Tip from our car seat inspector re: LATCH

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

This might be common knowledge... but we absolutely didn't know this so, I thought I'd pass it along.

I drive an '08 Hyundai Tucson, and the back seat has LATCH hooks for all 3 seats. But, he said you cannot use the LATCH in the middle seat, even if the hook is there. He said in the middle seat, you must use the seat belt. He said this is because the anchors for the LATCH are only on the outside seats...

SO, even though we thought we had our seat installed near-perfectly... he had to completely re-do it! Go get those seats checked, ladies!

Sporkmoostipe · October 2011

....Did not know that! We installed our car seat into our Honda Fit last night..(we both drive small hatchbacks, and it the car seat did not fit well in our Yaris) and that's how husband installed the car seat. Good thing we made an appointment to get it checked. Though I think my husband is going to freak out when he finds out he should have used the seatbelt. (It was actually funny to listen to him curse at the car seat)

TimeRacer · October 2011

My Blazer is old enough to where it doesn't even have the latches! I was so confused reading the car seat instructions looking for something my car doesn't have! Imagine my surprise when the inspection guy says "yeah, they weren't really standard before 2004, so don't worry."

LesRN · October 2011

My car only has the latch in the middle seat! So I guess thats ok right??

Mrs.Greeko · October 2011

This is why it is so important to read your car's manual for information regarding installing car seats AND your car seat manual. They are required to put two full LATCH positions in cars now, but usually they only put them in the two outbound seats. My grandma's car has it behind the passenger and in the middle, but not the driver so it isn't a cut and dried rule. Some manufacturers put it in all three positions, you have to read your car manual to find out. They tend to put the upper tethers in most or all of the rear seating positios, but not the lower tethers.

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

LesRN:
My car only has the latch in the middle seat! So I guess thats ok right??

From what I was told, he said that in general you cannot use the latch in the middle seat no matter if there is one there, or not. So, you should definitely refer to your car manual and go get it inspected. Maybe it different for other types of cars, but he basically said that it's not possible to anchor the latch properly in the middle seat, so it's not safe and to use the seat belt instead.

I was thinking "well, why do they put a latch there?" but I just went with it; I figured he's the expert!

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

Here's something I found on car-safety.org:

"Two pairs of LATCH lower anchors are required in the back seat of vehicles manufactured after September 1, 2002, and those anchors are required to be a specified distance apart for safety protection in a crash. Because of this required spacing between the lower anchorages, most vehicles do not have a rear seat that is wide enough to accommodate anchorages in the center seating position and in an adjacent outboard position. While lower anchorages are typically installed at outboard seating positions, most vehicles that have a center rear seating position without lower anchors also provide a top tether for additional safety benefit."

I'm going to double check my manual and see what it says about the middle seat. I don't know why it'd have the lower anchor if it's not safe. But, regardless, I'm taking the officer's advice and we'll use the seat belt. It was just as easy to install it with that!

MommaErica · October 2011

It really IS important to get car seats inspected. We have one car that legitimately has 3 latch positions and one car that just LOOKS like it has 3, exactly the configuration you described. The manual for the car that is like yours indicates that any of the 3 positions can be used. Our car seat tech actually measured the distance between the two latch points in the center seat and determined that it really CAN'T be used, at least not for an infant seat base.

preggersin2011 · October 2011

If you have LATCH in your middle seat then you would have 6 LATCH hooks, not 4. Your car owner's manual should tell you where your LATCH attachment points are

MrsBini10 · October 2011

I'm curious how one becomes a car seat inspector. The inspection is free right? Do they work for the state or federal govt or what? Do colleges offer degrees in car seat inspection? I mean clearly they're providing a valuable service, it just seems like a weird line of work to get into.

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

preggersin2011:
If you have LATCH in your middle seat then you would have 6 LATCH hooks, not 4. Your car owner's manual should tell you where your LATCH attachment points are

There are 6. I don't think I ever said there were just 4? I said there were latches for all 3, which would equal 6. Smile

ETA: He said it didn't matter that there were 6, to still use the seat belt in the middle.

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

MrsBini10:
I'm curious how one becomes a car seat inspector. The inspection is free right? Do they work for the state or federal govt or what? Do colleges offer degrees in car seat inspection? I mean clearly they're providing a valuable service, it just seems like a weird line of work to get into.

It's actually Police or Fire personnel...at least, that's who does it in my state. An officer just receives extra training on proper installation, and they get certified to do the inspections.

I think they also do it at the hospital, but the same thing applies - they get special training. There aren't people who are just car seat inspectors.

And, yep, it's totally free!

MrsBini10 · October 2011

littlewinnie15:
MrsBini10:
I'm curious how one becomes a car seat inspector. The inspection is free right? Do they work for the state or federal govt or what? Do colleges offer degrees in car seat inspection? I mean clearly they're providing a valuable service, it just seems like a weird line of work to get into.
It's actually Police or Fire personnel...at least, that's who does it in my state. An officer just receives extra training on proper installation, and they get certified to do the inspections.
I think they also do it at the hospital, but the same thing applies - they get special training. There aren't people who are just car seat inspectors.
And, yep, it's totally free!

