SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is encouraging parents and caregivers to ensure children are riding safely by using appropriate car seats, booster seats, and properly fitted seat belts. The department’s call comes in advance of Child Passenger Safety Week, an annual campaign scheduled from September 21 to 27, which aims to raise awareness about car seat safety and correct installation.
Traffic Bureau Sergeant Ishii emphasized the critical nature of these safety measures. “When it comes to protecting our youngest passengers, there is no room for guesswork,” Sergeant Ishii stated, adding that Child Passenger Safety Week serves as an important reminder to select the correct car seat and ensure its proper installation.
According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly half of all car seats, 46%, are misused. The administration highlights that correctly installed car seats have been shown to significantly reduce fatal injury crashes, by 71% for infants under one year old, and by 54% for toddlers aged one through four.
California law currently mandates that all children under two years old ride in a rear-facing car seat, unless they weigh 40 or more pounds or are 40 or more inches tall. For children who meet these initial milestones, all children under the age of eight years old are still required to be secured in a car seat or booster seat in the back seat of a vehicle. Children aged eight and older, or those who are at least 4 feet 9 inches tall, may be secured by a booster seat, but must at minimum be secured by a safety belt.
Looking ahead, a new regulation, Assembly Bill 435 (AB 435), will take effect on January 1, 2027. This law will require children aged 8 to 16 years old to pass all steps of the “Five-Step Test” before they can safely use a seat belt without a booster seat. Parents and caregivers are advised to keep children in the proper rear or forward-facing seat for as long as possible. Additionally, families are encouraged to utilize the Five-Step Test as a guide even before it becomes law in 2027, to accurately determine if their child is sufficiently sized to safely use a seat belt without a booster seat.
Orange County residents seeking more information about car seat programs in the county can contact the OC Health Care Agency at [email protected]. This safety program receives funding through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, which is administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
