Went to my First Car Seat Inspection Today

The "little" town that we live in is having a car safety seat inspection today. Originally I was simply going to drop off the two seats that I'd confiscated from my sister that were in an accident two months ago.

After dropping them off and telling them that they'd been wrecked (and having to answer WHY the straps were cut up!!), they challenged me to inspect my own installed seats. I told them to go ahead, that they wouldn't find anything wrong with them. That must have been a challenging statement to a tech.

First, they questioned as to WHY my 4 yo was still RF'ing. Seriously. Um, because he's SAFEST if he's ERF'ing. DUH!

So, they went through after I filled out the forms and did the whole inspection. The tech that inspected my vehicle told me that I should FF my 4 yo so that his legs wouldn't be cramped. lol Not.gonna.happen. Then I told him that next paycheck I'm buying a Radian XRT so that he can ERF until 45 lbs (b/c upon weighing him today, I realized that he's less than 3 pounds from the Boulevards limit). That about gobsmacked the guy!!! lol They also told me that my 6 yo should be moved to a lap/shoulder booster. Then I mentioned that she was getting a Frontier 85 so that she can be harnessed that much longer. And that if I could ever get my hands on one, I'd buy a European RF'ing seat that would turn her back around even longer!! Seriously, the guy scratched his head. Then told me what an awesome job I was doing with keeping my kids safe. Maybe he was just testing my knowledge about why to ERF and the benefits of higher-weight harnessing. IDK.... The only thing they mentioned was that Ry's (4 yo) straps could be a bit more snug (he'd already been in and out of his seat 3 times during the time I was waiting) and that Pink's (10 months) straps could also be more snug. He could just get his fingers under between her and the straps.


The only thing that really irritated me about the whole thing, was that I heard NUMEROUS techs telling moms/parents that they really only needed to RF to 2 yr old. :thumbsdown: EVERY time, I piped in and said that they should REALLY RF until the child outgrows the seat RF'ing by height or weight. And that on most seats it was until 30-35 pounds, or on some newer seats to 40-45 pounds.


I guess they must have been impressed b/c they asked me if I would consider taking the classes to become a car seat tech, b/c they desperately need them in our area. So, I've got the info. I can't take the class offered this week, but I'm going to sign up for the next one.


So yeah, I guess I'm going to join the ranks of the techs!

While I would never say you need to forward face your four year old, or booster your six, I would present them to you as options. It's parental and child comfort at this point. If either asked to change, I would (assuming the six year old is mature enough). There are no data saying harnessing longer is better. At four most of us would happily do those last three pounds and then flip forward. So while, no, you don't need to do either of those things, they ARE viable options.

However, the tech doesn't know how to check for tightness of the harness.

And did they remove your seats and have you reinstall them?

Wendy

They removed them and then the guy reinstalled them. Not me.

Honestly, I think he was nit-picking b/c when they asked me if I thought my car seats were in properly, I told them that they were rock-solid. Granted, my 4 yo did need his straps tightened, but the guy had seen my son get in and out of his seat at least twice while he was going through the seats. And I always double check straps and chest clips before getting in myself to make sure they are correct. So I know that when I left the house, they were on correctly.

He did tighten up the base on the Keyfit. It was a tad loose.... but not loose enough for him to mark that it was installed wrong. I would've tightened it up, too, if I had known. But since I never take the seat out anymore, it isn't on my radar. I need to check it more often.

Yeah, I'm not too fussy about who reinstalls if I know the parent can do it well.

It's rare to come upon perfectly installed and used seats. I definitely make a note of it when I do happen upon it.

Wendy

Before I left all of the techs came over and looked at my vehicle. They were all impressed that I had a 4 yo still ERF'ing. Another mom even took a gander.

The one thing that I asked the tech not to do, was to ask my child to unhook the tether on the one seat. I have instilled deeply into my kids to never touch the LATCH connectors or anything that straps the seats into the vehicle unless I specifically ask them to. That way they know that they should never do it just for fun. Maybe twice in 7 years have I gotten in to the vehicle to do something different and noticed that somebody had totally unhooked the seat belt from the seat.

But yeah, they were impressed with my install job.