Ahh, that makes more sense.

sunnyday016 · October 2011

littlewinnie15:
MrsBini10:
I'm curious how one becomes a car seat inspector. The inspection is free right? Do they work for the state or federal govt or what? Do colleges offer degrees in car seat inspection? I mean clearly they're providing a valuable service, it just seems like a weird line of work to get into.
It's actually Police or Fire personnel...at least, that's who does it in my state. An officer just receives extra training on proper installation, and they get certified to do the inspections.
I think they also do it at the hospital, but the same thing applies - they get special training. There aren't people who are just car seat inspectors.
And, yep, it's totally free!

I'm lurking here, but yes, there ARE people who are just car seat inspectors. Their title is a CPST- a Child Passenger Safety Technician. They go through a training class to receive their certificate. Most police, fire, and hospital personnel who do these checks are NOT CPSTs, they just have been trained. I've heard so many terrible stories about car seat advice given by police & fire people that I honestly wouldn't trust it. I'd only trust a CPST. If you want any info on that, check out car-seat.org. Most of the members of their online community are CPSTs and you don't have to register to ask a question. They're very knowledgeable and helpful. They can also help you find a CPST in your area.

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

sunnyday016:
littlewinnie15:
MrsBini10:
I'm curious how one becomes a car seat inspector. The inspection is free right? Do they work for the state or federal govt or what? Do colleges offer degrees in car seat inspection? I mean clearly they're providing a valuable service, it just seems like a weird line of work to get into.
It's actually Police or Fire personnel...at least, that's who does it in my state. An officer just receives extra training on proper installation, and they get certified to do the inspections.
I think they also do it at the hospital, but the same thing applies - they get special training. There aren't people who are just car seat inspectors.
And, yep, it's totally free!
I'm lurking here, but yes, there ARE people who are just car seat inspectors. Their title is a CPST- a Child Passenger Safety Technician. They go through a training class to receive their certificate. Most police, fire, and hospital personnel who do these checks are NOT CPSTs, they just have been trained. I've heard so many terrible stories about car seat advice given by police & fire people that I honestly wouldn't trust it. I'd only trust a CPST. If you want any info on that, check out car-seat.org. Most of the members of their online community are CPSTs and you don't have to register to ask a question. They're very knowledgeable and helpful. They can also help you find a CPST in your area.

Hmm... I've never heard this. I just did some Google-ing, out of curiosity, and I found this website: https://cert.safekids.org/ (which appears to be the site for the National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program) and looked up my state... most of the people listed appear to be police, fire or hospital personnel. Are you sure they aren't required to have the same training???

Personally, I'm comfortable with the check by the officer. I feel like he was trained, knew what he was talking about, and had our safety in his best interest. And, he's actually on that website as Nationally certified.

LesRN · October 2011

I work with a couple women that are certified....not sure what their official title is but they have been through over 40 hours of training.

I keep hearing so many different things about all this latch stuff my head is spinning! I asked one of them about using the latch system in the center seat and they said for a rear facing infant carrier that is fine. I'm just going to have them look at my seat and trust that they know what they are talking about. I have a 2004 honda accord and in the manual it said that the center seat is the best placement and that is the only place where the latch hooks are.

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

LesRN:
I work with a couple women that are certified....not sure what their official title is but they have been through over 40 hours of training.
I keep hearing so many different things about all this latch stuff my head is spinning! I asked one of them about using the latch system in the center seat and they said for a rear facing infant carrier that is fine. I'm just going to have them look at my seat and trust that they know what they are talking about. I have a 2004 honda accord and in the manual it said that the center seat is the best placement and that is the only place where the latch hooks are.

I agree with this. If they are looking at your vehicle's set up, and your installation, I'm sure they will tell you what's right for your car. Maybe your latch hooks are fine in the middle, since those are the only ones you have. Like I said, I have 6 hooks in the back...so maybe my guy saw that, and knew that 3 sets of hooks couldn't be anchored correctly? Who knows!

Like someone else said, it's all about the manuals and just double checking. I threw this out there because I had no idea this was the case, so if it helps someone else with the same set up - great. But, I'm sure it doesn't apply to all cars!

MsEmilyAnn · October 2011

We just had ours inspected and it's fine in the middle seat. We drive a Toyota Highlander and it's all snug, fits, etc. as it should be. I trust the inspector, since they have to be trained and he seemed very knowledgeable. So I guess the moral of the story is to check your manual, and see what your inspector says. Also, I don't know if it varies by state?

ETA: Our inspector did mention that people who put their newborn seat in the middle usually move it to one side once the baby is 12-15 pounds, because it gets harder to reach into the middle of the car to insert/take out the seat with baby.

TimeRacer · October 2011

I never, ever, ever, thought I'd be happy to drive an older car.

Hubby and I both have model year 2000 vehicles, so there are no latches. We're kickin' it old school with the seat belt method. On the plus side, it means my car seat is on the passenger side where I wanted it since I didn't have to find and use a latch.

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

MsEmilyAnn:
We just had ours inspected and it's fine in the middle seat. We drive a Toyota Highlander and it's all snug, fits, etc. as it should be. I trust the inspector, since they have to be trained and he seemed very knowledgeable. So I guess the moral of the story is to check your manual, and see what your inspector says. Also, I don't know if it varies by state?
ETA: Our inspector did mention that people who put their newborn seat in the middle usually move it to one side once the baby is 12-15 pounds, because it gets harder to reach into the middle of the car to insert/take out the seat with baby.

Is it in the middle with the latch? If I recall, Highlanders are pretty wide/big SUVs right? Mine is a small SUV, so it very well could have been just that my size car didn't allow for it to be safely in the middle with the latch. But yes, manual & inspection = important!

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