Car Seat Warning

Today my son and I went to the grocery like we have done countless times. His car seat rarely is removed from our car. Well, today when we arrived I unlatched his belts and to my horror had discovered that one of the shoulder belts had become detached from that metal plate in the back.

On most all car seats is a small metal plate located on the back that holds all three belts – the shoulder belts that thread through the back of the seat and the ones that go over the lap and between the legs. These belts are sewed to a piece that runs under the base of the car seat and hooks to this metal plate along with the shoulder belts.

If you have ever had to re-thread the belts you know what plate I’m talking about. It has hooks that the belt loops slide over and the way it’s designed you would think it would be virtually impossible for the belts to slide off on their own. Today I found out that it’s possible.

Since our car seat is rarely removed, it must have been all the countless loosening and re-tightening of the belts that caused the loop to slowly wind its way around the hooks on the plate and come off.

I periodically check to make sure the seat belt that secures the car seat to the seat is latched and snug, but I never thought of checking to make sure the car seat’s straps themselves were secure.

I shudder at the thought of what might have happened had we been in an accident. Thank God we were not.

Please make sure your car seat’s belts are secure by periodically removing the car seat and checking them where they secure in the back. I would also check the car’s seatbelt that secures the car seat to the seat is secured and snug along with any latch system if you are using one.

We get so busy and sometimes we trust things to always be OK when often times they aren’t or just plain forget to check. I will put this on my list of things to check on a regular basis. I hope you will, too.