Safe Kids Maricopa County is offering free car seat safety checks for families around the Valley.
On Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., you can drive through and have your child’s car seat or booster seat inspected by a trained safety expert to ensure proper installation.
The locations for the checks are:
- Mesa: Walmart, 240 W Baseline Road
- Goodyear: Palm Valley Pavilions, 1235 N. Litchfield Road
Recent data from AAA Arizona and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found more than half of all car seats brought in for inspection are not properly installed, yet only one in five parents look to free local events for help.
According to the National Digital Car Seat Check Form, there are some common mistakes parents make:
- There are three common installation mistakes: having the car seat installation be too loose, failing to use the tether when installing a forward-facing car seat with either the lower anchors or seat belt, and leaving harness straps too loose when securing a child in a car seat.
- Children are often transitioned out of the appropriate car seats before it is safe to do so. More than a quarter of children are moved from forward-facing car seats to booster seats too soon, and more than 90 percent of children using lap-and-shoulder seat belts under the age of 10 should still be in a car seat or booster seat.
- Parents and caregivers are less likely to seek car seat inspections as children grow into forward-facing and booster car seats. Child passenger safety technicians inspect about four times the amount of rear-facing car seats than they do forward-facing car seats, and 73 percent of forward-facing seats are not correctly installed.