AAA raising concerns over car seat labeling
Feb 26, 2014, 5:25 PM | Updated: 5:25 pm
PHOENIX — Triple-A Arizona has a warning for parents using a certain type of child car seat.
According to the motor and travel organization, the National Transportation Highway Safety Administration announced this week a revision to the way lower-anchor and tether child car seats are labeled for weight restrictions.
“As of right now, the labeling for car seats shows the restrictions in regards to the child’s weight only,” said Mike Duhame, community relations specialist for Triple-A Arizona said.
Duhame said that could be causing people to put their kids at risk by unwittingly using car seats that are above the weight limit.
For example, parents and caregivers could be putting a 50-pound child in a seat rated for 60 pounds, without realizing the weight of the chair added to the weight of the child could then push them over the maximum weight limit.
“We want to make sure that parents and caregivers are aware that when they use a lower anchor, also known as the LATCH system, which includes the lower-anchor and the tether, that they’re taking into consideration the weight of the seat,” Duhame said. “They might be actually, unknowingly, putting a child at risk.”
According to Triple-A, 85 percent of Child Passenger Safety Technicians have encountered LATCH child car seats that exceeded the labeled weight recommendation.
Duhame added that if parents are unsure whether they are safely using their car seat, to visit a safety technician to ensure they have the correct seat and it is being properly used.
