Children under 5, weighing less than 40 pounds or shorter than 44 inches in height, should ride in achild safety seat. Children weighing 40-80 lbs and 40 to 55 inches in height should ride in a belt-positioning booster seat.

Properly fitting lap and shoulder belts reduce the potential for belt-induced injury which occurs where lap or lap/shoulder belt is a small child’s only restraint.

The child safety seat should be attached to the inside body of the car by a rear seatbelt, and anchored with a tether.

If no child safety seat is available, children should use the safety belt, which is safer than riding unrestrained. The safest place in the car for a child is in the back seat.

Do not place children in rear facing child seats in the front seat of cars equipped with passenger-side air bags. The impact of a deploying air bag striking a rear-facing child seat could result in injury to the child. Children 12 and under should sit in the rear seat away from the force of a deploying air bag.

Adults should not hold children on their laps. In a collision, they could crush their children, or the child could be torn from their arms and thrown about the car.

Children should not ride in the luggage section of a station wagon or in the hatchback. Keep hatchbacks closed when children ride in the back seat, to prevent ejection or possible carbon monoxide poisoning.