everything_you_need_to_know_about_child_safety_seats

The Fundamentals

The Basics of Child Safety Seats
2c - Convertible Seats/Forward Facing

Most parents who own a convertible seat purchased it for use in both the rear-facing and forward-facing positions. To turn your child from the rear-facing position to the forward-facing position, there are several things you must consider. First and foremost, is your child ready? If you are unsure, please read "Infant Seats" and "Convertible Seats/Rear-Facing." If you have already done so and you're ready to "make the turn," we can move on, but please remember that your child is safer riding rear-facing, assuming that he/she still fits correctly in the rear-facing position as dictated by height and weight.

Convertible seats have considerations that are different when using the seat in the forward-facing position rather than the rear-facing position. Installation techniques and proper harness use are different when forward-facing than when the same seat is used rear-facing. When rear-facing, the harness' primary job is to keep the child from being ejected while the seat itself takes the load to protect the child from crash forces. In the forward-facing position the harness carries the load of the child and stretches with the seat shell to allow your child to slow down over a longer period of time. While in the rear-facing position, the seat's movement during a crash helps in the protection of your child. However, in the forward-facing position, the less the seat moves the better. Please don't misunderstand this to mean that a rear-facing seat isn't to be installed as tightly as a forward-facing seat, but rather when properly installed, it will move in ways that a forward-facing seat should not. For more details on proper installation for rear-facing and forward-facing seats please see "How Your Seat Fits in Your Car."

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