How to Protect Your Child in Case of a Collision

No one wants to think about what will happen in the event of a car accident. The last thing we need is the costly repairs and maybe even medical issues that could result from a collision. And like some people, you could have a child that you fear for and worry about when thinking about these kinds of situations. You may have a car seat installed in your vehicle to help protect them against the damage a car accident might cause, but without proper instruction, you could be making errors that you think are helping with the safety of your child, but you’re actually putting them in more danger. Almost eighty percent of children aren’t properly restrained in a vehicle.

The most basic and easy way to protect your child is to correctly use the car seat and install it properly and securely. This could lower the risk of your child’s injuries by up to 71%. Sometimes, this is the simplest thing to do, but it is easily overlooked. A good way to make sure your car seat is installed correctly, visit your local fire station. Firemen are trained and adept at handling safety features such as car seats and making sure that they are correctly applied in case of car accidents. This is a sure fire way to protecting your child in the event of a collision.

If your child is 12 years old or younger, you should always keep them in the back seat of the car, even if your vehicle does not have front air bags or if the airbags are turned off. Airbags deploy at over 200 miles per hour, and most children 12 and under are at just the right height where an airbag deployment could seriously injure or harm them. So make sure your younger children are restrained safely in the back seat of the vehicle. It really could save their life.

If you have a newborn baby, you are probably aware of car seat specifications for their weight groups. Essentially, if your infant weighs less than 20 pounds, you will want to situate them in rear facing car seats to protect them from future collisions. This is in large part due to rear facing car seats giving more protection to your child’s spine. The standard is to keep your child in a rear facing car seat until the age of two, but studies suggest that even that isn’t long enough. Ideally, your child shouldn’t be facing forward until well past the age of four years old. This will ensure complete protection for your child until their body has become more durable against the forces of a car accident.

In addition to rear facing specifications, you should never, never place a rear facing car seat in the front seat of your vehicle. As mentioned earlier, rear facing car seats are all about the protection and preservation of your child and his or her spinal cord. This obviously is not the only reason for rear facing car seats, but it is the main reason. So putting your child in the front seat in a rear facing car seat negates all of the protections you have just made for your child. The back seat will always be the safest place for your child, as most airbags don’t generally deploy with such standard collisions. So make sure to never place a rear facing car seat in the front.

Child protected from collision in car seat Once your child grows out of rear facing car seats and you feel confident enough to upgrade them, you should first put them in a booster seat. Most children from the ages of four years old to eight years old should be placed in a booster seat because seat belts can also be hazardous to children if they are not of the proper size and weight. If they are not placed in a booster seat when under 57 inches, the seat belts could cause serious damage to their neck and chest area. So make sure you wait the proper amount of time before getting rid of the booster seat altogether.

Protecting our children is the most important thing to us. That’s why we need to be prepared for when disaster strikes and we find ourselves in a horrible collision. You want to make sure your children are safe and that irreparable damage has not been inflicted upon them. In the event that this happens to you, Excel Collision and Glass Centers have the expertise and knowledge to repair your car and make sure that it is safe for both you and your children to travel in. Offering complete auto body repair in Apache Junction and even a vehicle drop off, Excel Collision and Glass Centers is here to take care of you and make your child safe and secure when travelling. For more information, give us a call at (480)-649-9313.

Published By:

Excel Collision and Glass Centers – Tim Stone