When you first got involved with Car Seat safety..

What was the most shocking thing you learned that you were doing wrong or just did not know.

For me it was the dang Mighty Tite I had used and the bundle me.. Even now, I type those words with shame..

Also that I just thought I had to run out and now get the most expensive seats and change mine out when really I had made a pretty good choice in the GNs.

When I started learning, I had, about 6 months prior, purchased two used Britax roundabouts because they were the best seat (Britax...ya know) and it was a great deal. I was shocked to learn how short the RA's were and that DD had already surpassed the RF weight (33lbs). I had to put her back in her scenera to rear-face! LOL And then she only made it about a month. Not to mention, I was shocked to learn that the scenera had the 34" FF rule. I had been breaking that rule for a year. *slaps forehead* I felt really guilty that DS was going to be so much safer than she was at those ages.

I was shocked that my installs were so bad. I only had two car seats (and two boosters) when I went to my first car seat check. They were really loose. The check was in summer, so no bulky stuff, but prior to that I was an offender of putting my little ones in the car seat with puffy stuff on. I have a lovely photo of my first dd in a giant snow suit in the infant seat. Even after that check, I posted of photo on a different car seat board of my girls in their boosters. I found out where the seatbelt was really supposed to go- since I had showed the girls to buckle over the arm rest. At least I put the screws in.

For me, I think it was that seats could be outgrown by torso height before stated height and/or weight, and also that rear-facing beyond 1 year old and 20 pounds is safer and preferred. I truly believed that you were supposed to turn a child forward-facing once they reached 1 and 20. I had good, solid installs, and tightened straps appropriately. I didn't use a Bundle Me or a Mighty Tight. I just would have been the average parent that bumps the kiddo up to the next stage as soon as possible, because it's what you're "supposed" to do, and the box says it's okay. I had a 13mo forward-facing, and I would have had a 2yo in an outgrown (by height) harnessed seat, and a 3yo in a poorly-fitting booster had I not found c-s.org when my dd was 2.

There are some things I would have done differently (get a different seat to RF beyond the 30# limit of the seat she had) and some relatively minor errors (aftermarket strap covers, but not the huge ones), but overall, I think I did okay.

I actually did read the manuals and I probably followed them pretty well back when my kids were young. I remember making my dh install a top tether in some car we had back then.

With DS 1 I dd really good strapping him in the bucket but not so god puttig te base in it moved all over I really thaught all you had to do was buckle it.

(Cause you know I already had 2nefews and babysat a lot so I knew what Iwas dong and didn't need te manua)

he was 20lbs at 5 months and at that time the Dr said 20lbs turnem so I did, then It was to asheild seat and then I read that 5 point was better so to a 5 point he went and along with that he got a seat that tipped over and ropes to hold him and his puffy winter caot in. and since it was an allin one a 3 and 40lbs he went to a booster.

DD1 same thing with her bucket and into that sheild rfing when she out grew it. Then her dad got he andIdont know from there.

DD2 same thing with the bucket and when she out grew it of course she got an AIO and went rfing and by now I found out it is suppose to be tight and so itwas but tiping forward so I turned her I thnk she was about 8mo. the they came out with he SIP foam so she got a CS wich she used FFing with the harness below her shoulder. When i couldnt squeez her in thereay more she went back to the AIO.

DD3 her bucket was in right but I used them snugle thing then I found ot thats bad and stopped.

And Icrashed with DS2 in his AIO and still used it and with DD2 DD# in the SS1 and the CS and still used thm I really didnt know not to.

as DD3 got close to a year I found ot that they can RF longer and it was safer. Only thanks to tis sight and the video The importance of Rear facing

The worst thing I did with DS2 was use a bundle me but not for long.

I went to a seat check when DD3 was about 18 months and got into it with the Tech cause hwanted to turn her FFing causeof her legs I said "NO" and they wanted to not use the tethers On a blvdand decathlon and said my 7yo could go with out a booster.

But they did tell me what to go to become a tech and a few months later m a tech and they dont like it when parents come in with their ffing 2yo and I educate them and mom or dad decides to turn the backwards.


every day i am thankful that the only crashes I have been in wre very very minor or I may have lost DS1


Sorry I didnt mean for this to be so long

For me, the worst one was not knowing how to install my own seats. Or even if I could have, I didn't believe I could. Now I won't have a seat I cannot install. I love that the techs here help people learn to install their seats and help us to believe that we really can do it. :thumbsup: That is so important because you never know when your seat will become uninstalled in a parking lot miles from home.

Way back in 1998 when I got involved, I was shocked to learn that overhead shields were not good. I had one installed ff for my cousin, who was 13mths old at the time. I was also surprised to learn that rearfacing to at least a year was a good idea. I always thought you turned them as soon as they hit 20lbs.

