Common Mistakes Parents Make with Car Seats

Each year, more than 130,000 children younger than 13 are treated in U.S. emergency departments after motor vehicle collision-related injuries.

Many of those injuries can be attributed to improper car-seat use. Even the best of parents can make mistakes when strapping a little one in.

A new study showed that the race of the parents can be a significant predictor of whether a child is placed in the right safety seat for his or her age, even after adjusting for parental education, family income and information sources, says lead author Michelle L. Macy, MD, MS, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

Macy says that, overall, research has shown that age-appropriate car seat use is sub-optimal in the United States.

Join Dr. Macy to learn the proper way to install a car seat, when you should turn your baby around to the front-facing position and when your children are old enough to be out of car seats.