When did latch hooks for car seats become mandatory?

DahliaRW

New member
A friend was mentioning her child was unbuckling his car seat today. Then she mentioned maybe she should get a seat with latch because those would be harder for him to undo. Am I right to assume she has her child in an expired car seat?
 
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LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
A quick perusal of the LATCH Manual brings up Sept. 1, 2003.

Based on a 6-year expiration, the seat COULD just now be expired. Some seats have longer expirations, so possibly not. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say yes, it's expired.

I'm curious whether she has the harness tight enough.

If she's actually looking for advice, let us know the seat he currently has, what vehicle it is, and the child's age, weight, and height.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
It's actually September 1, 2002 (Chapter 8 in the LATCH manual) for the 2003 MY. So if her seat did not come with LATCH then yes, it's expired. If the LATCH was lost at some point it may be fine, but it makes me wonder what life that seat has led.

Wendy
 

BigDaddy

Active member
I was thinking 2002 as well, but thought maybe the requirements for seats to have it came after the requirement for vehicles.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Page 105 has the phase in schedule for cars and seats. 9/1/2002 for seats. But if it's a Cosco seat, it probably came in a little plastic bag that looked discardable (despite being attached to a strap), and so the seat may be newer than that and the LATCH is just gone (or it's still in the bag and ignored there, somehow...anything's possible, really).
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
Thanks, guys. I thought it was 2002, but I found the 2003 thing, which, of course, I can't find again now.

Aren't there some older seats that had 8-year expirations?
 
LATCH or not if a kid wants to unbuckle a car seat they are going to be able to do it. My 7 yr old who is now in a booster was a-1 at unbuckling his carseat when he was 4 and 5 years old and the seat was not expired.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
LATCH or not if a kid wants to unbuckle a car seat they are going to be able to do it. My 7 yr old who is now in a booster was a-1 at unbuckling his carseat when he was 4 and 5 years old and the seat was not expired.

It sounds like the child is unbuckling the seatbelt that holds the car seat in, not unbuckling the harness (though he may be doing that, too). If the seat is installed with LATCH--especially the regular hook-type connectors--it would be virtually impossible for a kid to uninstall the seat.
 

DahliaRW

New member
Yeah, he's unbuckling the seatbelt. And his chest clip, but the main concern was the seatbelt. I suggested a shirt over the top or the velcro for the chest clip. He's also reaching over and unbuckling his sisters booster. He's ffing, and big, and I can see how he could reach even if harnessed tight enough. Though who knows on that one. I'll go post some expired car seat info on facebook. ;)
 

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