Four Stages of Child Passenger Safety: Rear-Facing as Long as Possible, Back Seat Until Age 13
Which seat a child should ride in is decided by age and size, in four stages, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Each stage lasts until the child reaches the seat's maximum height or weight limit, and one rule runs through all of them: keep children properly buckled in the back seat until age 13.
Stage one is a rear-facing car seat, used from birth until roughly age 2 to 4. Children should ride rear-facing, buckled in a harness, as long as possible, until they reach the car seat's maximum weight or height limit. A rear-facing seat must never be placed in the front seat, because front passenger air bags can injure or kill young children in a crash.
Stage two is a forward-facing car seat with a harness and top tether, in the back seat. Children move to it after outgrowing the rear-facing seat, and should stay in it until at least age 5 and until they reach that seat's limits.
Stage three is a booster seat, again in the back seat, used after outgrowing the forward-facing seat and until the vehicle's seat belt fits properly without a booster. Proper fit usually occurs between ages 9 and 12: the lap belt must lie across the upper thighs, not the stomach, and the shoulder belt across the center of the shoulder and chest, not the neck or face and not off the shoulder.
Only then does a child graduate to a seat belt alone. The CDC notes that recommended age ranges vary with children's growth and with each seat's limits, so the manual's height and weight limits, not a birthday, should decide when to move up a stage. (Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：两名幼儿坐在汽车安全座椅里。Wikimedia Commons 图片（公共领域）。 / Photo: Two young children buckled into car seats. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
