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"   Recently, when I had to remove my 3-year-old&amp;#039;s car seat from my car, I discovered that the seatbelt connection had become disconnected. I had no idea how long I had been driving around like that and it was very frightening to think what could have happened if I had been in an accident with my son in the car. I now check the connection every day when I put him into the seat but this incident made me think about other mistakes it&amp;#039;s easy to make with a car seat. You may have a problem if you&amp;#039;re:   Not using the top tether: Check both the car seat manual and your car&amp;#039;s manual to see if you need to use the top tether. If the manual says so, it&amp;#039;s essential that you do so. If it doesn&amp;#039;t, it can&amp;#039;t hurt to add that extra safety precaution.  Not securing the harness tight enough: Depending on what your child is wearing, you need to adjust the tension. If you don&amp;#039;t tighten it when your child transitions from a winter coat to a lightweight jacket, you risk putting him or her in danger. Some seats are easier to adjust than others, so I always suggest checking out the ease of making adjustments before you buy a car seat. But if you already own one and it&amp;#039;s difficult to alter, isn&amp;#039;t it worth the extra effort to make sure the harness is tight to your child&amp;#039;s body and keeping him or her secure in case of an accident?   Not securing the car seat tightly enough: Once the car seat is installed in the car you shouldn&amp;#039;t be able to move it more than 1 inch in any direction. This is actually quite difficult to do but baby supply stores sell products to help make the connection tighter. I have a seat belt tightener from Sunshine Kids called the Mighty-Tite Car Seat Belt Tightener, that I love and with it installed I can barely move my son&amp;#039;s car seat a \u00BC inch!  Once you install a car seat you should bring it to an inspection facility to make sure it&amp;#039;s safely in place. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website can help you find one near you. Be sure to check out Good Housekeeping&amp;#039;s other articles on child safety: Air Protect: Protection for Children from Side Impact Collisions, Safety Reminder: Don&amp;#039;t Leave Children Alone in the Car and if you&amp;#039;re in the NYC area be sure to come and take a tour of the GHRI labs! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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