VIDEO: Are Children Wearing Winter Coats In Car Seats In Danger?

When tucking a child into a car seat in the cold weather, it’s tempting to think of them as safely snug in their bulky winter coats.

However, that is not true at all, according to recent studies by Consumer Reports and vehicle safety experts.

Buckling a child into a car seat with a bulky coat on causes the harness to be too loose, and puts the child in danger.

The Today Show recently reported on the issue, as experts showed viewers a video of a crash test dummy in a bulky coat flying headfirst out of the buckled car seat in a simulated crash.

Consumer Reports offers the following advice to parents as the winter approaches:

• Put the coat on your child, sit them in the child seat and fasten the harness. Tighten the harness until you can no longer pinch any of the harness webbing with your thumb and forefinger.
• Without loosening the harness, remove your child from the child seat.
• Take the coat off, and put your child back in the child seat and buckle the harness straps, which are still adjusted as they were when he was wearing the coat.
• If you can now pinch the webbing between your thumb and forefinger, then the coat is too bulky to be worn under the harness.
• If you find that the coat can not be safely worn under the harness, here are a couple things you can do to keep your child safe and warm in his/her child seat:
  • After securing your child in his/her child seat, turn the coat around and put it on backward with their arms through the arm holes and the back of the coat acting like a blanket
  • Lay a blanket over your child to keep him/her warm.