Car safety/Car seats
Car seat checks by appointment
Our staff members offer car seat inspections by appointment only on Monday afternoons and Friday mornings. To schedule an appointment, please call 773.975.8613 and leave a message. Appointments are scheduled no less than two weeks in advance.
Child passenger safety
- Make sure all passengers are properly restrained every time they ride in the car.
- All children ages 12 and under should ride in the back seat.
- The law in Illinois states that children 8 years old and under should ride in an appropriate car seat.
- If using a car seat, the child should be secured in the car seat, AND the car seat should be secured tightly to the car.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its recommendation on rear-facing car seats. Infants and children should be in rear-facing child safety seats until age TWO, or until the uppermost height and weight limit that the child safety seat allows, as recommended by the manufacturer. It is strongly recommended that they be kept rear-facing as long as possible.
- Once children have outgrown their rear-facing car seat, they should ride forward facing in a child safety seat with a harness. Children should continue to use the harness until they have reached the height and weight limits recommended by the manufacturer.
- Children who have outgrown their car seat or car seat harness must be in booster seats using both the car's lap and shoulder belt. Children should be placed in a booster safety seat until they are at least 4’9” tall. This ensures that the shoulder and lap belt placement will contact the child in the right areas of the body and will not cause additional serious injury during a crash.
- Read the owner's manual for both your child safety seat and your vehicle for information on proper installation.
- Child safety seats are occasionally recalled so be sure to send in the seat's registration card to be sure you will be notified. You can check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov for information on recalled seats.
- Car seats have expiration dates, typically 4 to 6 years after the manufacture date. Car seats can be damaged and unsafe after a collision. Therefore, it is not recommended that you purchase a seat for which the history is unknown (ie. a second hand store) or isn’t properly labeled.
General car safety
- Teach your children that cars are not toys. Keep doors and trunks locked and make sure they do not play in or around cars.
- Always walk around the back of your car before backing up to ensure that the driveway is free of children playing.
- Never leave your child (or pet) unattended in a car, even with the window slightly open. On a summer day, the temperature inside the car can become deadly in minutes.
- Watch children around cars, particularly when getting in and out of the car.
- Firmly hold the hand of each child when walking near moving cars and when in driveways, in parking lots or on sidewalks.
Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act
*2003 Updates*
Effective January 1, 2004
Public Act #83-8, The Child Passenger Protective Act, has been in effect in Illinois since July 1, 1983. The law, amended effective January1, 2004, requires anyone who transports children in Illinois in non-commercial vehicles to do so in the following manner:
- Children under the age of eight years must be secured in an appropriate child restraint system, more commonly called a child safety seat. Child safety seats include infant seats, convertible seats (rear-facing for infants and forward–facing for toddlers) and booster seats that are used with the vehicle lap and shoulder belt system.
- Children weighing more than 40 pounds may be transported in the back seat of a motor vehicle while wearing only a lap belt if the back seat is not equipped with a lap and shoulder belt system for booster seat installation.
- Children and young people eight and up to 16 years of age must be secured in a properly adjusted safety belt in any position in the vehicle.
- The parent or legal guardian of a child under the age of eight years is responsible for providing a child safety seat to anyone who transports his or her child.
- Every person under the age of 18 years who transports a child eight years of age or older (up to 18 years) is responsible for securing that child in a properly adjusted or fastened safety belt or child safety seat.
Those found in violation of the law the first time will be fined $50, which is waived upon proof of an approved safety seat. Subsequent violations are punishable by a $100 fine.
Children with physical disabilities that prevent the use of standard safety seats are exempt from the provisions of the law if the disability is duly certified by a physician.