Most modern vehicles were designed with child safety in mind. However, keeping your child injury-free in a accident requires more than just asking everyone to buckle up. Safe conditions for adults can be dangerous ones for kids. Children under age 13 belong in the back seat and need to be securely buckled. Most kids under the age of 9 should ride in a child safety seat or booster seat.

photo courtesy of Ford Child-safety seats should always be mounted in the back seat.

Child Safety Risks

Most parents don't know that passenger-side airbags can be a child-safety issue. Children 12 and younger who are riding in the front seat are at risk from injury by the passenger airbag, even if they are belted. These children are too small and fragile to be so close to a rapidly deploying airbag, which inflates at up to 200 miles per hour.

The child-safety risks are greatest for infants. Safety officials warn that a rear-facing child seat should never be used in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger-side airbag unless the bag can be disabled. Most new vehicles have dashboard lights that illuminate when the passenger-side airbag is disabled. DO NOT ASSUME that by installing a child-safety seat in the front passenger seat, the airbag will automatically become disabled. Do a visual check each time you start the vehicle.

photo courtesy of General Motors Seatbelts are designed to protect adults in an accident. Because children are smaller, they may need to utilize a booster seat to make the seatbelt fit properly.

Child Safety Laws

Of the 231 deaths attributed to airbags as of mid-2003 by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), 144 were children. NHTSA recommends that children under 13 ride in the rear seat. This helps increase overall child safety and reduce the risk of injury in the most common type of accident--a frontal collision--because they will be further from the impact.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia require infants and toddlers to be in a child-safety seat. However, many laws apply to children up to three or four years of age, and the cutoff ages vary widely. A few state laws apply specifically to children weighing 40 pounds or less. Keeping in mind that fines for an improperly restrained child can exceed $100, it is best to consult your local DMV for more information.

Bigger children can ride in back without a special seat if the lap and shoulder belts fit properly. If the shoulder belt rubs their neck or if the lap belt cuts across their tummy, try a booster seat. Child seats can increase child safety and reduce the death risk by 70 percent if correctly installed; yet NHTSA says as many as four out of five are improperly used.

Installing Child Safety Seats

A LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) universal child-seat attachment system, required by NHTSA in new vehicles, makes it easier to install the seats properly. Previously, child-seat manufacturers devised their own mounting systems, some of which proved problematic for users. Forward-facing child seats must come with a tether strap that secures the back of the seat to the vehicle for better head protection. Proper child safety starts with a properly installed child-safety seat.

photo courtesy of Saturn New cars have special car-seat mounting points called LATCH. They are designed to make installing car seats easier and more secure.

The first step is to secure the seat so that it won't move excessively in a collision. Then, properly secure the child with the belts attached to the seat. Consult the instructions from both the child-seat maker and the vehicle manufacturer to make sure you're installing the seat correctly. The owner's manual for new vehicles usually has ample information on child safety.

Built-in child-safety seats are a factory option on some vehicles, mainly minivans. This handy feature is integrated into the seatback and folds out when needed. Some automakers offer approved child seats as accessories.

photo courtesy of Ford Some minivans may have built in child-safety seats.

Key checks each driver can do to increase child safety in any vehicle include the following: 1) keep children properly belted; 2) keep children seated in the correct restraints or child-safety seats at all times; 3) make sure all children are in the correct seating position.

photo courtesy of Ford The safest place for children to ride is in the back seat. Regardless of where they sit, make sure they are properly restrained.