LATCH
LATCH: The Newest Child Safety Seat Installation System

When it comes to your child’s safety seat, do you know the difference between installing with LATCH and installing with a safety belt? Can you tell the difference between a lower anchor and a top tether anchor? Well, if your answers are “no,” you are not alone. Many parents are confused when it comes to the mechanics of installing child safety seats. Over the past two decades, the world of passenger safety has truly evolved. Correctly installing a child safety seat has become a technical and sometimes complicated process. If your car and child safety seat are both equipped with the LATCH system, it can make installation easier. Even if they don’t have LATCH, you can correctly and easily install your child’s safety seat with the right guidance and simple, proper instructions.

According to a recent study by the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, the majority of child safety seats continue to be used incorrectly, and there are an average of three mistakes made with each one. Overall, more than 80 percent of child restraints are used incorrectly. That’s one reason why motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related death among children ages 14 and under, killing nearly 1,700 children each year and injuring another 228,000 more.

The federal government and manufacturers continue to do their part to help parents “get it right” by simplifying child safety seat installation. As of September 1, 2002, LATCH – Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, a system designed to make child safety seat installation easier without using seat belts – was been required on most child safety seats and vehicles manufactured. New LATCH-equipped child safety seats have connectors that fasten directly to special anchors in LATCH-equipped vehicles.

Although LATCH can make installation simpler for parents and caregivers, it does not completely solve the problem of incorrect use. Education on the correct selection and use of child safety seats, as well as proper instructions for installation with LATCH, is still a critical component. 

“LATCH might make installation a step simpler for many parents and caregivers, but the same precautions as when using a regular safety belt system must still be taken,” said Heather Paul, Ph.D., executive director of the National SAFE KIDS Campaign. “It is vital that parents remember to get those seats in tightly and, first and foremost, make sure they have the right type of seat for their child’s age and size.”

To keep children safe whether installing a seat with LATCH or a safety belt system, the National SAFE KIDS Campaign strongly recommends the following:

• Restrain all children ages 12 and under properly in the back seat on every ride, and NEVER put a rear-facing child in a front seat with an active passenger air bag.
• Choose the right child safety seat or safety belt  for your child’s size and age:
• Infants should ride in rear-facing seats as long as possible, until they are at least 12 months old and weigh at least 20 pounds.
• Children who are least 1 year old, weigh 20 to 40 pounds and can no longer ride rear-facing should ride in forward-facing child safety seats.
• Children over 40 pounds should be correctly secured in belt-positioning boosters or other appropriate child restraints until adult lap and shoulder belts fit correctly (around age 8).
• Once the vehicle safety belts fit children, both lap and shoulder belts should be correctly used.
• Always read and follow the vehicle owner’s manual and the child safety seat instructions.
• Use the correct child safety seat belt path or LATCH system.
• Get a tight fit. An installed child safety seat should not move more than one inch from side to side or toward the front of the vehicle.
• Keep harness straps snug and flat. Fasten the harness clip at armpit level.
• Be certain that everyone in the car is correctly buckled, even on short trips.

To find out more about the LATCH installation system or to locate a SAFE KIDS child safety seat inspection station or checkup event in your area, parents and caregivers can visit www.safekids.org. 

SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP is a program of the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.  Its goal is to educate parents and caregivers on the importance of properly buckling up children on every ride. Since its launch in 1997, more than 265,000 child safety seats have been inspected by SAFE KIDS coalitions nationwide.