As you probably know, Japanese Road Traffic Act mandates the use of a child safety seat by any child under 6 years old. However, according to a survey conducted in 2013 by the National Police Agency and Japan Automobile Federation, the rate of a child safety seat use is 60.2% and 2 out of 3 parents use a child safety seat the wrong way.
Some of the most common installation mistakes include;
1) The waist belt used to position the child safety seat is too loose
If the child safety seat moves 3 centimeters or more by pulling the upper edge of it, the belt needs to be fastened more tightly.
2) The child safety seat is not well-fitted to a child’s body shape
Make sure the seat is selected based on your child’s body shape and size, not age.
3) The harness is not in the right place
Make sure the harness is correctly positioned according to the instructions.
4) The child safety seat is missing parts because it’s a hand-me-down
The seat with missing parts will lead to incorrect installation and cause a major accident.
The best thing to avoid the above installation mistakes is to follow product instructions. Even if your child safety seat is a hand-me-down and instructions are missing, you may be able to download from the websites or you can also call the company and ask them to send you the instructions.
Before driving, please make sure your child’s safety seat is installed correctly.
A few minutes of safety measures can save your beloved child.
Sakurako Yagi (Secretary)
