 pounds can utilize booster seats (18 kg). When it comes to front-end collisions, booster seats do not offer as much protection as a child’s vehicle seat belt, but they do provide an additional layer of protection.

In the event that one of your backseat passengers has outgrown his forward-facing car seat but isn’t tall enough to safely use a conventional shoulder/lap combo belt, it’s time to move him to a booster seat with either no lap belt or a lap belt that he can comfortably use.

Booster Seat vs Vehicle Seat Belt: When Is Your Child Ready for a Booster?

There are a variety of elements that go into determining whether your child is ready to transition from a forward-facing car seat to the vehicle’s seat belts.

After the age of four or older and a weight of at least 40 pounds, most children will be able to safely move from their forward-facing seats to the conventional adult seat belts in the backseat (18 kg).

If your vehicle can no longer accommodate three passengers due to one of them having outgrown his seat but not yet being able to properly wear an adult shoulder/lap combination belt, it’s time to upgrade to a booster seat for that passenger.

How do you put a seatbelt on a booster seat?

It is a booster seat that lifts children so that the adult-sized seatbelts fit them properly. In addition to distributing crash pressures uniformly over your child’s body, a booster seat shields your child from the potentially lethal effects of an airbag. They are crucial to the safety of children in automobiles!

How does a child booster seat work?

A baby car safety product known as a booster seat raises and supports your youngster so they can see over the center console of the vehicle. As a parent, here’s one way to look at it:

Does my child really require this? The fact that our babies are so cozy in their car seats or rear-facing infant carriers when we take long drives contributes to their tendency to doze off.

Our newborns wake up with no memory of where they are or what they’ve just been through when this happens to them.

They may not notice anything weird outside the window for some time. Because of this, it’s always better to be safe than sorry!

How to Install Infant and Toddler Car Seats

Child safety advocates recommend that all children ride in a rear-facing seat until they are at least two years old.

Helpful Hints for Getting Started

• Only one of the lower anchors or the seat belt should be used at a time. It’s a common belief among parents that employing both strategies will increase the security of their child. Nonetheless, Dr. Hoffman explains, “Most manuals will advise you that this hasn’t been tested and therefore should not be done,” he continues.
• Take a seat in the rear-middle position to get things started. Although the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has long recommended that children ride in the back seat’s center, Jessica Jermakian, senior research scientist at the IIHS in Arlington, Va., explains, “many vehicles only have LATCH connections for the side seats.” While the center seat belt is still secure and convenient, parents of rear-facing children are often forced to use it. This can be done by using LATCH anchors from both sides of the car, but this can only be done in select automobiles. If you have more than one child, you can’t install another restraint in that row using this solution.
• Position the seat so that it fits snugly. Once again, if the vehicle manufacturer allows it, start with the car seat in the middle.” Julie Prom, a certified CPS instructor and child-safety advocate in Chicago, suggests that if you can’t obtain a tight fit, you can slide it to either side. “A good side fit is preferable to a terrible center fit.” There should be no more than an inch of movement in each direction.
• Make sure the seatbelt is fastened. It’s important that you pull the seatbelt out all the way so that it’s in locking mode when you’re putting the seat in place. This can be done with the help of your car’s owner’s guide.
• Make sure your child is in the right position. The straps that secure your child in the harness should be snug, and the chest clip should be positioned at the child’s armpit level, says Dr. Hoffman. According to him, the clip is crucial for rear-facing youngsters, who can be thrown from the seat if it is not in the correct position.” Similarly, the harness straps must be threaded through the correct slots – for rear-facers, this means the holes that are located at or below the shoulders.

How to Install Car Seats for Preschoolers

Until your kid reaches the upper weight or height limit of her rear-facing seat, you must convert her to a forward-facing seat with a harness.

Helpful Hints for Getting Started

• Use the top tether at all times. In a survey conducted by the IIHS in 2013, trained CPS techs found that just 56% of parents used the top tether anchor, and that seats equipped with a seat belt were especially unlikely to be connected. Prom stresses the need of using a forward-facing seat’s top tether, regardless of whether you utilize the bottom anchors or the seat belt. Preventing forward movement by 6 or 8 inches reduces the danger of head injury, Prom argues.
• Make sure the tether connection is correct. The position of the cable is another element to consider when using it. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute discovered that parents are more likely to use the top tether if the tether anchor is easily accessible. Sedans generally have tether anchors on the rear shelf behind the backseat, so this is a common occurrence. It’s important to note that in minivans and SUVs, there are a number of locations where the top tether anchor can be located. These locations include the floor, the seat back, the cargo area, and the ceiling. Jermakian says it’s not uncommon for a parent to tie the tether to the improper hardware, such as a cargo hook.
• Make sure your child is in the right position. Belts must be slid through openings at or above the shoulders in forward-facing seats.

