When did carseat use become mandatory?

Chila88

New member
My husband and his buddies were talking about carseats after hockey one night :)D) and they all swore they didn't use carseats when they were kids....nor did their younger siblings (they are all around 30, give or take a few years in either direction, so they would have been born mid 70's to early 80's). When my husband brought the question up to me later my aunt was there, and she said when she had her girls in the mid 80's they were mantadory and had to be used.

So can anyone give me the history lesson about when carseat use actually became required? And how it came about?

(I'm in Canada, but would be interested in the history for both Canada and the US)
 
ADS

zactayaus

Well-known member
Hmm, good question. I was born in 1972 and I know that my mother held me in her arms on the way home from the hospital. Yet I did have a car seat when I was 3yo because I specifically remember when we were in a minor accident and I was riding in my car seat which was not attached to the vehicle in any way shape or form. When we crashed me and the car seat were thrown into the back of the drivers seat and my face took the blunt of the force. Thankfully it was a very low impact accident and I only suffered cuts and bruising. Then just a couple of years later I can remember very vividly riding up front in between mom and dad without so much as even a seat belt. I can remember laying down and resting my head on my mothers lap. How freaking lucky was I. LOL.
 

MommaWhitney

New member
Im 24 almost 25 and I have no memories of car seats. I actually remember our nannie letting my little brother steer while driving and he was lime 5 maybe. I remember sitting on the floor a lot, I was a strange kid and liked it there. And sleeping laying down on long car rides.
But I never remember getting in a crash either. Not even a fender bender. Talk about luck!
 

vonfirmath

New member
I was born in 1973 and my parents had a car seat for me when I was very young -- however they remember it as being more like a restaurant seat -- they'd take it out of the car and have me sit in it in restaurants as well.

I don't remember the car seat at all -- but I do remember that our cars would not start if our seatbelt was not buckled. It was just a fact of life in the family.

My husband was born 1978 and his grandmother tried to get his mother to carry him home from the hospital in her arms, but she refused, buckling him into a car seat instead.
 

Chila88

New member
:eek: about your face into the back of the seat! THat's a good story for people who say 'I didn't ride in one when I was a kid and I was just fine'.

I know from pictures my parents had one of those plastic tub looking infant seats for me in '82, but I honestly don't remember riding in anything else. I asked my mom about that seat and if she had it because she had to by law, or just because it seemed like a good idea....and she couldn't remember.
 

Chila88

New member
I was born in 1973 and my parents had a car seat for me when I was very young -- however they remember it as being more like a restaurant seat -- they'd take it out of the car and have me sit in it in restaurants as well.

Good point!!! The pics of me in my seat are all in the house....I only assume they used it in the car. Ha!
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I think the first law was in the late 70's/early 80's in Tennessee... but only for kids in the back seat, you could still ride on a lap in the front seat (my instructor said they called it the 'Tennessee airbag' :eek:

Every state in the US has drastically different laws, that were all put into effect throughout the 80's, typically only for seats with harnesses up to 3-4ish, and the booster laws have been sneaking onto the books since the mid-late 90's. There's no federal/countrywide law that suddenly came into effect to make all kids safe in one certain year, or anything. That history link basically covers it :thumbsup:, and this is the current picture of US restraint laws... http://www.iihs.org/laws/childrestraint.aspx

I was born in 72, but luckier than zactayaus, my mom bolted my seat to the back wooden shelf of her convertible car and we were never in a crash :eek:

But I'd say I was only restrained maybe half the time I was in the car, I remember lying down, standing on the floor board, riding in the back of a hatchback or pickup truck, buckled in the front seat with the shoulderbelt under my arm, usually not buckled in the back seat till as late as the mid-90's.
 

Jennifer mom to my 7

Well-known member
I was born in 71 and my parents had a gm loveseat for me... but they wedged it between the 2 bucket seats of the mustang:whistle:

I remember when I had my son in 91, that we were required to have a seat to leave the hospital with. I had an evenflo joyride for him.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
During my course I thought we were told NY had the first carseat law in '82 or '84 (I forget) ... but I can't view the link above.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org
 

Chila88

New member
I found this paper published by TC in 1984 that says that federal standards for carseats were introduced in Canada in 1972. That's not laws....but standards for production, I think, but still that's earlier than I expected.

