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In The Hot Seat
Some 90 percent of children's car seats are incorrectly installed. Here's how to find out if yours is safe.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor
articipants invariably have one question when
they sign up for a four-day class on how to
properly install children's car seats: "Four
days? To put in a car seat? Are you crazy?"
When the class is over, all the participants invari-
ably ask another question: "Couldn't this continue?
There wasn't enough time!"
Who could have imagined car seats would prove to
be such a compelling and complex subject.
Meet Gerald Eizen.
Eizen, of Oak Park, is one of metro Detroit's lead-
ing experts on children's car seats. Certified by the
National Highway Safety Transportation
Administration, he teaches classes on the subject,
stays up-to-date on the latest news, checks seats to
make certain they are installed the way they're sup-
posed to be. And according to Eizen, chances are very
good your child's car seat is not properly installed.
"I would say that only about 10 percent of all the
car seats I inspect are completely correctly installed,"
he says.
Eizen, a native Detroiter, is a firefighter/paramedic
by profession. He hasn't always been a
firefighter/paramedic. "I was a little kid for awhile."
He wanted to be a park ranger. But then he began
attending Wayne State University and, inspired by his
paid-on-call firefighter father, he began as a paid-on-
call with the Farmington Hills Fire Department.
Then he got a full-time job with the Livonia Fire
Department where he has worked since 1989.
It was through the Livonia department that he first
discovered his calling for car-seat inspection. Eizen,
then the father of one (now the family includes three
sons), thought he might take the class, if only for the
benefit it Could bring his own child. His reaction,
upon hearing it would be four full days: "Four days
to put in a car seat? Does this really need four days?"
Then he got the manual, "and it's thick," he says.
"It's a good 2 inches thick." He looked at it, his jaw
dropped to the ground, and he sighed, "Come on."
Ah, but where there's smoke, there's fire. And Eizen
smelled smoke when he set foot in the class. The
good kind of smoke. The kind of smoke that says,
"This is for you, pal! Wake up and smell the fresh
leather of car seats!"
He was hooked.
Today, Eizen teaches those four-days courses he
once eschewed. Among the topics he covers: seat-belt
mechanisms, different makes and kinds of car seats,
crash dynamics, injury prevention, how seat belts in
general work, and the proper way to install seats. He
also represents the fire department, traveling around
the metro area and inspecting car seats (don't worry
— the latter just takes about 30 minutes).
Three kinds of car seats are in use today, Eizen says:
• REAR-FACING SEATS are for infants, up to
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Gerald Eizen has Sander, 6, in a booster seat and Micah, 2, in a car safety seat.
about 35 pounds. These include infant carriers and
convertible seats, which are initially used facing the
rear: then can be used forward facing as the baby gets
bigger.
Many people mistakenly believe that once a child is
1 year old and 20 pounds, this rear-facing seat
becomes obsolete. In fact, Eizen explains, the child's
neck and spine are still developing at that age. In case
of a car accident, the rear-facing seat offers much-
needed support if the head is jerked forward.
• FORWARD-FACING SEATS utilize a five-point
harness system, initially developed for use in race cars
and military fighter-jets. (The five points: a strap over
each shoulder, between the legs, and on either side of
the hip). This usually will accommodate a child up to
40 pounds.
Some forward-facing seats with just a strap down
the front are still around, but these should not be
used, Eizen says.
• BOOSTER SEATS are for children up to about
age 8, 80 pounds or lighter, 4 feet, 9 inches tall. The
booster allows the seat belt to sit properly on children.
"Otherwise, the belt lap goes over their stomach,
as opposed to their hip, and the shoulder belt will go
on their face," Eizen says.
Because there is no state law regulating the use of
boosters, "this is where we see the biggest lack of
compliance. But we are working on changing that law."
Now you know whether you need a seat. So what
do you look for? Here are Eizen's recommendations:
• Don't shop simply for a specific brand. Some
brands have a great reputation and cost a fortune, but
this doesn't mean they're any better than less-expen-
sive versions. Further, which ay.. seat you buy should
depend on whether the seat properly fits (more on
that next), not the name of the manufacturer.
• The safest place in the car is the rear middle seat.
This is because when an accident occurs you can
never know if the initial impact will come from the
front, back, or either side — but you can be sure it's
not going to come at the middle. So be sure to find a
car seat that works well with the seatbelt in this spot.
• Carefully review the manufacturer's guidelines. If
the manufacturer says the seat is for children 25
pounds and under, don't insist on buying it for your
30-pound son because it's on sale and "What differ-
ence does it really make?" The guidelines are there
based on government standards and should be taken
seriously.
• Look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to
car seats. A friend may pass on the car seat her daugh-
ter loved and used for so many years. This doesn't
mean it's still safe.
The industry standard for car-seat use is 10 years
(expiration dates usually are printed on the back of
the seat). But Eizen recommends using a seat no
more than eight, and preferably six years, in
Michigan. "The temperature here changes so drasti-
cally over the years, and sometimes over 24 hours,
and we're not sure what these changes do to the plas-
tic in car seats," he explains. "It might not be up to
HOT SEAT on page 38
8/13
2004
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