Free child car seat check-up events in King County

Child safety seats reduce fatal injuries to infants and young children. In an effort to support parents and caregivers to make sure a child fits securely in a car seat, Public Health - Seattle & King County is hosting free child car seat check-up events in east and south King County.

Events

• Newcastle: June 29, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., YMCA at Coal Creek, 13750 Newcastle Golf Road
  
• Auburn: July 20, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., YMCA Auburn, 1620 Perimeter Rd SW

Bring your car, car seat and child/infant and learn how to properly install your car seat. This will be an opportunity for parents or soon-to-be parents to have their child safety seat checked by a certified child safety seat technician for safe installation. Educational materials will be available as well.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping children up to two years old in rear facing seats or until they have reached the maximum height and weight limits of the car seat as allowed by the manufacturer. They also advise that most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age.

Among children under age 5 in passenger vehicles, an estimated 244 lives were saved in 2008 by restraint use. National research on the effectiveness of child safety seats has found them to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants younger than one year old and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars.