Tips for Putting Car Seats in Toyota Vehicles
This week is Child Passenger Safety Week and Toyota has partnered up with Buckle Up for Life to help educate people on the proper way to install car seats. Buckle Up for Life has done research and discovered that 75% of  car seats are not properly installed. To help this statistic decrease, they have put together some helpful resources for finding and installing the appropriate seat. Today we’re going to take a closer look at some tips for putting car seats in Toyota vehicles.
Car Seat Installation Tips and Tricks
Whether you are just driving down the road or across the state, everyone in the vehicle should be buckled and put in the proper safety seat or booster. This is a very important step in getting ready for any driving trip. To help, we’ve put together some car seat safety tips to keep in mind.
- It is important to teach children the importance of car seats and using seat belts. If you instill this message at an early age, they are more likely to buckle up every time they are in a car.
- Be a good example. If you wear a seat belt, your kids will want to wear their seat belt too.
- Learn and use the ‘Inch Test’. After you have installed your car seat, give a good tug at the base where the seat belt goes through. If the seat is properly installed, it should not move more than an inch side-to-side or front-to-back.
- Learn and use the ‘Pinch Test’. After your child is in the car seat, it is important to make sure the harness is tightly buckled and coming through the correct slots of the seat. With the chest clip placed at armpit level of your child, pinch the strap at your child’s shoulder. You should not be able to pinch any excess webbing. If you do, you should tighten the strap.
- Make sure you use the car’s seat belt or LATCH system (in cars built after 2002) to lock the car seat in place, for both rear-facing and forward-facing car seats.
- Make sure all kids ride in the backseat until they are 13 years old.
Toyota and Buckle Up for Life want to help you keep your whole family safe. Follow these simple tips and you will be ready for the road ahead. If you want to make sure your car seat fits in your next new vehicle, feel free to bring it along with you to your test drive at Toyota Palo Alto. You can make sure that you get the right Toyota vehicle for your needs.
