What are California’s child car seat laws?
What are California’s child car seat laws?
California State law establishes two basic car seat laws for children that ride in your car.
All children under eight years old must sit in the back or rear of a motor vehicle, and
Depending on their age and weight, children sitting in the back seat of a vehicle must be secured in the appropriate child restraint system.
The different types of child restraint systems are as follows:
Rear-facing seat
Forward facing seat
Booster Seat
There are different rules for which child restraint system is appropriate, based on the child’s weight, height, and age.
What are California rear-facing car seat laws?
California state law and car seat safety standards establish that children who are 2 years old or younger (this includes newborns) must sit in the back of a car, in a rear-facing car seat.
Children must remain in this rear-facing “infant” seat until they:
Weigh at least 40 pounds, AND
Are 40 inches tall (3’4”)
Children that are two years old or older must continue to sit in a rear-facing car seat until they weigh at least 40 pounds.
Parents must also ensure that their usage of an infant seat on their child is compliant with the manufacturer’s issued instructions for the car seat.
The car seat owner’s manual should have instructions on how to use a car seat alongside a car’s safety, lap, and shoulder belts. For any further questions, people can contact the California Highway Patrol (CHP) or their local public health department to speak to a child passenger safety technician.
What are California’s forward-facing car seat laws?
California’s car seat safety laws on forward-facing car seats say that children can graduate from sitting in a rear-facing car seat to sitting in a forward-facing car seat when all of these criteria are true:
The child is over two years old
The child weighs at least 40 pounds
The child is at least 40 inches tall
Similar to rear-facing seats, parents must keep their child in a forward-facing seat in a manner that complies with the seat manufacturer’s issued child safety seat guides.
What are California’s Booster Seat laws?
According to California booster seat laws, children can graduate from a front-facing seat to a booster seat once they’ve grown bigger than the height and weight limits for the particular front-facing restraint system.
Most manufacturers say that a child can begin sitting in their booster seat if they weigh 65 pounds or more.
When can my kid stop sitting in a car seat?
Children are no longer required, by California law, to sit in a car seat once they turn 8 years old or older.
Instead, your child would need to follow California’s seat belt law instead, which requires all people in a moving car, who are 8 years old or older, to wear their seat belt.
Additionally, any person that is 16 years old or older must wear their seat belt while driving their car.
Is it important to use a booster seat or wear seat belts?
Yes, it is very important. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) observed in 2017 that wearing a seat belt saved nearly 15,000 lives.
No amount of money can rewind time to save your child from being injured, disabled, or worse. Thus, it’s important to minimize your risks of severe consequences in the event of a car accident.
If you or your child were involved in an accident, an experienced attorney may be able to help you find compensation. Don’t wait to protect your child’s life from further harm; pick Nguyen to Win!
