S/O car seat inspections

megandchase · May 2013

Ok we only have one police station near by that does them and I called yesterday to set up an appointment and they guy made me feel like a complete idiot! He was like "its really a brainless task and you sound like an intelligent person so I think you are fine. You can You-Tube how to install" I kept saying yes I know how to install it, it is already installed I just want to make sure it is in properly. He then goes on to tell me that he is sure it is and no one brings on in that isn't installed correctly. So... I didn't take it in because I feel like if he is the person who is going to check it then what is the point?!?

Did anyone go and were actually told that they had it installed incorrectly?

meggers102 · May 2013

What a jerk! We took ours in and yes, it was installed correctly but it is still nice to have them secure it just a little bit tighter than we were able to.

starrjelly · May 2013

We live by the Britax store and I've heard stories about how many they see installed INcorrectly. So yes, I'd venture to guess that most seats could use a little fixing.

JuneNYbaby · May 2013

Our fire dept firefighter was amazing. Ours was installed incorrectly by my husband who is an extremely intelligent attorney. Our inspector was so nice and helpful and said that only 5 of new parents install correctly. He gave good tips not to put a mommy mirror in front of the car seat or the sun shades. He said he can't tell me how many accidents he's seen where those items have flown with impact into baby driver or passengers. They can be very dangerous. It was free volunteer service but we tipped him 20.

Lil Kate · May 2013

Our police station said you would be shocked how many are installed incorrectly . What's jerk... Maybe he's lazy!

megandchase · May 2013

Thanks ladies. I even told him that I read online that 80 percent of car seats are installed incorrectly but he still continued to be a jerk. I might just have to drive further to a different place to have it inspected.

ladybugpjb · May 2013

I definitely wouldn't want someone like that checking it.

Someone else mentioned getting it checked at the hospital - have you looked into that? The hospital where I had DS had a car seat inspector.

jmcgra06 · May 2013

Ours was installed wrong even though we followed the instructions (or so we thought...)

I had no idea that the two latch points we had installed the center seat to were actually for right or left installations, and our car doesn't have center latch. I was really glad we had it checked because it looked great to me!

JuneNYbaby · May 2013

jmcgra06:
Ours was installed wrong even though we followed the instructions or so we thought... I had no idea that the two latch points we had installed the center seat to were actually for right or left installations, and our car doesn't have center latch. Inbsp; was really glad we had it checked because it looked great to me!

This was our situation too!

courty625 · May 2013

I think you should have reminded him that you're a tax paying citizen and you'd like your car seat inspected, a service they provide, regardless of his opinion. What a jerk.

BLT20051 · May 2013

34blondie:
Wow, that's like the total cop behavior stereotype. My brother in law is a firefighter/paramedic who was certified so we will just have him check ours. I'm sure no one in their firehouse would treat a mommy-to-be that way!!!

That's just an absurd generalization. As someone who worked in law enforcement and has several friends and family members still in the field I find it completely rude and inaccurate. The police officer who inspected my car seat was extremely helpful and made sure to tighten it down a bit for me. He took the time to show me how to properly position the straps and tighten them when baby gets bigger.

OP, I'm sorry you had a bad experience but please know that not every cop is like that. I'd call back and find out about speaking to a different officer.

Achae · May 2013

Wow go and make a complaint. Did you speak to the dispatcher or an officer? Either way take it up with a sgt and have someone inspect your carseat.

BLT20051 · May 2013

IrishCoffee7:
I would complain. Statistically he's just straight up WRONG and considering you don't have a lot of options in your area for getting seats checked and they claim to provide the service, they need to do it correctly with a willing attitude. Car seat safety is NOT a joke.

This really bothers me actually. Like I'd walk in there with stats on how often seats are installed incorrectly and drop them on the Police Chief's desk or something. Maybe it's my rage-y pg hormones or something (and trust me, I have them), but I don't think I'd let this one go.

No, I'm kind of with you here. Not so much ragey but I'd definitely go in and speak with the sergeant in charge or something. I wonder if he was a dispatcher or an actual officer.

TchrKate · May 2013

Yeah... that guy's a jerk. We went and he changed the option we had chosen because of the fit in the car. Hubs had installed it per the instructions and erred on the side of making sure the angle was right. The fireman said there was too much side-to-side wiggle, and while he had done a good job, they would rather see a slightly-off angle and no wiggle. He also walked us through a few safety measures like avoiding hanging toys that would just become projectiles in a crash and so on.

t loves r · May 2013

How rude! Tax dollars go to police departments so taxpayers could be funding the training for an officer to be certified to check child car seats.

We watched a video on YouTube on how to install, but I'm still going in Tuesday to have an officer check it.

I might call the department and ask to leave a voicemail for the Chief or Sgt of the department the officer works in to let them know an officer strongly discouraged you from having your carseat checked. I'm sure this guy's supervisor wouldn't be happy with the officer telling citizens this. Heck, our hospital told us to most definitely have the carseat checked!

MdWestMom · May 2013

There's one in every workplace, sorry you ran across such a jerk! I would just go little further to a different inspection place. As you already know, it's incredibly important, and super smart people can still install them incorrectly.

Mommy2CB · May 2013

A friend of ours used to be a paramedic and said whenever people came in wanting their car seats inspected all they did was look up the owners manual or YouTube...

S/O car seat inspections

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