I brought Violet home in her SS1 with an infant snuzzler in the seat. She always looked uncomfortable so I took that out about a week later and only uses the head part. It didn't go anywhere under the straps. Then at about two months old I took it out and put in the head support that came with the seat. Around 5 months old the straps started to cut into her neck so DH bought some strap covers and I used them until I found this site.

I always read the manual. The seats were in correctly. She was buckled in correctly and the chest clip was in the correct spot. I went and had the seat installation checked by a CPST before she was born.

Overall I think I did ok.

Not using center LATCH in most cars. I had one of the few cars you could so it was "normal" to me. Then I found out in most cars you can't.

Bundle me's. I didn't know about aftermarket parts

And of course ERFing and EHing I hadn't heard of. I knew they must be both 1 year and 20 lbs (and I had an under 20 lber so I kept her RFing) and knew they must be 4 and 40 to be in a booster. Beyond that I didn't even know you *could* go longer

I FF ds at 1 and 20. He was also in a booster at 3 and 30, cause he outgrew the comfortsport.

Raising my hand as another member of the reformed ex-Mighty-Tite user group. If you search the forum archives, there are several older Carseat Chat threads along these lines, including one called something like "Confessions of past carseat misuse," which was inspired by Britney Spears' carseat misuse 4 or 5 years ago.

for me it was locking the seat belt or using a locking clip. i just tightened the seat belt as much as i possibly could every. single. time. then came erfing. i had no idea what so ever that rear facing was actually safer! i always just thought it was for the comfort and head control of the baby. my first 3 kids were all turned as soon as they were 20lbs, which was at least a few months before they were 1 :thumbsdown:. it makes me so mad that the information about carseat safety and erf isnt pushed like pampers, clothes and toy brands are! its so much more important .

i did always tighten the straps and have the chest clip placement right though :thumbsup:.

Another former Mighty Tite user here. We should start a support group. I had them on both of my son's seats from the time he was in an infant seat - why on earth I thought they were necessary, I do not know. But I distinctly remember thinking "they wouldn't sell it if it wasn't safe!" and then reading that it was "crash-tested" by SKJP, and I was sold. It made getting the seat in ridiculously tight SO easy!

I also turned my son FF (and reinstalled with the Mighty Tite) at about 14 months. Then one day maybe a couple months later I happened to wander onto the old BBC car seat board, and sat there for an hour with this face: When DH got home, I told him we were turning him back RF, and that we shouldn't be using the Mighty Tite. He was kind of like , "do whatever you want" and now he just leaves me to it, LOL.

My errors were things like aftermarket strap covers and positioning pads. What I found most shocking is that I was installing my seats too tight! I still like them rock solid, but I used to have them *tighter* than that!

Anytime carseats or me being a tech comes up around my ex husband, he tells the story of when I was pregnant with our oldest and we took the infant seat to the fire dept for a seat check on base. After going through everything and listening and learning... when we got home he says (and I don't remember this at all) that I climbed in the back of our 2 door car, 8 months pregnant, and tightened the base even more. I don't remember that, and if I did do that it probably changed the recline angle of the infant seat, but that was more than 10 years ago, so I don't remember

using centre LATCH and puffy coats. And dd came home in an AOE

Shield boosters.

I got involved when I was a nanny in 1998 and was using a shield booster for my 4 year old charge. The law was only written for children up to 4 years at that point and he was a scrawny thing. The seat belt in my Jimmy didn't even touch his belly, let alone his thighs. It just didn't look safe! His parents told me to put him on a pillow I bought a shield booster for him and used it for a year before I heard about seat checks. After that he moved into a Breverra and all the kids I watched under 40# went into harnesses and those over went in a HBB.

- using a seat I got free off craigslist and didnt know the history
-aftermarket head thing (I thought it was SAFER to have one so his head wouldnt move, even though he had head control from birth and didnt really need it unless he was asleep)
- big heavy plastic toy attached to the handle with cheap velcro that kept falling off.


The ride home from the hospital his straps were too loose but my dh at the time (now EX!) wouldnt tighten them for me and I was too i'l to uninstall the seat and figure out how to do it. Ds was also too small for the seat (he was 18" and has a short torso, so the straps were above his shoulders for a while)

I did tighten everything after that one ride, the seat was always installed tight (no base, but it lived in the truck), airbag off and seat all the way back (no back seat), I knew it wasnt expired (no clue how I found out seats expired).

I thought babies rearfaced until they were 1 so they could sleep in the car and because I thought under 1's had to lay down all the time and would sleep all day. Um that phase only lasts a couple months, not a year!

I found you guys when Levi was about 6-7months old and had one of the first TrueFit's b/c at the time that was the "best" seat to get. I committed to ERF as soon as I found out why, and became a tech shortly after. And now I am an official carseat nerd.

Shoulders over top slots = outgrown. That shocked me.