How to Install Booster Seats

A belt-position booster should be used until your child is at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall and between the ages of 8 and 12 years old when the forward-facing harness seat is no longer safe.

Helpful Hints for Getting Started

• Consider your child’s needs before making a decision on the booster seat. Booster seats with high backs protect young children against side-impact collisions and help keep them in a better position if they fall asleep in the car. In cars with no head restraints, like a pickup truck with bench seats, they’re a better option, adds Ryan. It’s acceptable if older children prefer backless booster seats, which are less noticeable. For as long as possible, though, sit in a chair with a high back.
• Make sure the booster seat is in place in your car. If there is no child in the booster, Dr. Hoffman warns, “the booster can become a projectile in a collision.” Nowadays, many booster seats come with LATCH connectors to avoid this. If you don’t have those connectors, you’ll need to buckle the booster in even if your child isn’t using it.
• Make sure your child is in the right position. The shoulder and lap belts must be in the correct position at the time of a collision in order to protect adequately. Neither the shoulder nor the lap belt should ever be tucked under an arm or behind the back; instead, they should cross over the collarbone and breastbone as they should never be tucked under an arm or behind the back.
• Keep your child in a booster seat for as long as possible. Dr. Hoffman clarifies that the advise to use a seat belt at the height of 4’9″ is not a rule that must be followed religiously. Most kids don’t reach 4’9″ until they’re at least 11 years old, and the average height of an 8-year-old is just 4’2.” While some people have long legs, others have lengthy torsos, thus a seat belt won’t suit them both. “

Making Sense of LATCH

Confused yet? Using the LATCH system? Here’s a handy cheat sheet to help:

In order to properly install forward- and rear-facing seats, you’ll need to employ a set of little bars called “lower anchors.”

The lower anchor strap contains two hooks or buckles on either side of the seat and is attached to the bottom of the car seat.

These metal loops can be placed on the shelf area at the back window to secure the top tether. They can be on the floor, beneath the seat, on the ceiling, or as in this photo, on the back of the seat, in minivans and SUVs and other similar vehicles..

In car seats, the top tether strap has one hook or buckle at the other end and is attached to that hook or clasp.

How to install baby car seat rear facing

Rear-facing child seats should be used for the first year of a child’s life, or approximately 12 months.

For the first six months of a kid’s life, Australian baby car seat installation requirements mandate that you keep your youngster facing backward, but you should maintain them rear-facing as long as they are physically able.

These seats are suited for newborns and are an alternative to the infant capsule. Whichever you decide to purchase is entirely up to you. You’ll face them front till they’re four years old once they’re big enough. Are you all set to put it in?

Toss the top-tether anchor attachment that comes with the kid seat in most cases. It looks like a bolt of lightning. Unless your car is more than around 15 years old, your car is likely to have built in anchor points so you won’t need it.

You’ll probably be able to get rid of the top-tether attachment that comes with the child seat. It appears to be a bolt of lightning. If your automobile is less than 15 years old, it probably already has anchor points, so you won’t need to buy any additional ones.

Adjust the angle of the base at the back of the kid seat to suit your child’s needs. Decales on the side are likely to help you out. 4. Remove the stabiliser bar from the front of the child seat (where your child’s legs will be) and place the child seat in the car with the stabiliser bar firmly up against the backrest of your car seat.

You’ll need to locate and remove the small seatbelt-like ISOFIX buckles, which can be found hidden in the fabric of the kid seat. The ISOFIX attachment points on either side of your car seat, where the seatback meets the base, should be marked with ISOFIX emblems. Seatbelts and top tethers are the only options if there are no ISOFIX points.

Secure the ISOFIX buckles on either side of the child seat by not twisting the straps. 6.

Tighten both ISOFIX straps on each side of the child seat until the green line appears in the indicator point on the strap.

Extend the kid seat’s top tether strap to its maximum length.

Lift up the headrest and thread the tether strap over the backrest to the tether point, ensuring that it takes the most direct path (either within or around the headrest posts) to the tether location. The tether point should be inserted into this clip, which is normally found on the back of the seat. Check your owner’s manual if you’re unsure if your car has this top tether point on the parcel shelf or ceiling. It should click into place after a few tugs, but to be sure, give it one more tug.

Pull the length of the top tether strap until it is straight and free of slack without using the clamp to tighten it. There will always be a little twisting in the belt, but make sure it’s to a minimum.

Then tighten the other side of the tether strap (with the clamp) until it matches the first side, so that the infant is secure in the kid seat.

If your child’s seat is too far back in the front, the restraints will have to perform all the restraint work, so be sure to check that. For taller front-seat passengers in compact cars, this may be a problem, but it’s vital to keep in mind.