This paper would be an interesting read....but I'm not willing to pay $22 for it!!!

http://papers.sae.org/840529
 

StPaulMom

Active member
By the mid-80s, almost all states had some sort of child restraint law.
I was super lucky and my situation was more like what we on this board are doing today- I'm the oldest of 5 children (born from late 70s to the early 90s) and all of us were always in a car seat or booster until around age 9. My mom grew up in Germany and had lots of friends from Sweden, so when I was born in the late 70s, she had a car seat shipped to the US from Sweden! My younger sister was teeny tiny and she was in a harnessed seat until 4th grade (not even 40 lbs by then!). She also had something similar to the 86Y- a bright orange harness that was used with a booster.

My mom was seriously ahead of her time and I am so thankful for it.
 

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
My brother was born in May '65 and got his first car seat for Christmas in '65. :) Not sure if they just held him or what before that. I've always been 'addicted' to car seats, even as a young child (born in '69). My favorite is probably a 70's Strolee convertible. I've always wanted one. LOL
 

Mysweethoneybee

New member
I was born in 1971 and my parents had a plastic seat with little plastic belt to put me in on the floor of the car while they were driving. When I was older I sat in a thing that had two hooks that went over the back of the front seat and there was a red plaid seat that left me sitting high enough I could see out the window. It had a little belt that went around my waist to hold me there. It was mostly just a thing that allowed kids to see out the window. My niece was born in 1985 and my parents had to really hunt to find a car seat for her when my sister came to visit as the carseat they had in North Carolina wasn't allowed on the plane. The carseat was white with brown vinyl and had a 3 point harness with a bar in front.
 

urchin_grey

New member
I was born in '85 and rode in a carseat until about 3ish. I remember my sisters ('87, '89, and '93) moving to a seatbelt earlier though (probably because we were poor until my mom met my step-dad). :eek: The youngest ('96) was harnessed until 1st grade though, then moved straight to the seatbelt. None of us rode in boosters.

We did get into one very minor crash though. My mom was driving, I was in 5th grade, M was in 1st, L was in Kindy. We were in a truck with no back seat. I was in the passenger's seat, L and M were sharing the center lap belt. :thumbsdown: My mom got distracted and ran a stop sign and t-boned another car. We were in a residential neighborhood and going all of 25MPH. I was perfectly fine but L and M had bloody noses and lips because they hit the dash. Its scary to think of what could have happened to them if we were going any faster.
 

glockchick

New member
I was born in 1980 and my mom had me in car seats until I was 5 or 6.

Some hideous, hot as hell, vinyl padded convertible and then another vinyl covered shield booster. The seat was always buckled into the car. We were never in an accident.

Guess I come by my car seat crazy honestly. ;)
 

amelia222

New member
I was born in '86 and apparently I had some sort of carseat but my mom doesn't remember what it even looked like. I do remember having a shield booster in the front seat until I was 4-5ish and sleeping laying down in the back seat with the center lap belt around me; my mom still thinks that was/is ok :rolleyes:

My boyfriend's mom swears there were no carseat or seatbelt laws when her kids were little (born from '80 to '92). They remember driving around with way more kids than seatbelts in the car in the mid-'90s.

This says seatbelts have been mandatory in BC since 1977.
 

Keeanh

Well-known member
I'm sure in BC, carseats were LAW in 1981, because those laws were still on the books until 2008. I'm almost 100% sure of that year. I don't know if there was a law before that, though.
 

eyeslkethesky5391

Senior Community Member
I was born in 91 and I know mom had a carseat for me because I have pictures of it...I don't remember using anything after 4 years old...there is a pic of my brother born in 89 in my grandmas lap while driving down the car. Its cool though I've taught my grandma alot about carseats and what she told me was when you know you do better :)
 

Leighsah

New member
I was born in 1980 and had some carseat/boosters, but for the most part, my childhood was spent unrestrained. I know I had some kind of infant bubble looking seat that was put in the front seat and then I have vivid memories of a backless grey booster made of vinyl or plastic-y material.....and I was really young using that thing.....like maybe 3 and only with a lapbelt....because the Camaro only had lapbelts in the backseat.
 

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