LATCH System Makes it Easier
to Install Car Seats
Families whose vehicles do not have LATCH anchors and/or who own car seats without
LATCH attachments still can use their current car seat if it is installed securely using the
vehicle seat belt system. The new LATCH universal child restraint system features two lower anchorages and
one upper tether anchorage that can:
- Stabilize child car seats better
- Reduce the potential for head injury because of its top tether (strap)
- Reduce the number of car seats installed and used incorrectly.
Top-tether anchors have been required for most new vehicles and forward-facing car
seats since September 1999. The lower LATCH anchors are being built into new
vehicles for model years 2000 to 2003, with Sept. 1, 2002, marking the deadline for new
passenger vehicles and car seats to be equipped with the LATCH system. Booster
seats are not included in the mandate.
LATCH is not necessarily safer than using a seat belt to install a car seat; the LATCH
system simply makes it easier and faster to achieve a proper installation and to make
the process more universal among car seats and vehicles.
Currently, about 80 percent of car seats are installed incorrectly. “That is why we are
particularly encouraging people who don't have the LATCH car or seat to get their child
safety seats inspected,” said Sandy Sinclair, liaison from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention.
To locate a seat-inspection facility, contact (866) SEAT CHECK (866-732-8243) or www.seatcheck.org
. LATCH car seats, which cost an estimated $10 to $30 more than traditional models, also work with seat belts. In addition, a retrofit kit ($20 to $25) will
allow use of a traditional car seat with the car anchors in a new LATCH-equipped car.
Still, some combinations of LATCH car seats and vehicles may not work well together. If
that happens, parents should use the seat belts for installation if it is more secure.
Although it could be 15 to 20 years before the LATCH system is completely phased in,
NHTSA estimates the system could save up to 50 lives a year and prevent as many as
3,000 injuries.
For more information on LATCH, access the NHTSA web site at www.nhtsa.gov. Or
check out Car Safety Seats: A Guide for Families 2002 and related articles on the AAP
Web site at www.aap.org (click on Advocacy, then Child Passenger Safety).
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About this information: This article was provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics. ©2002 American Academy of Pediatrics. Reprinted with the permission of AAP News, August 2002.
