What to know about keeping children safe — and warm — in the car during the winter

A serious winter storm is headed for the East Coast this weekend, so individuals will probably need to gown themselves — and their households — to guard towards the tough components. However earlier than a automobile experience, dad and mom ought to assume twice about bundling up their little ones. For kids, a cumbersome coat and a automobile seat could be a harmful pairing.

In accordance with Emily A. Thomas, auto security supervisor on the Client Experiences Auto Check Heart, a thick, puffy coat or too many layers should not be worn beneath a automobile seat’s security harness. Further bulk leaves the straps too free and thus ineffective in a automobile crash, she says.

“What occurs is that these layers and that puffiness will compress throughout a crash, and it introduces extra slack within the kid’s harness system of their automobile seat,” says Thomas.

So what’s one of the simplest ways to maintain a baby each heat and secure? Listed below are some ideas for optimum security.

Do the pinch check

Begin by securing your youngster in his or her security harness whereas your youngster is sporting the coat. Tighten the harness as a lot as doable so there is no such thing as a hole between the garments and the straps. Subsequent, unhook the automobile seat and take away your youngster. Take the coat off and put your youngster again in with the identical harness-strap adjustment as earlier than. If the straps are too free, there’s a difficulty.

“In the event you’re in a position to pinch any of the harness strap between your fingers once more at their shoulders, that tells you that the coat that they are utilizing is creating slack within the system,” says Thomas.

Drape layers on high of the harness

Whereas it may be inconvenient, eradicating the puffer coat every time will assist stop the kid from shifting round within the occasion of a crash — even doubtlessly shifting outdoors the safety of the automobile seat.

“And with a view to nonetheless maintain them heat, you’ll be able to drape a blanket over them after they have been correctly harnessed, or you’ll be able to put their coat on them backwards on high of their harness like a blanket,” says Thomas. “It will assist to maintain them heat all through the automobile experience.”

Test the remainder of the automobile seat

It is essential to all the time ensure that for each automobile experience, your kid’s harness is good and tight, Thomas says — and the chest clip needs to be at armpit degree for correct safety.

In any other case, ensure that the chest and the crotch buckles are all the time secured. You will need to double-check the set up of the seat itself within the car as properly.

“[The car seat] should not transfer greater than 1 inch facet to facet or entrance to again in the event you pull on the set up,” says Thomas.

Lastly, Thomas says that if the kid’s seat faces ahead, all the time connect that high tether to the seat itself. It helps scale back the ahead movement of the automobile seat throughout a crash.